Kodak Ultramax 400

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With a budget in mind, sometimes the pro grade color negative films can seem a bit out of reach. No worries! There are several great alternatives when you gotta stay close to that almighty dollar. One of my favorites is Kodak Ultramax 400. Readily available and much easier on the wallet, this film is great for those of you looking for some other color negative options.

[@Tails92Halcmm]

Ultramax 400, Kodacolor 200, etc. are the films that millions of birthdays, Christmas mornings, and family vacations were recorded with.

[@suttonsantino1607]

Instablaster.

[@doyoudevelop]

Ultramax 400 is fantastic. I did some amazing work with it this summer while travelling through Sicily.

[@HoLeeChit11]

Jahan Saber would really like to see that if possible

[@doyoudevelop]

@@HoLeeChit11 find me on instagram: @doyoudevelop :)

[@HoLeeChit11]

Jahan Saber ok thank you

[@mp3remix171]

color plus 200 saves my life

[@Fenn2b]

Dude for real though. I buy bricks of that stuff and just have fun with it.

[@mp3remix171]

Brian Fennessey Yeah haha always buying 10packs

[@porfiry]

I just bought my first brick of it, and while I haven't seen my own shots yet, I've seen a lot of others, and was immediately smitten with the sort of color-shifted look, the weird teal pastel skies and stuff. Seems like it would be great to shoot at the ocean or in tropical sun-bleached places.

[@mp3remix171]

porfiry Yeah i love it, for the price its the best!

[@gperpetuo]

@@porfiry In my case, I think it was the wrong choice on my travel to some "tropical" islands... scanned it twice, tried C1, LR, Photoshop... nop, simply could not like in on this trip, unfortunately. Had great fun with it before this trip and will use the rest of the rolls I have but probably not for travel with landscapes. Only for street, family, friends and stuff like that.

[@AmbiencePT]

At the lab we call it Portra with grain ! It's my favourite for everyday use, easy to scan and lovely grain structure.

[@garethVanDagger]

I completely agree about what you said about the metering a stop or 2 over. The cheaper Kodak films seem to be more susceptible to muddy shadows than Portra. However, when I overexpose them they look amazing. I just had some amazing results with Kodak Gold by overexposing. I also do my own home developing now which is very easy, cheaper and I’m getting far better results as I add 2% time to my developing on each role to compensate for any chemical degradation. Overexposing plus developing slightly longer is giving me amazing results.

[@DeputatKaktus]

Tried Ultramax out a few weeks ago after shooting primarily „pro grade“ films. After my first roll that I shot a box speed Ultramax to me was more of a „meh“ film and I did not want to shoot it again. But shooting it at 200 after a friend talked me into it...that really seemed to do the trick.

[@jozigirl7114]

I'll try that as I gave found it to be really grainy

[@Leonmlrs]

So u put ur iso down to 200 instead of 400 ? Kinda new to all of this

[@alfredoziano]

Happy to hear that, I dropped the portra films years ago, very happy and satisfied with shooting ultramax, kodakgold, color plus, some superia and fujicolor.

[@klausphotobaer5754]

I couldn't agree more. Shot quite a bit with the older sibling KODAK Gold 200 , and the colours are fantastic. You can even force a golden glow with an 85b filter ( as long as there is enough light) .

[@VariTimo]

I like the 24 exposer rolls. I like switching film stocks and 24 is a nice small amount of a film and not as much of a commitment as 36.

[@martinweizenacker7129]

The problem is, to have a roll of film developed and scanned, it's usually a fixed price per roll, no matter if it's 24 or 36 photos for that roll. And thus I avoid 24 exposure rolls because it's 50% more expensive to have them processed.

[@robertknight4672]

@@martinweizenacker7129 the three pack of Fuji Superia Xtra 400 that my local Walmart stocks comes in 36 exposure rolls. The last 24 exposure roll I experimented with it was an expired Walgreens branded roll.

[@WisemanxSmash]

Thanks for reviewing budget-friendly options. It's easy to see everyone raving about the pro-grade films when your starting out and think that you need Portra 400 to get good results.

[@stefanoterrana8056]

So great to you see you doing well Matt! I totally agree! Kodak Gold and Colorplus also get over looked and you can get great results with that classic “family photo album” look.

[@loofonme]

Glad to see you again, Matt! Funny that you should do a video on this, I grabbed a 3 pack of Ultramax 400 at my local grocery store before heading out to the pumpkin patch with my kids. Didn't have time to to go across town to any of the film labs. It will be my first time shooting it. I metered it at 200 and exposed for shadows and after seeing your images, I'm excited to get my roll developed. Thanks!

[@EuclidPlaceRecords]

How’d it go?

[@andrewwilkin1923]

Hi Matt, hope your recovery is going well. Thanks for the tip,not used Ultramax 400, will give it a go. My budget colour film is ColorPlus 200. I buy old, not working film cameras, fix them and this is my test film. Rate it at 100 because never sure if the meters in some of these old cameras are accurate as they were; modern batteries aren't quite the same as the original, now banned, mercury ones. But using an external meter for those cameras without built in meters I find Colorplus 200 does give better results at 100 than 200.

[@abemartinez5123]

I feel poor after looking at the price of a Leica m6 wow

[@Legoman1352]

@Flawrence Isenhart you can buy a better camera for way less money, I honestly don't understand the appeal of film leicas since you can only focus in centre and can't preview DOF, people buy rangefinders for Street Photography even tho they're pain in the ass to use

[@xxGravyBabyxx]

@@Legoman1352 i agree that leicas don't bring much features to the table but they are beautiful cameras. If I were telling someone to buy a film camera, I would tell them to buy a pentax or a auto focus canon. Those early eos slr cameras pack a lot of features for an affordable price

[@reach831]

@@Legoman1352 they’re iconic cameras but I feel like most people nowadays that get them are people that get them just to say they have them or because their favorite KZbinr has one lol

[@edma22]

I love this film. Shot a bunch around Tokyo a few months ago and it really does look lovely. Great to see you looking so well Matt!

[@ylliwgil]

More videos like this one talking about different types of film, please!

[@FloofyKusus]

I had a roll around and shot it to see how it would look like. Absolutely loved the colours!

[@jackwiegmann]

my favorite film! I've shot over 250 rolls and it's super consistent and wonderful

[@jmathews4765]

You should definitely do a review on Ektachrome now that it’s actually out

[@mattdayphoto]

J Mathews Just waiting on my film scans. Two rolls are at The FIND Lab right now!

[@jmathews4765]

Sweet! I’ve been wanting to get some, but when I get around to it the only Ektachrome available is the super 8 version

[@FramesPerSecond]

I just posted a review of it. Though Matt will definitely articulate better than I can.

[@malennachbruchzahlen]

Just recently my first film camera, a Minolta x700 and discovered your channel, already helped and inspired me alot, thank you! My first film of Ultramax400 will be back from development in 2-3 days and I can't wait to see the results. Cheers from Berlin!

[@VladimirRskovski]

Great to see you back, your videos inspired me to continue with my analog journey, next month im engaged in a program to shoot film with 30 highschool kids from all around Europe, explain basics develop it and make prints in an old workshop. Im freaking out I've never worked and explaind to people, hopefully all is gonna go swell Cheers Vlad

[@dflf]

I’ve been shooting Umax at iso 200 and getting excellent results

[@Seuxnehpets]

Films are sensitive to temperature and humidity. In the old days or in Japan now, pro grade films are kept in refrigerator. Customer grade are kept on room temperature shelves. This is part of the reason where the extra money went.

[@VargasKoch]

Great to see you again, man!

[@davideastham]

Man oh man I miss my Ektar 25 film. Best and sharpest film I ever used. Oh, thanks for another great video. Great images !

[@cubdukat]

I'll have to give it a try again. I broke out the Maxxum for the first time in about a decade when I heard about Ektachrome coming back, and now I remember why I used to like shooting film .

[@dangtungduong]

Oh gosh as you said, I've tried Max at ISO 100 and my photos have all better grain/color/sharpness than ISO 400. Thanks for your amazing tips! Supports from Vietnam

[@guillerrongavilla615]

do you develop it like how you develop ISO 400 or do you push it in development?

[@v-g-z3689]

Well done for setting the ASA at 100 and exposing for the shaddows. That´s the way you do it with 400 ASA colour negative film. Thanks for getting the right message across!

[@FramesPerSecond]

Kodak Gold 200 is actually my favourite colour negative film🎞

[@kamaltung3117]

I only shoot with Kodak Ultramax 400. Love it!

[@RCT2411]

You’re the best Matt! I wish we were friends in real life!

[@trsc32]

To be honest, I didn’t think Ultra Max or Gold was really that great until I saw your posts on Instagram. I ended up buying a few rolls of each, and I gotta say, it’s a nice film if exposed correctly!

[@erichartke4331]

I shot some Ultramax 400 during a trip to Iceland because of the price I couldn't afford just shooting Portra 400. I shot it at 320 and I was surprised how much I liked it!

[@lewisgraham9841]

I wish there was a kodak budget film for 120

[@alvareo92]

Gold 200 used to exist in 120

[@Raychristofer]

I agree I was thinking the same thing. There is a budget bw called Ultrafine Extreme that I reviewed it on my channel recently. Lomo 100 color is about 15.00 for a 3 roll pack

[@Musa-Moses]

Say it again for the people in the back!

[@MyAulos]

Love it too! My first film and one of my go-to colour films alongside Colorplus 200.

[@davymike761]

Great video! My favorite budget film is Agfa Vista 200 Plus. Of course recently discontinued. Love the colors of that film and is easily a great day to day color film.

[@carljonesmedia]

Ordered some off EBay a few years ago, took it on vacation and loved it.

[@andrydilindra]

One of my fav film! Shoot on daylight at bali beach indonesia. Awesome!!!

[@AndrewGoodCamera]

Great overview! A friend introduced me to the beauty of Ultramax 400 slightly overexposed and now I'm totally hooked. Haven't wanted to put anything else in my camera since. -Andrew

[@Mike_cuomo]

Denae & Andrew how many Stops do you over expose by?

[@AndrewGoodCamera]

I aim for two.

[@mrfoohy11]

I have only recently looked into Kodak Ultramax 400 when my roommate and I went to a Goodwill and found an expired box of 4 for $3 after shooting 2 rolls I must admit that I like the film a lot and will be buying some more soon.

[@KarelianStarmaster]

I think one of the reasons I like Ultramax 400/Kodak Super Gold 400 so much, is that it scans really well with a Pakon.

[@letsgopops]

Thank you for this video. I am new shooter and got me a Nikon fg and a roll of Kodak 400 and I love the color you had on the photos so I am using iso 100 today. THANK YOU!!!

[@andymiller4971]

I regularly use ultramax, its a good film, i also use cplus 200 equally happy with both films, I have used high end kodak films, but value for money, can't go far wrong with ultra and cplus... Pro image is a good contender as well.

[@jozigirl7114]

ColorPlus is extremely underrated

[@miguelbmelo]

Same here, the Kodak Ultramax 400 has one of my favourite looks

[@vvlassic]

Hmm, might have to try it that way of shooting - lower than box speed + expose for the shadows. Thanks for sharing!

[@alea6893]

vvalden can you maybe explain what exposing for the shadows means ?

[@ghettomist1575]

Fuji has a greenish tinge to it. I like superia a lot but I’m going to try ultra max next

[@preproduction7789]

Great video, love your advice and really appreciate your friendly way of passing on knowledge. Does setting your ISO to 100 when shooting Ultramax 400 mean, that you set your ISO to 50 when shooting Kodak Gold 200? Thanks. Once again, great work, keep it up and stay healthy.

[@jakesteurrys4225]

I'm almost 3 months in on shooting film i have been using portra 400 the whole time and i love it i shot like 6 rolls of ultramax 400 and i just love also i ordered 10 rolls of it today

[@jakesteurrys4225]

The colors the film gives off is just amazing 🖤

[@mynciee]

Thanks for shouting out to budget films! The pro grade films get a lot of hype but it doesn't mean they're the best - just that they are better at certain colours/tones. Gold saved my ass when I went to a music festival with only a couple rolls of film and the convenience store in town had a few rolls. Really nice punchy colours

[@alvareo92]

Pro grade films have finer grain and more latitude but all films are good in this day and age

[@PaulCSmithPhotographer]

Beautiful photos, valuable information. Top class video Matt thankyou.

[@_theyojimbo]

I recently got into film and never tried this film. But these shots look amazing and now I definitely want to give it a go! Really nice work dude

[@zachanderson303]

Just got my first two rolls of UltraMax back and I exposed for the highlights and shot at box speed for both and on both the shadows are horribly muddy and grainy. Didn’t take your advice and regret it

[@jakobobo26]

Great vid! Thanks! You’re so right about it being underrated, this is the first review I’ve seen on it. It’s been my main film since I started shooting film a couple years ago. I’ve got nearly 20 rolls in my fridge because I get given loads of it on Christmas and birthdays :P

[@ColinBloodworth]

I almost always choose Gold 200 over Ultramax 400. For some reason the grain of ultramax is less predictable than the gold. They may be the exact same and I took a bad photo once giving me a weird opinion, though... Gold 200 is my go-to tbh.

[@manwhalejoe6962]

Hey man! Do you shoot Gold at 200 or do you shoot at 100 ISO to make sure you get the shadows? I tried overexposing Fuji superia 400 and shot it at 200 ISO, and it didnt go so well- the highlights were a bit harshly blown out. But maybe the light was too harsh that day rather than it being the film's fault... anyways, I'd love to know your thoughts. Is gold more of a "warm" brown/yellow tone?

[@ColinBloodworth]

@@manwhalejoe6962 All of my Gold 200 has been shot at box speed tbh and yes, gold tends to yield warmer yellows and reds to my eye. I don't have much trouble with shadows, but I'm also fairly new to film, only a few months so far. I have a video on my channel shooting some gold 200 if you wanna check those out or my ig @ccbloodworth.

[@nelsonm.5044]

Last time I bought a roll of Ultramax at my local pharmacy, I had to explain to 2 employees what film was because they had no clue what I was looking for and could not tell me where film were in the pharmacy. As for the colors rendition of the film I was pleasantly surprised by the results, like you not the Portra finish, but quite nice

[@alangibson980]

Just purchased some of this film, interested to see how my comes out. Thanks for the video it's good to see you again.

[@lorenzomartinoia8351]

Just bought portra 400 today and some ultramax 400 as well, can't wait to try them out!

[@straight_edge_5139]

Man it’s so polarizing to watch old videos about film from just 3 years ago and see just how crazy and instant the cost of film has gone up excessively. I can’t find ultramax in the wild and online it really is no better. All we can do is hope the industry comes back

[@danieldiaz6424]

Happy your back matt! Can’t wait for future videos.

[@bareingredients]

Great little intro to Ultramax 400. An alternative is Kodak Pro Image 100. Lovely colours and fine grained film, which I school at ISO 80. Good thing about this film is not expensive and great if you live in hotter areas like Australia. You should check it out.

[@PhotoTubeUK]

I tend to shoot mostly Portra 160 and Ilford B&W. Not tried Ultramax but I will now! Thanks for the tip Matt.

[@kinglear5952]

All the fans a rooting for you like anything. Keep up the ggod work.

[@themikepadua]

Ultramax is my desert island film. Great video Matt!

[@dan_brett_rosenthal]

Also, one of the first films I used in an early shoot that to this day still surprises me how great it came out :) Superia 200 is my fave though and I've tried to love the Pro film stocks more *shrug*

[@pawelwojtowicz5038]

Kodak ColorPlus is another good one.

[@Topsyrm]

Good to see you back Matt.

[@TheBrickCraftsman]

Colour Plus 200 will still and always be my favourite (budget) colour negative film

[@johntazbaz1121]

Thanks for the video Matt. I’ve been on the fence about trying this one, but you sold me on it after seeing this video. Your images look great!

[@nickwinter7156]

Thank you for the great video, Matt! I enjoy all of your videos so much and love how you tell stories instead of just bringing up some technical facts. I recently developed Kodak Tmax 3200 in Rodinal and i am looking for a better, less grainy option :) Could you maybe make a video on different black and white developers? Thanks again and keep up the good work!

[@evelasq1]

You should try out the Fujifilm C200 film. It is a great budget film and the colors look great. I have some in my refrigerator.

[@ianbutler1983]

Matt, you look well.

[@filmic1]

I usually shoot Provia when shooting colour, but your images are terrific. I love the somewhat muted tones.

[@explorerfan]

Fuji C200 is my go to budget film love it

[@TheBlacksunsh1ne]

So if I am shooting a 400 film like this that deals well with overexposure, with my camera set to ISO200 - do I need to inform my developer to pull 1 stop or will that cancel out the benefits? Should I not tell them at all and they still develop for 400? Basically I am asking if the film's ability to deal with overexposure is down to the fact that it is a good film to pull, or that its a good film to overexpose and develop without any additional effort on our part?

[@jacksonspencer2707]

I’m also very curious on this point. Don’t labs typically try to “normalize” the exposure unless explicitly directed otherwise?

[@TheBlacksunsh1ne]

Jackson Spencer I researched this further after my comment and the answer is you do NOT tell them. I think they will normalise (I.e. make all photos the same) but they will not adjust exposure across the board. So yes they will be normalised but still be overexposed as intended.

[@warwickwallace2699]

Don't tell them to pull process it. Over exposing it by 1 stop just helps you retain a bit more shadow detail (colour negative film can handle this slight overexposure without any special processing)

[@discojelly]

Awesome! Thanks for this one Matt! I've used this film as a price saver when doing wildlife photography out in the field.. good results with it. Definently a lot cheaper when you want to carry a lot of film out with you. Your sample shots look amazing.

[@louisrimmer6544]

Good to see you back in action. I think I'll have a go of this stuff!

[@sonygoup]

Switching over to Kodak from Fuji. Bought some Kodak Ultra 400 and Colorplus as when I shot them I really enjoyed it. Fuji colors sucks and had me depressed when shooting it

[@AeromaticXD]

I love the colours from Fuji Superia, and Pro 400H

[@LaskyLabs]

My mother found an old expired roll of (I think either Ultramax or Kodak gold?) This stuff had to be like 10+ years old, and I just know the shots I got on it are going to look amazing lol.

[@APisceanSlant]

RIP AGFA Vista...my "go-to" cheapo film.

[@fidj1959]

me too =(

[@petouser]

AGFA la Vista, baby

[@frickseerose6146]

And agfa ct precisa:/ so sad

[@MusicMinisterJP7]

I was under the impression this AGFA Vista 400 film was very good.. Any comments?

[@MarcoRoepers]

I now tend to overexpose when taking pictures when it is overcasted. When it is sunny I am confident with the automatic shots of my Canon Eos 3000. I am using Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400 ISO. I just brought my first Kadok Gold to the Photographer's shop for developing. I think 200 ISO is not so well for shooting during winter. So now my Eos 3000 is loaded again with a Superia 400 ISO

[@joeysartain6056]

I wish they would bring back the black & white cn film too. I really liked that film.

[@RobertNuttmann]

Good to see a youtube video of Ultramax. I agree with your video almost entirely. I also have a Sony A7iii so I will keep it well away from the water. I have shot quite a bit of Ultramax 400 and also bought it from B&H. To me the color rendition of Ultramax is not the same as Kodak Gold 200. Gold 200 reminds me of when I took thousands of vacation photos in the 70's and 80's. Ultramax to me is a bit like a combo of Portra 400 and Ektar 100. Skin tones like Portra but with more red. And even though it is a 400 compared to the Gold's 200 I find the Ultramax to have less grain than the Gold. Compared to Fuji I would say follow the colors on the box. Fuji boxes are green and their films Fujicolor 200 and Superia 400 tend to be more to the green side than Kodak. And Kodak boxes are the more of the yellow-orange-red. Same as the way their films tend to color. So if going to our local forest park Fuji tends to be better. If going to our Borrego Desert State Park, Kodak. I love love love Ektar for landscape. To me it just makes whatever landscape I visit to look better and more interesting than with digital unless I am lucky. But Ultramax has some of those same characteristics at a low price and higher box speed. I think that if I could only choose one film and one film only I would take Ultramax. Very good happy medium. I do also like the Fujicolor 200. Just more green. And I recently shot a roll (last week) of the new Kodak Ektachrome. Wow, a knockout. I wish it did not cost $12.95 at B&H, but the results are the best slide film I have shot in the last few years. But I have only shot Velvia 50 and Velvia 100 besides Ektachrome.

[@Jacob98376]

Just got some ultramax the other day at the local drugstore and liked it, but will order online next time! Thanks for the info.

[@MacShootsFilm]

Been looking for an everyday alternative to Fuji Pro 400H to enable me to shoot at 400 but not shoot $10+ rolls of film. Thanks for all the content you crank out!

[@CrazyCalabrese78]

Great photos and explanation Matt. Whatever you mentioned, I’ve already learnt but to a newcomer that’s a really succint and clear explanation on the metering. Have shot one roll of this and it was really nice, even on portraits.

[@joeaddison]

As for budget colour negatives I shoot Fuji c200! I shoot for the shadows and meter for 100 ASA. In not sure if c200 is a fuji superia type film but it's regularly available and cheap

[@justcallmesando]

Coming back to this video after a while. How is everything going Matt?

[@peteberry3826]

I miss the Kodak C-41 black and white film as well. Hopefully it will be the next film Kodak brings back. Fingers crossed.

[@grainydaysss]

Looks amazing, time to reconsider ultramax! Maybe I'm wrong but isn't ultramax just higher speed kodak gold? Cheers

[@jcaldrey1039]

Looking good my friend. Nice to watch you again. Keep em coming.

[@malypavel25]

2 stops over seems like an overkill, but god, did your pictires come out well!

[@btrdangerdan2010]

I love Kodak black and white 400cn too I wish t was back!

[@JoeySher]

Finished my first roll on my Minolta x-700

[@edscannell1019]

Hi Matt...great video (s). Can I ask..when you say your exposing for the shadows, are you bringing them into zone 5 (middle grey ) ? I see a lot of videos with regards to exposing this way but very few say where they are placing the shadows.

[@dariusliadon]

I've shot a couple rolls of Ultramax and it was nice but my go to color film is Gold 200. So inexpensive, a tad less punchy than Ultramax but so much warmer, love it. Btw Matt, you still use your Epson V550/600 scanner right? I use a V550 myself but struggle getting good results out of shots overexposed by as little as 1 stop, I just lose a lot of dynamic range and detail and the grain blows up like crazy and that's both with color and B&W, and with both the Epson software and Silverfast 8. Any tips to deal with that?

[@filmriel]

Yes! Having this problem as well! Did try overexpose the film and didn't get good color scans from Epson V700 as well. Will like to know how you get the scans! Really lovely colours from this film stock!

[@gahuberflyboy]

Hi Matt...Could you do an upload on your procedures on processing and printing of 35mm color? Thank you...Glenn

[@maciejthiem4252]

Hey Matt! Awesome review that I've been looking for. I want to know for sure. You just overexposed by 2 stops. You didn't make any pull process during development, just processed the film like a regular 400 did you? all best Maciej

[@ULATAN.]

Glad to have you back Matt! Btw, I haven’t used ultra max yet but I love color plus, have you tried CP200 yet?

[@ShawarmaFarmer]

I have a hate love relationship with Ultramax. Sometimes the shadows are super muddy and sometimes the exposures are really nice. Now that you've mentioned it I should really stop shooting it at boxspeed and overexpose instead of just relying on the 80/20 TTL meter

[@michaelsingJiuJitsu]

Carolina Beach!?! I've lived here most of my life. Thats crazy...

[@theadventurefamily761]

I might try your settings since I have a few rolls of the unltramax 400. Now curious to see the difference when I go to 200 and then 100…hmm