Actualité industrie · 2026-09-04

Eastman Kodak Takes Back the Reins: Ektacolor Pro, Ektapan, and Kodacolor, Six Months In

Since spring 2026, the film shelf has looked a little different in a lot of shops. New yellow boxes carrying names nobody had seen in decades: Ektacolor Pro, Ektapan, Kodacolor. Eastman Kodak is now distributing six professional film stocks directly, after spending more than ten years letting Kodak Alaris handle that side of things. For anyone buying film online or browsing their local camera shop, the real question is straightforward: does any of this change how you actually work, or is it just a different logo on the box?

Two Kodaks, One Factory: Some Background

Eastman Kodak has always manufactured Kodak film, but when the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2012, it sold its commercial and marketing division to Kodak Alaris. Two separate entities ever since. Kodak Alaris owns the Portra and T-Max names, not Eastman Kodak. That's where it gets complicated: the Rochester plant keeps making the emulsion, but the most recognized names in professional film belong to a different company based in England.

In September 2025, Eastman Kodak started a phased plan to take back control of its own distribution, beginning modestly with two new color stocks. Kodacolor 100 and 200 came first, then Kodak Gold 200 and Ultramax 400 in November, followed by Ektar and Tri-X in January, and Ektachrome in February 2026. On March 24, 2026, Ektacolor Pro and Ektapan landed and left a lot of film photographers scratching their heads overnight.

The May 2026 announcement, which added large format sheets and 100-foot bulk rolls, marked the end of Eastman Kodak's full rollout, roughly 14 years after distribution had been handed off to Kodak Alaris in the wake of the 2012 bankruptcy.

Same Emulsion, Different Name — No Mystery Here

It's the first thing everyone asks. Ektacolor Pro 160, 400, and 800 are rebranded versions of the beloved Portra line, now available directly through Eastman Kodak. On the black-and-white side, Ektapan comes in ISO 100, 400, and P3200.

Kodak Ektacolor Pro is the Portra family under a new name. The speeds, formats, and image characteristics match exactly because Eastman Kodak is coating the same emulsion. This isn't a reformulation or a stripped-down version: it's literally the same film stock, out of the same factory, with a new label because the old one belongs to someone else.

In practice, that means every development profile, every time-and-temperature combination, every curve you've built up shooting Portra 400 or T-Max 100 stays valid without any adjustment. If you're developing at home, nothing changes. Ektacolor Pro 400 in C-41 runs exactly like Portra 400; Ektapan 100 behaves the same as its predecessor in D-76, HC-110, or Ilfosol.

So What Exactly Is Kodacolor 100 and 200?

Kodacolor is a different story. Eastman Kodak released, almost without warning, two color negative stocks called Kodacolor 100 and 200. These aren't new emulsions: they appear to be rebranded versions of Kodak Pro Image 100 and ColorPlus 200, two long-standing consumer stocks.

Both fall under the Eastman Kodak banner, and it's the first time in over a decade that Kodak has been selling directly to its own distributors. The positioning clearly targets the everyday and travel segment, well below Ektar or Ektacolor Pro. For someone who wants a workhorse film without paying professional prices, Kodacolor 200 could easily become a regular choice.

What This Actually Does to Prices

Probably the most tangible thing for most buyers. Ektacolor Pro in 35mm starts at $16.99 USD per roll, and the savings compared to Portra are modest, around $1 to $1.04 per roll, but that adds up for anyone buying bricks of 5 or 10 rolls on a regular basis.

In 2026, Ektacolor Pro 400 is selling between $17 and $30 USD per 35mm roll depending on the retailer, which is consistent with where Portra was sitting toward the end of the Alaris era. It's not a pricing revolution, but in a market that's seen sustained increases since 2020, any slight reduction is welcome.

In Canada, it's worth keeping an eye on conversion. Canadian dollar pricing varies by retailer, and the distribution chain isn't fully settled yet. Some dealers are already stocking Ektacolor Pro, others are still working through their Alaris Portra inventory. Both will likely coexist on shelves for several more months.

The Rebranding Question: Opportunity or Headache?

Honestly, both. For Eastman Kodak, taking back direct control of distribution makes business sense: better margins, a direct relationship with retailers, the ability to respond to market shifts without going through an intermediary. It's the end of an outsourced distribution arrangement that was born from a bankruptcy. Symbolically, that counts for something.

For the buyer, it's more complicated. Someone discovering film photography in 2026 and searching for "Portra" isn't necessarily going to find Ektacolor Pro. Development guides, recipes on the Massive Dev Chart, reference articles: all of it still talks about Portra and T-Max. That gap between existing documentation and the new names is going to persist for a while.

Eastman Kodak has always made the film, but sold its sales and marketing division to Kodak Alaris, which is why two entities are currently operating under the "Kodak" name. For anyone who missed that chapter of company history, seeing two "Kodak" lines sitting side by side can be genuinely confusing. Especially since Kodak Alaris is still selling Portra and T-Max in parallel, at least for now.

Ektacolor Pro 800 is described as offering "excellent low-light performance while maintaining natural skin tones and balanced color," which is word-for-word what Kodak Alaris puts on its Portra 800 data sheets. The lineage is obvious, but the buyer has to make that connection on their own.

Impact on Availability in Canada

Still hard to assess precisely. The shift to direct Eastman Kodak distribution takes time to filter through to independent Canadian retailers. The large online platforms (B&H, Adorama) are receiving stock fairly quickly, but for specialty shops outside major cities, the wait is longer.

The positive signal is that Eastman Kodak now controls the full chain for these six new stocks. In theory, fewer intermediaries means fewer bottlenecks. In practice, the stock shortages that plagued the years 2021 to 2024 had multiple causes, raw material scarcity and explosive demand among them, not just distribution structure. It would be optimistic to assume that simply changing who distributes the film will solve supply problems.

Eastman Kodak has secured a UK distributor for its rebranded stocks, which suggests the distribution network is continuing to expand beyond the United States. For Canada, that's still to be confirmed.

Going Further

If you want to try the new names without disrupting your development routine, start with a roll of Ektapan 400 using the exact same parameters you'd use for T-Max 400. The results should be practically identical. For home developers, Kodak D-76 diluted 1+1 at 20°C (68°F) remains a solid reference; the development times from Kodak's T-Max 400 data sheet apply directly.

For color, Ektacolor Pro 400 in 35mm or 120 is the natural starting point for anyone who already had Portra 400 dialed in. If you're scanning your own negatives, your existing scan profiles need no adjustment.

If you're curious about Kodacolor 200 as an everyday film, keep in mind that its likely origins (ColorPlus 200) make it a more forgiving, less refined stock than Ektacolor Pro. Often that's enough for street or travel work, and it'll probably cost less per roll.