UltraMax 400
- Kodak UltraMax 400
- Kodak Ultra Max
Gold turned up: warmer, grainier and more contrasty, at twice the speed.
Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.
What it is for
UltraMax 400 is the film for the evening. It is the same cheap, warm chemistry as Gold at twice the speed, so it works indoors and after dark where Gold cannot.
The extra speed costs grain and contrast, and both are visible. The shadows block up sooner, the highlights clip sooner, and the grain sits clearly in any flat area. A picture on UltraMax looks harder and rougher than the same picture on Gold, and that is the reason to choose it.
How it works
Name the stock, then name the contrast. Say higher contrast than Gold 200, with shadows that block up and highlights that clip.
Ask for coarse grain by name. This is a 400 speed consumer film and the grain is larger than anything else in the first two sections of this file.
Steer the three carriers. Skin goes ruddy and warm, with more red than Gold gives. Green foliage goes yellow-green and slightly more saturated. A blue sky comes back saturated but still warm, never cool.
When to use it
Use it for parties, bars, evening streets, gigs and any snapshot taken with a flash after dark.
Leave it alone for a calm portrait in daylight. The contrast is hard on a face and the grain is hard on fine detail. Gold 200 or Portra 400 suits that better.
Told apart from its neighbours
Gold 200 is the direct comparison. UltraMax is one stop faster, warmer, grainier and more contrasty, and it is the one that works at night. Portra 400 sits at the same speed and does the opposite: fine grain, low contrast and neutral skin.
Cinema publishes Film Grain at /techniques/cinema/ as its own entry, so you can ask for heavy grain on any picture. UltraMax is a whole stock, and the grain comes attached to the warm cast, the contrast and the ruddy skin.
Where it is used
Kodak has sold a 400 speed consumer colour film under several names, including Kodacolor Gold 400, Kodak MAX and GC 400, and it became UltraMax 400 in the 2000s. It is the film loaded in most single use cameras sold today, which is why the look is bound up with direct flash and a hard shadow on a wall. It sits beside Gold 200 in the same supermarket three packs.
- night party snapshots
- single use cameras
- supermarket three packs
The prompt
Replace the blanks with your own subject, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.
<subject> at a party, shot on Kodak UltraMax 400, warm consumer colour negative at 400 speed, coarse visible grain, higher contrast than Gold 200, ruddy warm skin, yellow-green foliage, warm saturated blue sky, direct on-camera flash with a hard shadow on the wall
What goes wrong
The result comes back soft and flat, which is Gold rather than UltraMax. Say higher contrast, blocked shadows and clipped highlights.
The grain is missing or painted on evenly. Say coarse grain that is strongest in the flat mid-tones, such as a wall or a sky.
Leave out
fine grain, low contrast, cool cast, neutral skin, studio lighting, soft even light
Watch for
UltraMax carries more contrast than the other consumer stocks. Ask for it, or the result comes back flat like Gold.
Questions
Shoot it
Pay for the one run. No subscription, and the price is on the model page before you sign in.
