AshigrainColour print · Print film
Eastman EXR Color Print Film 5386
Kodak's 1990s release print, before Vision.
Eastman EXR 5386: a 1990s print. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Introduced
- 1993
- Discontinued
- Process
- ECP-2B
- Maximum density
- ≈ 4.0
- Base
- Triacetate
About the film
Before Kodak launched its Vision print films in 1998, it asked more than a hundred cinematographers, laboratories and distributors what they wanted from a print film, and a common answer was blacker blacks than a normally processed 5386 print could give.
Eastman EXR Color Print Film 5386 was then the standard release-print film, which Kodak had introduced in 1993 to replace Eastman Color Print Film 5384. Kodak sold it as 5386 and 7386 on triacetate and as 2386 and 3386 on Estar polyester, all with a rem-jet backing and processed in ECP-2B. Its data sheet promised laboratories steadier colour when prints waited between printing and processing, and a closer match between answer prints and prints run at high speed. Processed prints carry the edge marking EASTMAN 386 Safety Film. American Cinematographer reported in 1998 that Kodak designed Vision 2383 to replace it in time, and Kodak's project manager David Niklewicz said the new film tracked 5386 up to a density of about 2.0 to 2.5 and then kept climbing. Kodak still documents 2383 against 2386, with printing, sound-track and splicing set-ups carrying over with little or no change. By 2016 American Cinematographer counted Vision 2383 as the only colour print stock left to choose.
Sources for this history
- EASTMAN EXR Color Print Film 5386 / 7386 / 2386 / 3386 Technical Data, Eastman Kodak Company
- Chronology of Film, Eastman Kodak Company
- Eastman EXR Color Print Film 5386 / 7386, Timeline of Historical Film Colors
- New Products: Kodak's Expanding "Vision", American Cinematographer
- The Magic of Hard Lighting for The Love Witch, American Cinematographer
The look
Eastman EXR Color Print Film 5386 was Kodak's standard release-print film of the 1990s, until Vision 2383 replaced it. It is processed in ECP-2B, with blacks reaching about 3.85–3.97 Status A density. It is the default print for Eastman Color Negative 5247.
EXR 5386 against Kodak 2383.
Projection contrast from an EXR print.
Best for
- Printing Eastman 5247 negatives
- 1990s release-print looks
- Comparing EXR 5386 with Kodak 2383
Among the prints
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Kodak Vision3 500T night frame, printed on each film.
Science & sources
A colour print film, shown after Eastman Color Negative 5247. The result combines the response of the negative and the print. The grey aim is solved to a visual neutral.
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
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.
- The Status A grey aim is solved to a visual neutral (owner decision). Printed to the sheet's laboratory aim (1.10, 1.06, 1.03), a scene grey would project slightly blue under the model's projector, so that aim is kept only as a reference.
- The source gives no printer lamp or filter spectra. Their spectral response is approximated.
- Veiling projection flare is not measured in the available sources. Its modeled contribution lifts screen blacks; it is not a measured projection-contrast claim.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
This preview combines the print film with the named camera negative. In this comparison, the print has no separate exposure index or measured grain response.
Sources
- Process: EASTMAN EXR Color Print Film 5386 / 7386 / 2386 / 3386 Technical Data, H-1-5386, February 1999, p. 1
- Characteristic curves: EASTMAN EXR Color Print Film 5386 / 7386 / 2386 / 3386 Technical Data, H-1-5386, February 1999, p. 3