My First Roll of Kodak Gold 200 in Medium Format
Late last month Kodak announced the return of Kodak Gold, a budget favorite in the world of medium speed color film, in medium format aka 120 film. A few days following that announcement, a special package arrived from Kodak with my name on it. Inside there was a pair of test rolls, and I was excited to take some out into the field for an early morning shoot. And to share the love, I gave one roll to my buddy Tariq Tarey so Gold 200 could have the proper studio treatment.
Now I’ve been shooting medium format film for 12 years at this point, the hardest part about this whole test was trying to figure out what camera to shoot! The first option would be to go with the camera that started my whole film photography journey, the Hasselblad 500C. That camera helped me re-ignite this very blog with The 52 Project, and had me running through enough film that I eventually met-up with Mike and “the gang” over at The Film Photography Podcast. Another potential option would have been a roll-film back hooked up to a 4x5” large format camera. That would keep the pace closer to my typical large format experience, and give me the versatility of choosing a different medium format aspect ratio. In the middle of trying to decide what I was going to shoot, I headed over to Midwest Photo to see if they’d be willing to develop and scan the new Gold 200 on their Fujifilm Frontier medium format film scanner. And that’s when I saw her sitting there at the used equipment counter:
There she is folks, the Fujifilm G617. She’s part point-and-shoot, part medium format, and a whole lotta fun to shoot!
The lovely thing about 120 film is the versatility of medium format cameras. There are modern, AF enabled, interchangeable lens bodies that expose 15 shots per roll all the way to giant boxes that expose nearly all the film in one go. Somewhere on the “box camera” end of that spectrum lies the Fujifilm G617. At first glance it looks like a rangefinder camera, but the Fujifilm G617 doesn’t feature a rangefinder patch. It uses a helicoid focus ring in front of its large format style 105mm f/8 lens, and has a fixed wide angle view finder to help with composition. Even more impressive than the wide field of view, the G617 captures 2.83:1 panoramic aspect ratio photograph, using 6cm x 17cm worth of real estate. The cost? Each roll of 120 film only gives you FOUR exposures! In the gamble of shooting with film, 6x17 medium format is like betting at the $10 blackjack table. High risk aside, I just had to take the G617 for a spin.
With an almost-large-format camera in hand, what better place to take it than one of my old haunts, Old Man’s Cave down in the Hocking Hills. Many of the waterfalls you’ll find in the Hocking Hills region require a downward hike through rocks carved by glaciers thousands of years ago. The valleys surrounding the sights give photographers a few extra minutes at sunrise and sunset to get the shot just right. Sunrise was scheduled for 6:30AM, and for a mid-April morning it was surprisingly chilly (I’m pretty sure it was snowing in Northern Ohio that morning!). By the time I parked the car, loaded up the camera, filmed a little b-roll, and made the trek down to the Middle Falls it was a few minutes before 7AM. The first exposure on the roll was a composition similar to one I’d made back in 2014, but this time a bit wider and IN COLOR! To get all those lovely shadow details on the rocks, my Reveni Labs Spotmeter indicated 6 seconds at f/16.
Middle Falls at Sunrise, 6 sec. @ f/16, Fujifilm 617 + 105mm f/8, Kodak Gold 200, processed C-41 by Midwest Photo
One of the first things I noticed about the “look” of Gold 200 is how well it handles the mixed, reflected light throughout the Middle Falls of Old Man’s Cave. There’s a hint of warmth is the backlit sunrise peaking in through the upper middle part of the frame, with the rest of the cold, blue-green light bouncing off of the mossy rocks and trees. There’s some added vibrance to the green and aqua of the rocks, but nowhere near as much as I’d expect to see with Ektar 100 or Portra 400. As for grain, forget about it; these negatives would need to be enlarged 20x or more to start to see grain.
With the first frame down and the sun coming up, I needed to make the call whether I would venture towards the Lower Falls or go against the grain and check out the Devil’s Bathtub and Upper Falls. Both trails have their merits, but early in the morning I find it best to head further down into the cave. Following the water down through Old Man’s Cave, I arrived at another very familiar scene, one that I’ve photographed at least a dozen times (even a few in color!). Surely a new film would offer it’s own unique rendition. Out the corner of my eye I saw the sun start to graze the tops of the staircase to the upper left of the frame, so I needed to hurry. The added light reduced my exposure by nearly two stops, but also increased contrast. With Kodak Gold 200 being a negative film (C-41 process), it didn’t bat an eye at the overexposure, leaving me with readable highlights and delicate, low grain shadows.
Sunkist Staircase at Middle Falls, 3 sec. @ f/16, Fujifilm 617 + 105mm f/8, Kodak Gold 200, processed C-41 by Midwest Photo
This shot of Middle Falls was my favorite from the morning. It wasn’t too warm or too punchy, but it did a great job rendering the subtle tonal shifts as direct sun started to overtake the cold, reflected morning light. A piece of advice I’d received over a decade ago from a photographer working in panoramic formats came in handy here,
”If you place interesting subject matter along the edges of your frame, the rest of the picture will take care of itself.” - John Powers, Photographer
At the half-way point on the roll of Kodak Gold and one major location left, it was time to take the stairs down to the Lower Falls. The sun had been up for an hour at this point and I was starting to hear the sounds of other folks on the trail. Being the last waterfall stop at Old Man’s Cave, Lower Falls tends to have a higher rate of flow as well as a bit to wade through when setting up the camera. I don’t recall ever having made it this far on the trail with color film, but I was excited to see how Gold 200 would render the contrasting cool and warm tones on the rocks underneath the falls.
Early Morning, Lower Falls, 2 sec. @ f/16, Fujifilm 617 + 105mm f/8, Kodak Gold 200, processed C-41 by Midwest Photo
This is first photograph of Lower Falls is a great example of where I’d love to have access to some “rise”. In large format (sometimes other formats), rise and fall are movements that allow the photographer to shift the lens plane and/or film plane. This has the ability to change the perspective and shift the vanishing point in the photograph; an incredibly useful tool in landscape photography, especially with wide fields of view. In my opinion, a few millimeters of rise on the 105mm lens would have really elevated this composition.
Three photographs down, one to go. With this last frame I wanted to take another stab at the Lower Falls, hoping to find more leading lines for the panoramic frame. Fortunately a hundred meters or so away there was a downed tree that was calling my name. It took some stepping over flat rocks and fording ice cold water, but I found my frame and started to lower the tripod to accentuate the lines of the tree. Somewhere between all of that tripod shifting and the two second exposure I must have bumped the film door of the Fujifilm G617. Were it not for that little light streak, this would have been my favorite shot of the day.
A light leak, are you kidding me? 2 sec. @ f/16, Fujifilm 617 + 105mm f/8, Kodak Gold 200, processed C-41 by Midwest Photo
Overall I’m really happy with how my first roll of Kodak Gold in 120 developed. These results are making want to grab a few more rolls and keep experimenting with color. The next time I’m out with some Gold 200, I’d like to try it with more creative filters and some different light. But will the next time take place with a 6x17? Probably not; I loved the panoramic look, but I need to give the Hasselblad 500C a workout with some portraits.
Big thanks to Tim and the team at Kodak Alaris for sending over the rolls of Kodak Gold 200 for me to test, and Midwest Photo for facilitating the rental camera and processing. Gold 200 is available now, and later this year we’ve got Cinestill 400D (35mm, 120, AND 4x5!) and Fugufilm 400 (35mm slide film!) coming. So far 2022 is shaping up to be a great one for film photography!