I began shooting Kodak Color Plus 200 for this review in 2023 — and without a doubt in my mind, this has to be the best color film for street photography. It simply has so much going for it. There’s the beautiful colors, the muted but realistic tones, the grain, the depth, the way that it delivers images that look like familiar Portra but aren’t, and the more affordable price tag. Loaded into a Leica, Kodak Color Plus 200 has the look that I’ve been craving for years but haven’t gotten with my street photography since the older versions of Kodak Ektachrome were around. So if you’ve been wanting to try soemthing new instead of Cinestill 400D, check this out.
Before I get into it, we purchased Kodak Color Plus 200 from Blue Moon Camera, and they developed it for the Phoblographer. For years, they’ve been our favorite vendor for this.
So why is Kodak Color Plus 200 the best film for street photography? Well, I’m glad you asked. Honestly, the best street photography happens during the day with lots of nice light. Look at the work of someone like photographer Willie Velazquez and you’ll see tons of amazing photographs shot during the daytime. At night, it’s safe to move over to digital. But during the day, film keeps you more conscious of what you’re doing and also therefore more in touch with what you’re doing. You’re locking your ISO down and therefore then being more selective about the images that you make because it’s also such a slow film. If you don’t think you can get that shot that requires 1/1,000 of a second, you may find a way to work around it. You’ll also most likely actually stop your lens down.
Essentially, Kodak Color Plus 200 encourages good practices and slaps the Sony-like philosophy of throwing out all the rules of exposure. This, in turn, makes you think harder instead of just pointing and shooting. This key element is what’s missing from photography so much these days. And it can only otherwise be had with Leica cameras. Perhaps that’s why so many street photographers move up to shooting only on Leica cameras.
Can you do this digitally? No — and the reason why is because you’ll probably still shoot like a maniac and then go into Lightroom and push the shadows until the slider can’t do it anymore. With film, you’re only getting so much dynamic range unless you’re using some really specialized tools. But most photographers send their film off to be developed and don’t want to spend all that much for the highest-end scans.
On top of all that, there’s something about the Kodak Color Plus 200 look that I can’t really get from anything else. It’s beautiful in a way that only this film can do. And if I ever want to go out and do street photography again with film, this will most likely be the only one I work with.
