If you’re thinking, wait a minute, haven’t you reviewed Ektachrome? Then the answer is yes; I’ve reviewed the re-release of Ektachrome 100. But this is something a little different, while Eastman Ektachrome Color Reversal Film 5294 was discontinued and re-introduced as a motion picture reversal stock. Reviewing Atlanta Film Co’s Euphoric 100 is probably the strangest film I’ve reviewed because I’m not reviewing it as a reversal film. Instead, I’m reviewing it as a cross-processed film using the Eastman Color Negative Rev. 2 process through a proper motion picture film lab. This is inspired (as the name of the film is) by the TV Series Euphoria which uses the same process to give a rather interesting look and feel to the whole aesthetic of the series. Thanks to Bill Manning, Dunwoody Photo and Kodak Film Lab Atlanta, who all significantly got this review up and running.
Film Specs
Type: Colour Reversal Film, E-6 Process
Original Film Stock: Eastman-Kodak Ektachrome Color Reversal Film 5294
Film Base: Acetate
Film Speed: ASA-100
Formats Available: 135 (35mm)
Colour Rendition
If you’ve read my review of Kodak Ektachrome E100, you’ll know how this film looks when processed in standard E-6 processing. You will get the same results when you process AFC Euphoric 100 as it should be as an E-6 film. But you get a rather exciting look when you process the film in ECN-2. ECN-2 is a variation of C-41 but uses a different developer that is surprisingly closer to a colour-reversal developer than a colour-negative process. But you will still end up with a film negative rather than positive. So immediately, the colour palette is going to be wildly different. The conditions I was photographing in were already overcast, sometimes dull and sometimes bright. With that in mind, the colours tended to shift towards the cooler end of the spectrum. Lots of blues and greens in the results, but at least with a bit of work with Photoshop and Silverfast, I was able to get things into a little more natural colour hue. But even with that work, I still ended up with plenty of cooler tints to the images, given everything I like about these results. One of the best parts is that by combining the cross-processing, the interior shots ended up much nicer than those shot outside.
Image Quality
The two items I was warned about when trying this film are that you’ll end up with more grain and far less latitude than the colour negative motion picture films. So with that in mind, I had to keep an eye out for where I was shooting and the conditions; the overcast days helped even out the light so that I didn’t have to worry too much about the lack of dynamic range. So let’s talk about the first bit, the increase in grain. Well, E100 is already a fine-grained film, so I wasn’t too concerned about this aspect of the film. And in the end, it didn’t bother me because I saw no noticeable increase in the visible grain. Yes, it is slightly more grainy than negatives processed in the E-6 process, but it is not too bad compared to other ECN-2-processed films. Plus, you get somewhat sharper-looking images with the increase in visible grain. And given that natively this will be projected/scanned and transmitted, the grain is often overlooked and part of the projected images’ look. The second aspect, the lack of dynamic range, is the biggest issue with image quality. No matter how hard I tried, I lost almost all my shadow detail in higher contrast conditions. While that certainly can provide a good look, I found some images unusable given some situations, as the subject was lost in those shadows. And I blame myself a little for leaving the camera in matrix metering mode when I should have switched out to either spot or centre weighted. Something to look out for if you’re trying this technique.
Scanning
Surprisingly Eurphoric is easy to scan if you know what you’re getting into. The film itself, as it was processed using the true ECN-2 guidelines at the Kodak Film Lab Atlanta, came back to me and dried perfectly flat. An Epson V700 and Silverfast 9 SE made the scanning process painless. The one thing to remember is that you do need to make sure that your scanning software knows you’re scanning negative film, not positive. While Euphoric 100 is natively a positive film, you are cross-processing, which results in a negative. The negatives, when scanned, had a heavy green cast to them. With some work within Silverfast 9 SE, I could colour-correct/grade them before scanning the selected images. This made life easier when doing the final edits within Photoshop CC. It was easy enough to fine-tune things with the levels and colour balance. While the images maintained the cooler colour cast (which is what I was going for), the photos maintained the natural colour. There was little in the way of colour noise, which is easy enough to either remove or leave alone. I removed it for the first roll but left it alone for the second and third rolls, and I saw no difference in the image or scan quality.
Overall Impression
AFC Euphoric is not for everyone; the odd colour cast and the longer turnaround time for processing can make people second guess putting a slide film through a colour negative process. This isn’t my first-time cross-processing slide film as colour negative. And the results can be rather attractive. And in the right situation and the right film stock can and do produce a unique image. And you don’t need to get the film processed in true ECN-2. As ECN-2 is more than chemicals, it’s a process for developing dedicated colour negative motion picture films. So there are steps that aren’t needed for Eurphoric, namely removing the remjet layer. So a home ECN-2 kit is perfectly acceptable and delivers similar results from Kodak Ektachrome; I cross-processed an expired roll of E100G and got excellent results. I will say this was a lot of fun to revisit Ektachrome but in a fun and flashy manner.
Further Reading
Don’t just take my word on Euphoric 100; you can check out the reviews by other awesome camera reviewers!
35mmc – Atlanta Film Co Euphoric – A Film Review
No Film School – Recreate that “Euphoria” Film Look
Eclectachrome – Euphoric 100 Review – 35mm Color Reversal Cine Film from Atlanta Film Co.
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