john_wire Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Recently I've run several rolls of Kodak 800 from K-Mart through several cameras (the box label said from China). Is it just me or is the film showing less grain and better color than before?<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted February 8, 2006 Author Share Posted February 8, 2006 Hi Les, all the cassette says is Kodak 800. The box the cassettes were in said China. Didn't save the box but I'm checking further next time I visit K-Mart. Film was processed by K-Mart and then scanned on my 4870 at I believe 2400 with low sharpening. Everything looked good in the preview so no other tweaking was done. Cropped the frame edges and saved for web at about 150k. I'm going to expose the next roll at 1600 and see what happens. All of my previous experiences with 800 film have not been satisfactory IMO. I've been looking for an inexpensive digital for low light stuff but I am going to wait a bit now. Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randall_pukalo Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Yes, Max 800 has been upgraded with the same Low Light / Color technology as the latest Portra 800. That is why the new boxes claim "best 800 speed film for low light". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zane1664879013 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 The old stuff was "OK" if you overexposed a stop or two. But even a little underexposure made for grainy, crappy images. Glad to hear the new stuff is much improved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 The film does have trouble with indoor fluorescents. Do any digitals work well in those conditions? I'm looking for a Pentax "ist"....... any experiences with it? Can't vouch for the Electro's metering accuracy in very low light but under normal lighting it's done ok in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_tuthill Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Yes Portra 800-2 is significantly improved and seems like a 1000-1200 speed film, although with plenty of overexposure latitude so rating at 800 yields excellent shadow detail. The consumer equivalent is Max 800-4 if I'm not mistaken. Both films deteriorate more quickly than do slower-speed films, so be sure to refrigerate and/or buy fresh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hi Bill, I noticed some distinctive odors emanating from the cassette when first opened. Could it be that offshore mfg leniency has enabled some film improvements? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullfinder Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I love that fresh film smell... :) and I was wondering about this, too. People have been bringing in their 800-loaded OTUs and I haven't been seeing that awful grain I was so used to.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_tuthill Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 John and Jesse, is this new Kodak 800 film edge coded Max Versatility+ 800-4 or something? The portion after the 800 is most important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 800-4 on my rolls. I think we'd better not say much more about this. When the guys buying Kodak sensors see how this improved film looks/competes they might ask Kodak to "dumb it" down a bit. Shhhhhh... Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank.schifano Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Like Kodak didn't know about improvements to their own product line... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lookingbill Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Isn't the Epson 4870 a flatbed scanner which gives somewhat soft looking scans of 35mm that tend to hide film grain? Have it scanned on the Kmart scanner at 16base resolution and see how the grain looks. How about a 100% crop of the posted image? Down rezing can really hide a lot of an image's artifacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lookingbill Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but if this Kodak 800 film is as good as you've indicated, I'ld like to try it. I get film grain even shooting in daylight with Kodak UC 400 film as indicated in this shot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted February 10, 2006 Author Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hi Tim, didn't know I had a parade going, just noticed that this recent film was much better IMHO than earlier examples and wondered if I was seeing something new. Try it and see what you think. I'm not much of a grain sniffer using the unremarkable 4870 scanner and uncalibrated LCD monitor. I'm preparing to purchase a small format DSLR soon and before throwing away $600 to $700 I want to get some decent ISO for the money. After seeing the new film and comparing costs, I might wait awhile...... or get a Fuji Z1/2. Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lookingbill Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 I didn't mean to sound flippant. Your image is quite impressive compared to what I get from such low lit scenes. I was just trying to rule out other parameters that could produce unreasonable expectations. I've never tried using 800 because I thought it'ld just produce overly grainy results. When I go looking for this Kodak 800 film will it just say 800-4 on the box? What color was the box if you can't remember any other specific labeling? Thanks for posting this helpful information. Please don't keep it too quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted February 10, 2006 Author Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hey Tim, look for the yellow Kodak 800 Max box at K-Mart or Wally-Mart. The 800 speed is usually buried behind all the slower film and is packaged 4 or 5 cassettes to the box. I never pay attention to the box printing. It should smell good when you load the film if it's fresh. After processing look for the 800-4 on the film to confirm. Smile. Let's see some comparisons with your digi stuff. See if the box says it's made in China. Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasma181 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Is this new Kodak 800 better than the consumer grade Fuji Superia X-TRA 800? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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