AshigrainColour negative · Vivid & saturated
Agfa Agfacolor Ultra 50
Agfa's most saturated negative, for pale, hazy scenes.
Extremely saturated colour from a pale scene. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Exposure index
- 50
- Daylight
- Introduced
- by 1995
- Discontinued
- Process
- C-41
- Prints on
- Scan
About the film
Agfa sold Ultra 50 as the most saturated of its Professional colour negatives, made to intensify pale colours and the weak colours of haze or fog.
It began as one of a trio with Portrait 160 and Optima 125, which Amateur Photographer tested as Agfa's newest bid for the colour print market: one film technology, with saturation set by mixing emulsion layers of different speeds. Agfa said Ultra had twice Optima's saturation, and Optima twice Portrait's. The price was grain: although Ultra 50 was the slowest of the three, it showed the coarsest grain in the magazine's tests, and without its base it was half as thick again as Portrait. It also took exposure errors worst, turning ultramarine when underexposed and light cyan when overexposed. Reviewer Joël Lacey felt its tuned colours lacked the natural look a general film needs, while granting that it was never meant to be one. Agfa's guide of September 1998 still offered it in 35 mm and 120, with emulsion layers 27 µm thick against 18 µm for Portrait XPS 160. By July 2003 it had left Agfa's professional range, which listed Optima, Portrait 160 and RSX II films but no Ultra.
Sources for this history
- Agfa Professional Films, Technical Data PF, Agfa-Gevaert AG
- Amateur Photographer test of Agfacolor Ultra, Optima and Portrait (13 October 1990), in Early Agfa colour materials, Amateur Photographer (transcribed on photomemorabilia.co.uk)
- Technische Daten: Agfa Professional Filmsortiment (F-PF-D4, 07/2003), Agfa-Gevaert AG
- Technical Data: Agfa Professional Films (F-PF-E4, 08/2004), Agfa-Gevaert AG
- Insolvenz-Poker um AgfaPhoto, photoscala
- Vor sieben Jahren gingen bei Agfa die Lichter aus, dpa (newsroom.de)
- Technical Data: Agfacolor Ultra 50 Professional (Stand 08/1995), Agfa-Gevaert AG
The look
A daylight ISO 50 colour negative at the top of Agfa's saturation scale, made to intensify pale colours and hazy, low-contrast scenes. Agfa rated it twice as saturated as Optima, and it paid in grain and latitude. It starts as a scan; it prints on Agfa CP30 by default or on any other print film.
Pale colours enriched by a saturated negative.
High-key colour with strong saturation.
Best for
- Hazy or overcast landscapes
- Food and still life
- High-key colour effects
Among the films
Science & sources
A daylight still-photo colour negative rated at EI 50, steeper than Agfacolor Portrait XPS 160. It defaults to a scan. Its individual dye shapes are borrowed from Kodak Vision3 250D and its grain from Kodak Vision3 50D, because the guide does not publish them.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with the Ashigrain model on the same axes. This shows the calibration to source curves; comparison with photographed film is a separate question.
Characteristic response
RMS granularity
Density variation (σD) measured through a 48 µm aperture. Where the datasheet gives a single grain value, the response away from that point is an approximation.
| Channel | Density | Datasheet-based σD | Model σD |
|---|---|---|---|
| R | 0.3 | 0.005932 | 0.00617 |
| G | 0.3 | 0.005482 | 0.005715 |
| B | 0.3 | 0.010254 | 0.010643 |
| R | 0.6 | 0.004755 | 0.004947 |
| G | 0.6 | 0.004734 | 0.004935 |
| B | 0.6 | 0.01034 | 0.010732 |
| R | 1 | 0.004784 | 0.004976 |
| G | 1 | 0.004387 | 0.004573 |
| B | 1 | 0.008925 | 0.009264 |
| R | 1.5 | 0.003864 | 0.00402 |
| G | 1.5 | 0.004835 | 0.005041 |
| B | 1.5 | 0.008457 | 0.008778 |
| R | 2 | 0.002686 | 0.002794 |
| G | 2 | 0.003738 | 0.003896 |
| B | 2 | 0.006729 | 0.006984 |
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations, while halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. A real film capture also depends on development and print timing.
- Custom lighting spectra, camera metering and the spectral reflectance inferred from fixed-white-balance footage are modeled assumptions, not measurements of this film.
- Colour-print timing and scan balance under arbitrary lighting are modeled. Scanner colour balance has no standard physical unit.
- Only a midscale neutral and a minimum-density spectrum are printed, not separate cyan, magenta and yellow dye spectra. The individual dye shapes are borrowed from Kodak Vision3 250D (5207), a proxy rather than this film's dyes.
- The source prints one visual MTF curve, not separate red, green and blue curves. The model applies it to all three layers.
- The source publishes one RMS granularity value, 4.3 × 10⁻³, without saying whether it is read at gross or net density. Grain is proxied from Kodak Vision3 50D (5203), so the granularity values shown are that film's, not measurements of Ultra 50.
- No antihalation layer is named for this film; an undercoat is assumed. Halation strength, radius, layer weights and bloom are not measured.
- Individual dye amounts, layer interactions and push/pull behaviour are approximated where the datasheet provides no calibration. Grain size is assumed; published RMS granularity does not specify dye-cloud size.
- Characteristic response outside the published exposure range is an extrapolation, not measured film data.
- The default output is a scan. Scan balance has no standard unit and is modeled.
- The printer lamp and filter spectra and the Status A grey aim used in this preview are approximated; the source does not publish the required spectral or laboratory aim data.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
Sources
- Process: Agfa Professional Films, Technical Data PF, Technical Data PF, 09/1998, 1st edition, p. 4
- Characteristic curves: Agfa Professional Films, Technical Data PF, Technical Data PF, 09/1998, 1st edition, p. 8
- Diffuse RMS granularity: Agfa Professional Films, Technical Data PF, Technical Data PF, 09/1998, 1st edition, p. 8
- Exposure index: Agfa Professional Films, Technical Data PF, Technical Data PF, 09/1998, 1st edition, p. 8