Let’s take a look at Kodak ColorPlus 200 for 35mm cameras – the budget option for analog photographers. Seeing is believing, so check out the video with more details.
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is a standard color negative film for 35mm. It is available with 24 or 36 images per roll. ISO 200 films are best suited for sunny or slightly clouded days and bright studio lights if you want to keep shutter speed high to reduce shutter shake.
Our camera is a Praktica MTL5B and I’ve written a review about it, a sturdy East-German camera with a well functioning inbuilt light meter.
Our lens is a Asahi S.M.C. Takumar 3.5/28mm, a very nice vintage Japanese lens with good resolution, sharp contrast and popping color output. The characteristics of specific lenses are often underestimated in my opinion.
Development and scanning was done by a professional developer with a good track record.
Kodak doesn’t seem to advertise this film very much and they probably hope that you buy the more expensive Portra film instead. This film is daylight balanced which is suitable for natural and flash photography. I did find one advertisement that reads as follow:
Kodak ColorPlus 200 135-36 is a budget colour film, applicable to all types of applications. It is an all-round colour film that works best in good lighting conditions. And for nostalgic-type prints, it produces excellent images.
This film has become a bit of an insider tip with high customer ratings on many internet platforms. As an all-purpose film it can be used for landscapes, portraits and all mixed scenarios that you can encounter in travel photography.
Check out my Flickr set with this film for full images. So what about that resolution and colors? Take a closer look at the sample images.
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is indeed a neatly designed all-purpose budget film. Colors are well balanced and slightly warmer. Film grain is decent for an ISO 200 film but shadow details can be lost when underexposing. These characteristics create a distinctive analog feeling that photographers might be looking for.
I believe that makes it a great all-purpose travel film if you change subjects every shot. You can consider Kodak Portra as an upmarket alternative if you are looking for finer grain and more shadow details.
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PANORAMA CIRCLE 