Kodak Kodacolor 100 vs. Pro Image 100

These Films Are Not the Same*

12 min read by Dmitri.
Published on November 3, 2025.

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Kodak Kodacolor 100 is a brand-new film from Kodak, announced in early October 2025. Kind of. In this article, I explain the importance of this new design and compare Kodacolor to its rumoured twin: Kodak Pro Image 100.

* — As you can tell from the title, I’m suggesting that Kodak Kodacolor 100 is not the same film as Kodak Pro Image 100 — but the differences are very slight. So if you’re trying to decide between the two films, you’re probably OK either way.

Still, I think that one of these films can render warm colours with more natural saturation, which may be hard to spot at first, but you can’t unsee it once you do. I’ve even asked several photographers and non-photographers to verify using the graphic above (two rows of sample squares from each film) — they’ve all affirmed there’s one specific difference.

In this article, I’ll share the Internet’s most thorough comparison to reveal the subtle yet meaningful differences between these films that may not be apparent without reliable control over scene, props, lighting, exposure, development, and scanning software.

I’ll also briefly explain why such fine differences may not be easy or possible to completely erase using image editing software.

In this article: Why do we have several Kodak-made ISO 100 films? Experiment overview and methods. Side-by-side: bracketed exposures (studio). Why editing may not eliminate these colour differences. Side-by-side: daylight (outdoor). Edge markings. Storage and stability. Which film is better? Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Kodak Kodacolor 100 (with Color Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustments to match Kodak Pro Image 100). I’ll explain the reasoning for these adjustments below.

Why do we have several Kodak-made ISO 100 films?

Kodak has a complicated history as a business, and it remains a complex operation today. I wrote about Kodacolor and the brief history of Kodak in last week’s newsletter, where I described Kodak’s recent investment in film production and distribution.

An earlier article where I compared Kodacolor 200 to ColorPlus and Gold — all ISO 200 films made by Kodak — digs a little deeper into this particular film brand (Kodacolor).

Analog.Cafe Podcast Season 1 Episode 3, “Kodak Panic 2025 Review,” features a discussion about the money side of the Kodak business, which is no less important for a complete picture of the Kodacolor brand.

In short, Kodak produces more films than what’s typically sold in stores, and Kodacolor 100 is its newest effort to bring some of the films it typically sells to third parties for rebranding into its own lineup.

Experiment overview and methods.

Lenses, exposure, light, textures, colours, development, scanning, and film inversions can meaningfully affect the image. When comparing vastly different films, such as Harman Phoenix and ORWO NC200, tight control over these factors may not be necessary to notice the differences.

However, since Kodacolor 100 and Pro Image 100 already look very similar in several comparisons posted online by others, the only way to be confident in these tests is to rigorously control all the variables:

Scene. A static indoor scene with a reference card, a portrait attribute, and various props.

Light. Amaran F21x 5700K with diffusion.

Exposure. Nikon FE with Nikkor 28mm 1:3.5 AI-S for Kodacolor 100 and Nikon F2 (same lens) for Pro Image 100. 𝒇3.5 1/60 (metered for middle grey) plus underexposure (-2) and overexposure (+2) brackets.

Development. Arista C-41 chemicals, same tank.

Scanning. I’ve scanned all film as digital negatives using Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 500ED via VueScan.

Inversion. I used film Q (an app for inverting negatives without altering their characteristics). Manual white balance adjustments with reference greyscale masks for artificially-lit scenes.

I’ve also run several attempts to make the films look identical to each other to observe if that’s possible and to what degree.

Side-by-side: bracketed exposures (studio).

I love testing film in the field; oftentimes, that’s enough to get an accurate idea of how it renders light into images and what makes it special. Manufacturers’ spec sheets often include info about grain size, colour sensitivity, and dynamic range.

But in this case, there’s no datasheet for Kodacolor 100 (Pro Image’s is here), and the emulsions are so similar that many people assume they are identical.

Going into this experiment, I didn’t know whether these two films were the same. Kodak had openly stated that Kodacolor is a brand that packages films from its existing catalogue. My previous comparison confirms this for Kodacolor 200 (which is the same as ColorPlus). To ensure the tests are consistent and conclusive, I’ve set up static studio lighting and selected a wide variety of colourful objects (along with a reference card and my own face for light skin tone reference).

Left (A): Kodacolor 100. Right (B): Pro Image 100. Inverted with film Q, colour-corrected. 𝒇3.5 1/60 (EI 100, middle grey).

The scenes I created are deliberately busy to give ample points of comparison.

In addition to inverting the films, I’ve colour-corrected them using a grey reference mask to ensure that they render greyscale consistently and correctly.

At first, the images shot on Kodacolor (left, A) and Pro Image (right, B) looked nearly identical, with only slightly brighter yellows, pinks, and reds on the right.

Unsure whether it’s in my head, I’ve cropped square samples from the reference charts on both sides, enlarged them, and placed them next to each other. The difference became more apparent. It was most pronounced between the warm tones, so I kept those and created a set of swatches you see above.

Arranged in a convenient viewing sample pattern, Pro Image shows higher saturation in the yellows, reds, and oranges than Kodacolor. The difference is slight, so I reached out to my photographer and non-photographer friends to see if they’ve noticed the same thing. I was careful not to lead them on; I only revealed that the swatches belonged to different films after they replied. Our communication was over imperfect mediums, such as Instagram and text — tools known for compressing graphics and reducing image quality.

Everyone I’ve quizzed had the same answer: Pro Image shows greater saturation than Kodacolor.

Left (A⁻²): Kodacolor 100. Right (B⁻²): Pro Image 100. Inverted with film Q, colour-corrected. 𝒇3.5 1/250 (EI 400, middle grey).

Underexposed scans shifted their colours towards dark purple, which I corrected using the same greyscale reference mask. The goal is not to observe colour shifts but to compare colour properties in ideal conditions, so I felt that was necessary for better results.

As expected, the films showed higher contrast and saturation, while the differences in how they render colours remained. Having worked with the swatches for a few days, the differences between these films are jumping out of the photos, though it’s possible that’s just in my head. After all, they’re timid, even more so if the films are overexposed:

Left (A⁺²): Kodacolor 100. Right (B⁺²): Pro Image 100. Inverted with film Q, colour-corrected. 𝒇3.5 1/15 (EI 25, middle grey).

The difference in saturation levels between the films significantly reduced once both were overexposed and developed normally. In fact, I didn’t notice it until I enlarged the swatches:

Here, Pro Image retained a little more saturation, but its contrast has dropped slightly compared to Kodacolor 100. Could anyone tell which film renders colours more vividly just by looking at the photos shot on each? Perhaps not without aids like direct swatch comparisons. But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that broader bodies of work might look a little brighter with Pro Image, if only subliminally.

One of my favourite uses for Pro Image is to create pastel palettes via overexposure. I am now curious how Kodacolor 100 would compare at this task. Unfortunately, this would have to wait at least a few months as the city of Vancouver is plunging into winter darkness and rain.

Kodak Pro Image 100 with Voigtländer Vitessa A.

Why editing may not eliminate these colour differences.

Seeing how small these differences are, it’s only logical to assume that they can be quickly nullified with image editing software.

The problem with the above is that adjusting a single colour to match digitally will inevitably update the rest of the colour palette across the image. Recall the warm colour swatches from Kodacolor vs. Pro Image, shot and developed normally:

Let’s say we’d like to transform the colours so that the orange swatches match (under the second “o” in Kodacolor and the “m” in Pro Image, marked I and II in the figure below). In Photoshop, this can be done by sliding the balance +28 points towards Red in the Midtones portion of the Color Balance layer applied to Kodacolor scan, and moving Green -13 towards Magenta, then Blue -9 towards Yellow.

As you can see, achieving nearly indistinguishable closeness between the oranges rendered by both films, O I and M II, is not that hard.

Unfortunately, this creates a problem: the black point of Kodacolor has shifted heavily towards the red. In practice, this could mean the entire photo would print with unnaturally purple shadows. Additionally, the bright yellow and brown swatches now look even more different between those films.

Of course, gain/contrast adjustments aren’t the only way images can be corrected. Saturation adjustments work differently and can be more appropriate for nudging the slightly duller Kodacolor towards the Pro Image brilliance:

Indeed, except for the bright yellow, a slight Saturation bump of +10 points (with an even slighter -4 degree Hue rotation) makes Kodacolor nearly identical to Pro Image. Unfortunately, that’s still not the case across the entire gamut.

The bright yellow is still lighter on Pro Image, plus the light blues and greens (which I’ve excluded from the swatch samples until now as they appeared identical on both films at all exposures) are now drifting apart.

Perhaps there’s a workflow that can get those films to match precisely or well enough. Perhaps the differences don’t really matter for your work. Nevertheless, they are there, and they can be tough to completely erase with simple image editing techniques.

Left: Kodacolor 100. Right: Pro Image 100. Inverted with film Q, no colour correction.

Side-by-side: daylight (outdoor).

One of my favourite things about Kodak Pro Image is how easy it is to scan on my Nikon COOLSCAN if it’s shot in daylight. Most photos I take on this film need no edits or colour correction of any kind; I simply feed the film into the scanner, set film Q to Auto Start, and watch the ready-to-share images drop in.

Since the above photo was made in daylight, I didn’t apply any colour correction to the scans. I simply allowed film Q to automatically invert the colours and apply its histogram-stretching algorithm, and left it at that. As expected, Pro Image worked out of the box, rendering colours vividly and accurately.

Kodacolor 100, however, appeared duller and had a slight greenish-yellow cast (if you direct your attention to the colour of the bark on the branches, it may be easier to notice the difference).

Earlier, I noted that adjusting the colours doesn’t work well if you want to precisely match Kodacolor to Pro Image. However, a scene like this can still be made visually indistinguishable with several Color Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustments:

Left: Kodacolor 100 (with Color Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustments). Right: Pro Image 100 (no colour correction). Inverted with film Q.

Some textures and colours we’re particularly sensitive to, like our skin tones, may be more difficult to match.

Whether it’s easy or hard to match those films, I appreciate the time savings with Pro Image, a medium that truly needs no edits (at least in my setup). And now that I know the approximate values I need to apply to make Kodacolor 100 look like Pro Image, I feel compelled to set them every time.

Edge markings.

Kodak Pro Image 100 uses the “KODAK PRO 100” identifying markings on its edges.

Kodacolor 100 uses the “KODAK 100-8” identifying markings on its edges.

Storage and stability.

Another advantage of Pro Image is its shelf stability. Kodak advertised it as room-temperature stable, which makes it an excellent choice for travel.

Kodacolor 100, like all other films, will probably last best in a fridge.

Which film is better?

I think you know which of the two is my pick. The differences aren’t huge, yet I still gravitate towards my preferred medium-speed colour-negative film, Kodak Pro Image 100. It renders better colours out of the box, and it’s shelf-stable.