Kodak Vision 3 250D 5207/7207 Film Review

Kodak Vision 3 250D 5207/7207 is a colour-negative film made for motion picture cameras. Since the 35mm movie reels can be bulk-loaded into 135 film canisters, the 250D has been in use by still photographers increasingly¹. Its image quality is on par with Kodak Portra 400 and other colour-accurate fine-grained low-contrast emulsions when developed in ECN-2.

However, for this review, I’m processing my Vision 3 250D rolls in C-41 chemicals — a standard at your local film lab — but with the remjet removed via Flic Film borax mix.

I also compare the 250D to CineStill 400D, which has been claimed by many to be identical in all aspects but the remjet layer. (Spoiler: it’s not.)

In this review: What is Kodak Vision 3 250D 5207/7207? Dynamic range and colours. Grain and resolution. Green noise and contrast issues with C-41. Kodak Vision 250D 5207/7207 vs. CineStill 400D. The Kodak Alaris crackdown on motion picture film sales. Where to buy Kodak Vision 3 250D 5207/7207. More samples. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!¹ — See “The Kodak Alaris crackdown on motion picture film sales.”

What is Kodak Vision 3 250D 5207/7207?

Kodak Vision 3 is a film made specifically for movie cameras in various formats and lengths (50’ and up). You can’t buy it directly from Kodak unless you can prove it’s for video production, and even if you do get some, you can’t shoot it in your 35mm (or medium format) film camera without performing a few extra steps. But there are other ways you can get your hands on it, which may be worth your effort.

Vision 3 250D was used in recent major motion picture productions, including Interstellar, Tenet, Dunkirk, and Killers of the Flower Moon. This film is as good as it gets when it comes to cinema stock.

CineStill’s new film, 400D/Dynamic, is thought by many to be 250D with the remjet layer removed for easy processing. Though the company has openly stated that their 50D offering is Kodak Vision 3 50D film w/o the remjet — the same with 800T (which is Vision 3 500T w/o remjet) — CineStill 400D is said by them to be something else. I will show you the differences I found between the CineStill 400D and Kodak Vision 3 250D below.

Dynamic range and colours.

A wide dynamic range can help capture high-contrast scenes in their entirety — with all the details in the shadows and highlights preserved. It can also help fix some mistakes after the fact. For example, if the exposure is too high or too low for your taste, you can adjust it once you’ve scanned the film, given that there is enough information in the image.

Kodak Vision 3 films are known for their wide dynamic range. According to Kodak’s datasheet, 250D has about 9 stops of DR, which is close to or higher than that of many colour-negative films. Though films like 50D or Kodak Portra 400 can deliver a lot more (11-12 stops).

Nine stops of DR is close to how the human eye sees the world, which makes the 250D easy to work with as it matches the expectations. But please note that the nine-stop estimate is based on the ECN-2 development process, which is characterized by flatter images/wider DR than the traditional C-41 process.

In standard colour-negative film chemicals (but with remjet removed), 250D retains its natural-looking contrast across the exposure, except for the shadows, which in some cases may have issues and will need to be “crushed.”

The colours. Whether it’s C-41 or ECN-2, the colours on 250D look nuanced and colour-accurate. From the scanner, they will appear on the warmer side but could be easily adjusted to taste.

Exposure. I metered this film at ISO 250. I do not recommend metering this film at EI 400 as this may add colour casts and exacerbate the issues in the shadows when developing in C-41.

​✪ Note: I use this method to scan all film for my reviews. It creates consistent results that make understanding and comparing the emulsion’s colour/contrast attributes possible.

Grain and resolution.

Kodak Vision 3 films create outstanding colour reproductions with natural colours and contrast that are easy to work with in post. Another one of the film’s impressive properties is its resolution: the 250D is exceptionally fine-grained; it can resolve detail appearing finer than Portra 400 (which claims to have the finest grain for its speed) and many other colour films.

I can’t say if the grain would appear even finer in the ECN-2 developed frames, yet I am already impressed with the results I got in C-41.

All the samples in this review were scanned on my vintage Nikon CoolScan 500ED at 4,000DPI, yielding about 24MP per frame. The results show barely any grain, even with extreme enlargements.

Colour-negative films have come a long way since their introduction nearly a full century ago. Even the cheaper ones, like Kodak ColorPlus, Gold, Ultramax, and Fujifilm 400, can scan with lots of detail, yet the 250D remains the most impressive medium-speed colour-negative film I’ve used so far.

I hope that the samples in this article and my description give you a good idea of what to expect from this film. Unfortunately, granularity and resolution can not be easily determined and measured since the size of the molecular clumps (grain) can depend on exposure, colour, and other aspects that could make comparisons difficult or inaccurate. In fact, Kodak has moved on from publishing RMS granularity values in favour of asking groups of participants to judge the granularity and then averaging their survey findings in the PGI index tables. Vision 3 datasheets do not list PGI indexes.

Green noise and contrast issues with C-41.

A number of photographers who’ve developed Vision 3 250D in C-41 have complained about the green noise in the shadows. I’ve noticed it, too.

The green noise is a reminder that the film is cross-processed in a developer it’s not formulated for. Whereas most well-lit images will appear natural, the deepest shadows in high-contrast scenes are subject to issues.

To my eye, this is not a good look. Unfortunately, attempting to correct this noise by working with the green channel or any colour channels individually will not yield positive results. Selectively removing green from the shadows will make the rest of the image purple. The only reliable way I found to get rid of it is to increase the contrast of the scene using Curves adjustments (or similar) until the shadows become black. This may make your images appear less natural and rob them of some detail. Still, this is the only effective method that I came across.

The 250D does not have this problem when developed in ECN-2. Neither does the 400D in C-41, which suggests that there are some significant differences between the Vision 3 250D and the CineStill’s offering.

Kodak Vision 250D 5207/7207 vs. CineStill 400D.

CineStill became a business once they built a machine and a supply chain that takes Kodak Vision 3 films (namely, 50D and 500T), removes the remjet layer, and packages the remaining emulsion in metal film canisters. This is not an easy job, especially at scale, yet the company is often criticized for not producing new products.

I will not pretend to know exactly what CineStill does to create their 400D (a.k.a., Dynamic) film — but it’s definitely more than simply removing the remjet. The fact that this film is available in a 4x5 format is the first clue (since there’s no motion picture film that can be cut to this size).

But there’s more to the 400D than just the range of sizes: this CineStill does not produce the green noise in deep when developed in C-41, as you can see in the illustration above that compares both films.

This, of course, is not to say that the unmodified Vision 3 film is inferior. 250D with the remjet layer intact can resist halation, which may be something that you’re looking for. It has no issues being developed in ECN-2, and it’s cheaper (if you can find it).

The Kodak Alaris crackdown on motion picture film sales.

During the past few years, many small businesses realized that it’s cheaper to buy Kodak film in bulk as it’s sold to movie production studios. A small investment on a 400’ reel can yield 76 135 rolls of 36exp., which can be repackaged and sold at a premium. Individuals have also made their investments to save on high quality Kodak film.

Unfortunately for both groups, Kodak Alaris, a part of the business that’s responsible for marketing and distribution of familiar brands like Ektar, Gold, and Portra, may have pressured Kodak to introduce new purchase requirements. You now have to prove to them that you are buying the film to shoot a movie — not stills.

Where to buy Kodak Vision 3 250D 5207/7207.

Just because you can’t buy this film directly from Kodak doesn’t mean it’s not available. If you’d like to bulk load to save big, you can try short ends or the entire canisters from resellers — whenever available. But you can also buy individual 35mm film canisters loaded with 250D. The link below will give you a few options to choose from.

Please note that if you buy bulk rolls that are longer than 100’, you will need a special tool.

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Kodak Vision 3 50D 5203/7203 film purchase using this link  so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!

More samples.

The danger of owning a bulk roll is that it can be hard to stop shooting it — especially if it’s as good as the 250D. Whereas single packs get me to count every frame, 100’ in the fridge made me feel like I could shoot this film for a year (it barely lasted a summer).