Fujifilm 200 or Kodak Gold 200?

I wanted to do a bit more color, so I looked for some cheaper color film. Color film (and processing) is a bit expensive, and availability is scarce. I recently tried looking for Kodak Ektar 100 to no avail. At least I found a place where I can pre-order a couple of rolls and they ship when they’re in stock.

I bought a three pack of Fujifilm 200. One thing that’s been happening with Fuji is they have been having supply-chain issues as of late, along with the rest of the world. They’ve discontinued a number of film stocks, and the ones they haven’t, they’re having a hard time getting out.

Fuji came out with a new Fujifilm 200 in late 2021, and rumors have swirled (repeatedly) that the new Fujifilm 200 is re-packaged Kodak Gold 200. It would be no surprise if that was the case. So far Fuji hasn’t confirmed that, but the response curves look awfully similar.

To me, it’s a curiosity rather than any sort of issue. From the comparisons I’ve seen, Kodak Gold has a bit more color saturation and vibrancy than Fuji’s 200 ISO film of old. The film I was using for my first C41 processing was Fujicolor 400, and I can see a slight difference. If you’re curious, take a look at this video for a more in-depth analysis: https://youtu.be/D3pZR3bU4fQ.

I do like this film, and I think the color came out great. I tweaked the color balance and saturation anyway, so the difference is not that important.