Kodak Ultramax is well known in the film community to be most photographers “first”. As an affordable, versatile, moderately saturated consumer film, it is often the most recommended for those who are first getting started with shooting color film. There is many good reasons for this. I will talk about those reasons as well as share some 20 years expired Ultramax to show how the look of this film has been familiar. Let’s get into it
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The History of Kodak Ultramax
Kodak’s first 400 speed film was Kodacolor 400 in 1977. With the release of Kodaks T-grain technology in 1982 came Kodacolor VR 400. This led to the Gold line of films and on to the Ultramax we know today. It wasn’t called Kodak Ultramax until 2007 when the emulsion was changed to suit digital scanning in labs with slight emulsion changes along the way.
Ultramax is now one of the most recognized consumer films on the market. It has a very warm and earthy color palette with noticeable grain. It has green in the shadows and an almost orange tint in the highlights. For me, Ultramax has always been recognizable, and that signals trust and reliability for any photographer.
Ultramax Over Time
Share moments, share life. That jingle brings back so many memories for me when I hear it in the commercial below. I heard that jingle so many times over my childhood.
So when my wife’s aunt gave me a 3 pack of expired Kodak Max Versatility with a GC on the cartridge that stands for Gold Consumer, I was excited. These were rolls I would have shot as a teenager! She said it had been in her freezer and I put it directly into my refrigerator.
The following photos come from a roll that expired 9/2004. That means this roll is from the early 2000’s. I shot this roll at ISO 200 and then developed it regularly in Unicolor C41. It probably could have used even more light.
You can see it held up pretty well. Ultramax has a look that survives changes in chemistry, scanning, and even age. Even in a roll that is more than 20 years expired, you can still recall the orange leaning highlights and the grainy-olive color in the shadows right away. That for me screams Kodak Ultramax.
While this film loses a little of its consistency over time, it still delivers the same feeling. Reliability isn’t boring when you’re documenting your life. It’s reassuring, and I think that is invaluable for a photographer at any level.
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That is why this film is usually recommended to anyone starting out in film photography. It is affordable and reliable. When you’re first learning, you don’t want to have to be factoring in the colors when taking photos. You want to just be shooting until it becomes second nature. If you practice with this film, you will likely get back scans that look the way the composition looked when you saw it in person. That is important in the beginning.
2019
Ultramax 400
Kodak Ultramax 400
2019
2020
Kodak Ultramax 400
2020
2025
Shooting Kodak Ultramax 400
While I love all of these pro’s, I’ll be honest, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with it over the years. That is because back when I was a kid using it in my Canon Rebel G, I knew nothing about exposure and just shot on auto. That led to muddy shadows and just overall unsatisfactory results. That made me stay away from it for a while. However, over the years I have come back to this film and learned how to get along with it.
As the years passed and emulsions were adjusted, Kodak’s 400 speed color film continued to produce the same look and feel. When I started shooting film again, after the digital craze lost its luster, I reached for what was familiar to me. Kodak Ultramax and Fuji Superia Xtra 400. The first being true to life and the latter being a bit more punchy in color.
2025
When I was first starting out in taking photos for art not just snapshots, I was looking for over saturation and wow factor. I think most new creatives do. Therefore, I was a bit underwhelmed with Ultramax.
This isn’t a pretty film, it’s an honest one. It portrays true to life skin tones and a warm feeling, when you treat it right. Ultramax was made for life happening fast, so in a pinch it will give you a photo that is acceptable in most cases. It’s when you want more that you have to start to get to know what its perks are, and that wasn’t something I realized until recently. I came to learn that, for me, it looks great when over-exposed.
2025
Outdoors I like to shoot rolls at ISO 200 even when it’s not expired. Indoors I shoot it at box speed but try to over expose when I can. Otherwise, the shadows can be very grainy and dark green. But when you get it right, it is beautiful. It is real life.
An Ice Protest I photographed in 2026
Final Thoughts
I’ve really started to love this film. While I shied away from it over the years once I had other options, Ive found myself sticking with it as of late because of the price and the look it gives me now that I have learned how to shoot it.
The more I shoot, develop, and scan this film, the more I am appreciative of its familiar look every time. Even the 20+ years expired rolls still felt familiar to me. I rarely have to adjust the colors in post to get what I saw when I took the photo. That is rare in my experience with color film.
Is it still worth it in 2026? I definitely think it is, and now that I have found how consistent the look of this film is, I think it is invaluable. Whether it is reliability in skin tones for portraits, popping color in landscapes, or true to life and speed for low light real life experiences, Kodak Ultramax just delivers. It is not common to be able to get a reliable look even when a film is expired.
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Until next time, stay motivated and keep shooting.
Shoot Ultramax Yourself and let me know how you like it!
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Further reading on Ultramax: Casual Photofile
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I use Ultramax quite a bit. It’s my “go-to” test film for any new camera, especially since it’s one of the two readily available stocks you can get in 24 exposure rolls. (Gold is the other.) It’s basically all I use in late-era compacts, since the lackluster maximum apertures of these cameras would mean a lot of “flash-in-daylight” shots if I used slower film. And I love its look and consistent nature!