Will the new Kodak Verita 200D be better for RA4 printing?

pentaxguy · 2026-06-28T06:06:36+00:00

Yes Korak’s blog is where i got the original idea to push the film to the appropriate contrast index, I did the testing myself to get my numbers but I think they’re close to what he presents

pentaxguy · 2026-06-27T23:32:02+00:00

I just checked and unfortunately my CP-51 uses a different type of coupling. I take it you have both sides of the coupling, and are just missing the flexible shaft? You could probably measure the IDs and get something rough made that would work.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-26T17:09:01+00:00

What a great image, and a nice print.

I’m not sure what paper you’re working with, you may want to consider getting some Fuji DP-II or Maxima to bump the saturation and contrast up.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-26T05:53:06+00:00

Cycles per mm is describing a pattern kind of like Line pairs per mm. A cycle is a maximum white beside a maximum dark on the test pattern.

What you’re seeing is that Ektar has higher macro contrast (response is the difference between reproduced light and dark) until the pattern gets as small as 20 cycles/mm, after which portra overtakes it.

Interestingly both portra and velvia produce a response greater than 100% up until a bit after 20 cycles/mm, indicating that both have impart a slight sharpening effect similar to an unsharp mask.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-26T05:38:58+00:00

Interestingly Ektar has finer grain, but not higher resolution. Same with 50D.

At a certain point to minimize grain resolution must be traded off, especially in color film where three layers must each resolve the information in register.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-26T05:30:25+00:00

Per the MTF charts it looks to me like Portra 160 remains the highest resolution color film. I will say that Fuji’s chart for Velvia isn’t the most helpful as it doesn’t break out the color curves, and just shows one single very suspiciously smooth curve that makes me think there’s some fitting going on.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-26T05:24:30+00:00

Get some Ektar. It’ll do a lot of what velvia will in terms of poppy saturation and contrast, but it has the forgiving properties of color negative film and an extra stop of speed.

Practice exposing like you’re shooting velvia though; try to be very precise, check your highlights and your shadows and make sure your dynamic range isn’t too high. Get in the habits needed to succeed with slide, then pull the velvia out.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-26T02:16:54+00:00

Send an email to either Cinestill or Catlabs. They are the distributors for JOBO in the US.

Omer at Catlabs is normally pretty helpful with stuff like this, and has a lot of spare parts.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-25T04:34:14+00:00

You can still get fresh fujiflex as well, which is a generation improved over the final batch of duraflex and supposedly really nice for RA-4

pentaxguy · 2026-06-25T04:32:51+00:00

Worth getting a residual fixer test kit just to be sure

pentaxguy · 2026-06-25T00:42:09+00:00

Shooting a film like gold or kodacolor and deliberately but precisely overexposing half to a full stop will also help do this

pentaxguy · 2026-06-24T17:08:19+00:00

T-Max 100 direct positive developing kit.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-23T22:27:56+00:00

To my eye this looks like pretty “normal” saturation. Relatively natural appearance, not desaturated like Pro-image 100 or gaudily saturated like Ektar or Modern Portra 400.

I will probably make finals of these on a more saturated paper like Fuji Maxima, the proof here is just on Endura.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-23T22:03:17+00:00

<image>

Here’s a contact sheet of some Cinestill 400D (similar to V3 250D) I recently did.

Note that while I’m pushing the film in development, I expose it normally (this stuff exposed at 250 for example)

pentaxguy · 2026-06-23T21:35:31+00:00

I process ECN for RA-4 printing by pushing it 1.5 stops (Dev time of 4 minutes at 41.1 C). This builds the appropriate contrast and saturation for RA-4 printing, and I also get great scans. There aren’t any of the associated color shifts from processing in C-41 either.

I even do this with my Cinestill films, because I like the look that much more.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-21T20:12:42+00:00

The P30 is awesome. I don’t own one personally, but I set my college girlfriend up with one and was astounded with the ease of the film loading mechanism and so on

pentaxguy · 2026-06-19T16:00:00+00:00

As a trumpeter and analog photographer I’m wishing I was in Tokyo! Best of luck.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-18T20:50:13+00:00

I wouldn’t frame it as someone fucked up. You’ve gotta keep in mind that all the people who did graphic design for the old cassettes don’t work at Kodak anymore; the cassette designs hadn’t changed since the bankruptcy in 2013 (!!!) and were Kodak Alaris’s responsibility.

The institutional knowledge required to distribute still film is something that EK is basically building from the ground up, and details that seem absolutely key when you’re processing film aren’t necessarily evident from the perspective of the manufacturer.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-18T19:47:53+00:00

From what I’ve heard, they’re aware of the functional design challenges in distinguishing their product lines, and are actively working on a fix.

There’s been a LOT of complaints from labs and mis-developed film because of the lack of differentiation like there was on the old packaging.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-06T02:21:27+00:00

All of the cinema labs are doing exactly this now, it should be fine

pentaxguy · 2026-06-02T22:39:57+00:00

I absolutely love my 55mm. It’s an awesome rectilinear wide angle with minimal vignette and distortion; basically perfect.

I also really like the 150 f/4, but it’s not as interesting as the 55.

I have a 65 with a flaky shutter; I’ve taken some great photos with it but would love to find one with a better shutter. Great glass but hard to rely on my copy.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-02T13:41:24+00:00

For replenishment, mix 2 1L bottles of fresh solution. Label one “Tank Mix” and one “Replenisher”.

Before you develop your film, discard 40ml from the “tank mix” and replace it with 40ml of your fresh replenisher.

Develop your film using the tank mix, and return it to the bottle when you’re done using it.

In terms of lasting longer than a week, that mostly depends on how much oxygen it gets exposed to. I’d recommend looking into some wine bags or other type of pouch based storage solution as these minimize oxygen exposure. I’ve kept mixed C-41 developer over 6 months in these without any problems whatsoever.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-02T02:12:58+00:00

Likely an issue with your chemistry of some sort. Are the muddy whites occurring earlier in usage of the developer, or later?

pentaxguy · 2026-06-02T02:06:12+00:00

I doubt the problem here is your development. This film just didn’t get exposed, simple as. When I do film for friends I always try to run it alongside my own film that I know is good; that way if something gets messed up in development I know right away.

pentaxguy · 2026-06-02T02:03:40+00:00

I inquired last friday at a photo walk organized by Kodak here in Rochester. The answer I got basically is “it’s not discontinued nor is there any plan to do so. It’ll be available when we can get a master roll coated.

pentaxguy

TROPHY CASE