Kodak Ektachrome E100G

Kodak sold three Ektachrome E100 variants at the same time in the early 2000s: VS for maximum saturation, S for moderate saturation, and G for neutral. G stood for general purpose, which was Kodak's way of saying this was the one you reached for when accurate color mattered more than punchy color. Portrait photographers used it because skin tones stayed honest. Photojournalists used it because an editor could not complain that the colors were wrong.

The emulsion had fine grain for ISO 100 slide film, genuinely comparable to Fuji Provia 100F in that department, though the color science was different. Fuji pushed cooler and more contrasty. E100G sat warmer and slightly flatter in the midtones, which gave it more usable latitude in bright sun than you might expect from a slide stock. It was not a forgiving film, but it was less brutal than Velvia.

Kodak discontinued the entire first-generation E100 lineup in 2012 when demand for E-6 chemistry kept falling. The new Ektachrome E100 that arrived in 2018 replaced all three variants with a single emulsion that sits closer to where E100G sat on the color spectrum: neutral, accurate, not oversaturated. If you shot E100G in the 2000s and switch to the current E100, the adjustment is small.

Expired E100G occasionally surfaces at estate sales and camera fairs. Cold-stored rolls from the last production runs are often still usable if kept at box speed and processed quickly. The reciprocity exponent is 1.10. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second, which matters more with slide film than negative because there is no printing correction to bail you out of an exposure error.