Testing Kodak Ultramax 400 on the Nikon AF600
I’ve finally gotten around to developing the last two film stocks that I’m interested in testing. First up is Ultramax 400. This roll was developed at home using standard c41 process, and scanned at home on a Fujifilm X-T5 and the Nikon 60mm AF-D Macro lens. Negatives were converted using Negative Lab Pro with basic color profile and the Portra preset.
Ultramax 400 was release in 2007 to replace Gold 400 which had been around since the 90s. Like gold, it is meant to be a budget, general purpose film meant to be used in daylight. This film stock is meant to retain more detail in the shadows, but at the cost of some extra noise. You’ll find in the darker ares, some speckles of colors that are out of place.
I find the colors this film produces to be excellent in both warm or cool tones. One unexpected thing I found with this film is how fine the grain is given that this film is so cheap. It retains so much detail and you really have to zoom in before you see the grain structure.
This film renders so wonderfully, it’s really hard to find any faults. I think the only real thing about this film that I dislike is the lack of character. It doesn’t do anything extreme like Cinestill 800T.
Looking back at the Gold 200 photos, the sharpness on these shots blows the gold out of the water. For portraits, definitely want to be careful adding any post sharpening.
This film is too god to not keep shooting. A quick little hack to get it cheaper is to buy Fujifilm Color 400. Since Fujiflim discontinued their Superia 400, they instead just resell Kodak’s Ultramax 400 under their name for a couple dollars cheaper per roll! This will be my go to economic film or high detail film (like shooting landscapes). I think for traveling and the darker months, I will likely shoot Cinestill 800T. It’s twice the price per roll, but the look is unbeatable.
