In this post I will talk about the two colour films I have been shooting the most and why I am using them.

I. Kodak Ultramax 400

I have few words to describe how much I like this film.
Firstly, it’s very cheap and sold almost everywhere.
Secondly, it keeps impressing me with it’s high resolution and contrast. It’s a true all-rounder that does most of the things well.
On the top of that, it is very tolerant to exposure errors with decent latitude.

In Hong Kong it sells for 4$ 36 frames roll which is a good deal.

ISO 400 gives me all the flexibility I need in terms of light. If you have a reasonably fast lens e.g. f2.8, there will be very little situations you won’t get a shot.

F2.8 @1/30s gives you 8EV for ISO 400 which is what you normally have in most streets with public light at night.
If you underexpose by two stops you will be at 6EV which is pretty dark…underexposing film is not ideal but there will be something on the negative to work with.

Conclusion: Kodak Ultramax 400 is by far the colour film that I have used the most in the last few years. It might not be the perfection of Kodak Portra 400 but it’s damn good.

^{End of the day light with Kodak Ultramax 400}

^{Day light with Kodak Ultramax 400}

^{Crazy light with Kodak Ultramax 400}

^{Kodak Ultramax 400 Underexposed}

II. Fuji Venus 800

This film was not supposed to be in this list but unfortunately Fuji discontinued the Natura 1600 and I had to find a replacement.

The Natura 1600 used to be my choice for photo documentary when I wanted to zone focus in not that good light conditions. I used it to document the HAIMA Typhoon in 2016 and HATO in 2017. This film was perfect for these situations since I could keep the shutter speed at 1/125s and the aperture @f5.6 which really helped to keep things focused when there was no time to focus.

Other thing I loved was its gritty look that made things feel real.

The Fuji Venus 800 shares most of these attributes but looses one stop.

I used it to document the MANGKHUT aftermath and the photos kept the same feeling but moving from ISO 1600 to ISO 800 created more difficulties than I was expecting.

Unfortunately, when it comes to high ISO colour films there aren’t many option…If I am not wrong we are left with Kodak Portra 800 and Fujifilm Venus 800…this until Fuji decides to discontinue another film… maybe I will move to Kodak DELTA 3200 for low light photo documentary.

Anyway, this is still a great film to shoot. It sells around 7$ which is not bad.

Conclusion: If you need a fast film that does not cost a fortune and shows things as they are, Fujifilm Venus 800 is the one to get.

^{Fujifilm Venus 800}

^{Fujifilm Venus 800}

^{Fujifilm Venus 800}

^{Fujifilm Venus 800}

Part 2 with B&W films to come soon!