Actualité industrie · 2026-08-29

Kodak Ektapan: Same Emulsion, New Name — and Still No Reason to Ditch Your Tri-X

In March 2026, Eastman Kodak announced six new professional film stocks across two families: Ektacolor Pro in color and Ektapan in black and white. The Ektapan line covers three speeds, 100, 400, and P3200, available in both 135 and 120 formats. By May, 100-foot bulk rolls and large-format sheets (4×5) had followed. On paper, it looks like a major launch. In practice, it's more complicated than that.

Ektapan is not a new emulsion. It's Kodak's T-Max, renamed.

Why the name change?

The short answer goes back to a bankruptcy from fifteen years ago. When Eastman Kodak filed for Chapter 11 in 2012, the distribution and marketing of its professional film stocks — Portra, T-Max, and the rest — were handed off to Kodak Alaris, a separate entity controlled by Kodak's UK pension fund. The brand names, T-Max and Portra included, belong to Alaris, not to Eastman Kodak.

Starting in 2025, Eastman Kodak began taking back direct distribution, film by film: Kodacolor 100 and 200 first, then Gold, Ultramax, Ektar, Tri-X, Ektachrome, and finally in March 2026 the Portra and T-Max equivalents, rebranded as Ektacolor Pro and Ektapan.

What you're actually buying

Ektapan 100 is T-Max 100 (TMX). Ektapan 400 is T-Max 400, the TMY-2 formulation introduced in 2007. And Ektapan P3200 is T-Max P3200. The emulsions haven't changed; Eastman Kodak has confirmed this explicitly.

What that means in practice: if you've shot T-Max before, you already know Ektapan. Same T-Grain technology (tabular, flat silver halide crystals rather than the cubic grain structure of a conventional emulsion), same characteristic curve, same developer preferences. If you've never touched T-Max, here's what to expect.

Qualitative illustration — T-Grain crystals are flat and tabular; conventional emulsions use roughly cubic grains. Not to scale.

Grain, contrast, and latitude: how Ektapan differs from Tri-X

This is where the real question starts. The point of this article isn't "should you buy Ektapan?" but rather "does Ektapan — which is to say, T-Max — actually change anything in your kit compared to Tri-X?" The answer depends entirely on what you're after.

Grain. Ektapan 400 has noticeably finer grain and higher resolution than Tri-X 400, thanks to the tabular structure. At the same speed, you get a cleaner image with better-defined edges. That's a genuine advantage if you're enlarging big or scanning for fine detail. It's not necessarily an advantage if what you're after is the textured, expressive character that's made Tri-X famous for decades.

Contrast. Tri-X has a slight shoulder in the highlights, which gives it a certain forgiveness before the whites clip. Ektapan 400 (like T-Max 400) has a more linear curve, with highlights that climb faster. The result is a visually cleaner image, but a slightly tighter margin for error in high-contrast situations. Tri-X is more tolerant of a stop of overexposure.

Latitude. Tri-X remains one of the most forgiving film stocks on the market. You can push it to 1600, even 3200 with the right developer, accepting the grain that comes along for the ride. Ektapan 400 pushes well too, and its grain stays finer even under push processing, but the way midtones compress is different. Not better or worse, just a different rendering.

Qualitative curves only — Ektapan 400 is more linear; Tri-X shows a gentler highlight shoulder. Refer to official data sheets for precise values.

In the darkroom: what changes (and what doesn't)

T-Grain technology has always been a little particular with certain developers. Here's what practical experience teaches, backed up by what the data sheets say.

D-76. The classic choice, and it works well with both Ektapan 100 and 400. At 1+1 dilution you get slightly finer grain than in stock solution, with a touch more acutance. For Ektapan 100 at 20°C (68°F), you're looking at roughly 6 to 8 minutes depending on dilution — check Kodak's current data sheet, as times were slightly revised with the rebrand. Tri-X in D-76 forgives a few seconds' variation; Ektapan, like T-Max, prefers you to be precise.

HC-110. One of the best choices for T-Grain films. Dilution B (1+31 from the syrup) gives a solid grain-to-sharpness balance. Dilution H (1+63) slows things down enough to give good contrast control with pushed Ektapan 400.

Rodinal. This is where it gets interesting. Rodinal is an acutance developer — it reveals grain rather than masking it. With a cubic-grain film like Tri-X, that gives you the bold, graphic look a lot of people love. With Ektapan's T-Grain, it's a different story. At 1+50, the results are very sharp, but the grain takes on a particular texture, less "classic silver gelatin" and more technical-looking. Some find it cold. At 1+100 stand development (60 minutes), it handles high-contrast subjects better. Worth experimenting with, but don't expect the Tri-X/Rodinal look.

Ektapan 100: the real standout?

If either film in this lineup deserves extra attention, it's Ektapan 100. T-Max 100 has long been considered one of the finest-grained, sharpest film stocks on the market, full stop. At ISO 100, the grain is remarkably small — competitive with the best slow films out there, like Ilford Delta 100. For studio portraits, landscapes in controlled light, or medium format work where you want to squeeze every bit of resolution out of a negative, this is a serious film.

Comparing it to Tri-X at ISO 100 doesn't make much sense (that's not Tri-X territory), but up against other slow films — Ilford FP4 Plus, for instance — Ektapan 100 holds its own comfortably. In D-76 stock at 20°C, the results are clean, midtone separation is excellent, and the film responds well to N- (reduced) development if you're working in high-contrast situations.

Where HP5 Plus fits in

The comparison with Ilford HP5 Plus is worth a moment, because it's often the real competitor to Tri-X in most photographers' bags.

HP5 Plus is a cubic-grain emulsion, like Tri-X. It's a touch finer than Tri-X, slightly less contrasty, and well-regarded for its generous latitude. Many photographers prefer it over Tri-X for portraits precisely because it's a bit softer in the highlights. Against Ektapan 400, HP5 loses on raw grain size and resolution, but holds onto a warmer, more organic rendering.

If you love HP5, Ektapan won't feel the same. They represent different image philosophies: organic versus technical, textured versus clean.

Film	Grain structure	Grain character	Highlight shoulder	Latitude
Ektapan 400 (T-Max 400)	Tabular (T-Grain)	Very fine, technical	Linear / minimal shoulder	Good, precise
Tri-X 400	Cubic	Bold, expressive	Pronounced shoulder	Very generous
Ilford HP5 Plus	Cubic	Organic, moderately fine	Soft shoulder	Very generous
Ektapan 100 (T-Max 100)	Tabular (T-Grain)	Extremely fine, sharp	Linear	Good, precise
Ilford FP4 Plus	Cubic	Fine, classic	Moderate shoulder	Good

What this actually changes in practice

Honestly, not much in the short term. If you're already shooting T-Max, you can carry right on with Ektapan using the same times, the same developers, the same settings. The label changed; the film didn't.

If you've never used T-Max and you're a committed Tri-X shooter, the Ektapan announcement isn't a reason to switch. It could be a good excuse to finally try a T-Grain film and see if it fits your vision, but you could have done that with T-Max a decade ago. The novelty here is the name and the packaging, not the chemistry.

Going further

Try Ektapan 400 in 120 format, especially if you're shooting medium format. T-Grain over a larger negative area is hard to match with any cubic-grain film at ISO 400.
HC-110 at dilution B or H remains the go-to developer for T-Grain emulsions at home. More flexible than D-76 for timing control, and the concentrate keeps for years.
100-foot bulk rolls of Ektapan 100 and 400 in 35mm are now available directly through Eastman Kodak. If you shoot a lot and bulk load, this is the most practically interesting part of the whole announcement.