Agfa Optima 100

Optima 100 was Agfa's attempt at a professional-grade color negative film at ISO 100 that could stand next to Kodak Portra and Fuji NPS without conceding on saturation or skin tones. Unlike the Vista line, which became a license-held budget brand after 2005, Optima was a true Agfa-Gevaert product coated in Leverkusen and aimed at the working-pro market. The Prestige II version added sheet film sizes including 4x5 and 8x10 to serve commercial and editorial shooters.

The emulsion used what Agfa branded as Eye Vision technology, their term for color-coupler chemistry tuned for red-range gradation and mixed-light situations including fluorescents. The claim was that greenish casts from office and supermarket lighting could be handled at the negative stage rather than in post. Photographers reported less green cast than competing consumer films but still recommended an FLD filter for serious work under tubes.

Compared with Kodak Portra 160NC of the same era, Optima ran slightly more saturated and slightly cooler in shadows. Skin tones were natural rather than warm. Reds had a depth that Agfa users specifically loved; greens stayed honest rather than going emerald the way Velvia or Reala can. For studio portraits and product work in controlled light, the stock held up well against Portra and the NPS family.

Grain at ISO 100 was fine enough to permit large prints from medium format without becoming a limitation. In 35mm the grain showed up at meaningful enlargements but not in a way that hurt commercial work.

Agfa-Gevaert spun off its Consumer Imaging division as AgfaPhoto GmbH in September 2004. AgfaPhoto filed for insolvency in May 2005 and wound up by year end, taking Optima with it. Only freezer-stock and expired rolls circulate now; sheet sizes are particularly rare.

Reciprocity exponent is 1.20. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second, so a 30-second meter reading becomes about 60 seconds at the negative. For sheet-film studio work on a tripod, the correction kicks in regularly and the modest exponent keeps times manageable.