Kodak · ISO 100 Cinema
Kodak Vision2 100T 5212
Kodak released Vision2 100T 5212/7212 in 2004 as the slow tungsten stock of the Vision2 generation, replacing Eastman EXR 100T 5248 from the late eighties. At launch Kodak called it the sharpest color negative motion picture film ever made. The claim held until the Vision3 rollout started in 2007 with 500T and finished with 50D in 2011, and by 2010 the 5212 was discontinued after a six-year window during which it became the default tungsten interior stock for a wave of features.
Technical character was already what Vision3 would refine: low granularity, a linear curve, good shadow neutrality. The 100T toe was optimized for digital intermediate workflows just becoming standard in feature production. ShotOnWhat lists around 40 features that used 5212. Mission: Impossible III with Dan Mindel. Watchmen with Larry Fong. Shutter Island with Robert Richardson. No Country for Old Men with Roger Deakins.
Compared to current Vision3 200T, the 5212 grain is slightly more present and the highlight handling is a step less generous. Vision3 200T essentially absorbed this role, which is why Kodak retired 5212.
For anyone working with surviving 5212 today, source is the limiting factor. eBay and estate sales turn up sealed 100-foot 16mm rolls and 400-foot 35mm cores at climbing prices. Storage history matters. Refrigerated stock behaves close to fresh; warehouse stock from a closed production house has often lost a stop. Process is ECN-2.
Format coverage during production was 35mm, Super 16, 16mm, and 65mm. There was never a still-photography cut and no 120 option. Hand-loading from cans into 35mm cassettes is how the few remaining shooters work with it.
Reciprocity exponent is 1.10. A metered 30-second exposure becomes about 35 seconds at the negative; Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second. Kodak's original data sheet covered motion picture exposure times and did not characterize the film past a few seconds. For rolls older than fifteen years, speed loss matters more than the reciprocity math.
How the app handles this stock
- Box speed: ISO 100. Picker exposes pull/push chips so you can shoot it at any speed you want and the meter follows.
- Reciprocity: Above one second the app raises metered time to the power of 1.10.
- Expired film: if you load an old roll, set the expiry year and storage in the app and the ISO scales for you. Cinema decay rates are baked in.