Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 .
Ektacolor Pro 160 is the go-to film stock for portraiture. But thinking of it only as a portrait film is selling it short. It's among the best films to put in your camera and take a variety of different images: people, landscapes, still life and architecture are all appropriate subjects. It is a great all-rounder.
It's a lower saturation film which is why it's good for skin tones. But this also works for architecture, where it renders colours with a pastel-like quality that can look almost monochromatic in low light. It's not a great low light film at ISO 160, but on a tripod these images become possible. It has fine grain, low contrast and is daylight-balanced, meaning it won't look too warm or too cool when processed.
The Ektacolor Pro lineage goes back to the Vericolor range introduced in 1971. The emulsion was reformulated in two lines: natural colour (NC) and vivid colour (VC) before being consolidated into one line in 2010/11. This is the same emulsion as Portra 160, sold under the Ektacolor Pro name by Eastman Kodak.
If you want one film for a daytrip or weekend away and have enough light, Ektacolor Pro 160 should be near the top of your list. If light is an issue and you want everything it offers then consider the 400 and 800 ISO options.
- + Portraits - family, weddings, studio
- + Daylight scenes and travel
- + Archictecture where there is colour
- − Scenes where you want saturated, vivid colour - instead choose Ektar 100
- − Indoor scenes or low-light scenes without a tripod - instead choose Portra 400 or 800
- − A cheap roll - instead choose Gold 200
more from their film.
Ektacolor Pro 160 is a daylight-balanced film rated ISO 160. In 35mm, the grain is genuinely fine — the Print Grain Index sits just above the visible threshold at 4x6 print size and rises at enlargement. In 120, grain falls below the visible threshold at 4x6 and remains very fine at 8x10 — a meaningful step finer than the same stock in 35mm. Exposure latitude sits firmly in overexposure territory: the emulsion handles two or more stops over with room to spare, while underexposure risks thin, difficult-to-recover negatives. Expose to the shadows and you won't go wrong. No reciprocity correction is needed for exposures between 1/10,000 sec and 1 second; beyond that, run a test.
Pushing increases contrast and grain and reduces shadow detail; if you need shadow retention, overexposing at box speed is a more forgiving approach than pushing. Pulling is rarely necessary — Ektacolor Pro 160's overexposure latitude is wide enough that 1-2 stops over at normal development looks great without needing reduced processing. Negatives scan cleanly on flatbed, dedicated film, or drum scanners with no reported quirks.
If you've refrigerated or frozen your film, allow it to warm to room temperature before opening. For 35mm, that's about 1¼ hours from the fridge or 1½ hours from the freezer. 120 warms up faster: about 45 minutes from the fridge or 1 hour from the freezer. Expose promptly after shooting and process as soon as practical.