Kodak Gold 200

I really wanted to talk about Kodak Gold 200 in my previous post about it and got so wrapped up in the whole ruined negative thing that I forgot. So here we have another shot (above) from the same roll that was not ruined. This was taken with the ZX-30 using the on-board flash and this is what I think Kodak Gold is all about – good solid family snapshots.

I don’t think this is a “great film.” It doesn’t have the color saturation or intensity of Portra or Ektar and cannot compare to any of the slide films but the reds are red and the greens green, it’s reasonably sharp and it is forgiving enough to allow for less than perfect exposures (+3/-2 stops) according to Kodak) and still yield good photos….and at 200 (ISO) there is enough film speed to take good photos in most lighting situations with pretty much any kind of camera. You will need a flash inside of course but almost any kind of flash will do including the on-board flashes that come with most of the point & shoot’s.

So maybe this is a great film after all, at least in the sense that you really don’t have to think or worry about it. Just pop a roll into any half way decent camera and if you’re within a couple of stops of a correct exposure you will get pretty good snap shots that faithfully represent what you saw when you pressed the shutter button. More importantly, this is about the only cheap Kodak film left. I just bought a couple rolls of 36 exposures for about $2 each!

You may have noticed I didn’t mention Fuji or any other films here. I like Kodak. I don’t know why. I just like Kodak. Now in the absence of Kodachrome I have experimented with and come to really appreciate Fuji’s Velvia and if I want or need “eye-popping super saturated warm colors” for some reason I will always use Fuji films. But for 90% of my photos including black & white, I prefer Kodak.