Kodak Ektachrome EPY 64T

EPY is the emulsion code Kodak used for what most shooters knew as Ektachrome 64T Professional. The code matters because Kodak reused it: the original EPY 6018, released in the late 1970s, was an ISO 50 tungsten Ektachrome that ran through the early 1980s before Kodak retired it. The second-generation EPY, the one most photographers actually shot, appeared in 1987 at ISO 64 and stayed in production until Kodak announced its discontinuation in late 2009. So when you see EPY on a film box, the year on the edge code tells you which emulsion you are holding.

The 1987 stock was a real improvement on the older 50T. Finer grain, longer tonal scale, better color stability under long exposures up to ten seconds. Studio architectural shooters used it for interiors lit by quartz fixtures because the highlight rolloff held cleanly even when the exposure pushed past a second. Compared with Fujichrome 64T, the closest commercial peer, EPY tracked slightly warmer in skin and rendered a more conservative blue. That conservatism was the entire appeal in commercial work where the client paid for accuracy rather than mood.

Daylight use requires an 85B filter to convert the tungsten balance, which costs you two-thirds of a stop and brings effective speed to ISO 16. Most working pros owned the filter and stopped thinking about it.

Available in 35mm, 120, and sheet through 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10. Kodak discontinued the stock in 2009. The remaining supply is freezer stock and sealed boxes on the secondary market, and edge codes from the mid-1990s onward represent the most stable batches.

The reciprocity exponent is 1.10. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second. A metered six-second studio exposure becomes about seven and a half seconds at the negative. For the long tungsten shots EPY was designed for, that mild curve is exactly what you want.