Kodak Elite Chrome 100

Elite Chrome 100 was the consumer-tier version of Kodak's Ektachrome line, sold in drugstore boxes and supermarket photo aisles for hobbyists who wanted slide film without paying professional-stock prices. Internally the SKU was labeled EB. An improved EB-2 arrived in 1996; an EB3 followed. Production ran until around 2012, with leftover inventory shipping through 2014. It outlived most of the professional Ektachromes because consumer pricing kept a thin market alive longer.

Mechanically, EB and the professional EPP shared substantial DNA but were tuned differently. Elite Chrome sat closer to neutral with a small consumer-friendly saturation bump, the kind of color science where reds, blues, and greens come back a half-step livelier than reality without crossing into Velvia territory. Grain is fine; published RMS granularity is around 8, on par with the professional E100G generation. Sharpness is good but not exceptional.

Where Elite Chrome lost to the professional line was tone control and consistency across batches. Catalog shooters who needed predictable color from roll to roll stayed with EPN or EPP. Wedding and portrait photographers who needed flattering skin stayed with EPP or E100GX. Elite Chrome was for the slide-show generation: vacation photos, family events, projected at a Kodak Carousel after Thanksgiving dinner.

Distinguishing it from its sibling Elite Chrome Extra Color 100 (the EBX) matters. EBX was the saturated consumer stock, a poor man's Velvia. Plain Elite Chrome 100 was the neutral one. EBX got the more public obituary because the saturated look had a small cult following.

Sold in 35mm only. No 120, no sheet sizes. That was the line separating consumer from professional Ektachrome. The reciprocity exponent is 1.10. Past one second Zone Light Meter applies the standard correction: a 30-second meter reading lands at roughly 35 seconds at the film plane. For the kind of casual daylight shooting Elite Chrome was made for, reciprocity essentially never came up.