Earlier this year, KONO! launched the KONO! Delight Art 100 in 120, then later in 35mm. This isn’t a typical film emulsion. We’re told it’s tinted Kodak Ektar 100. Ektar was my least favorite Kodak film, and KONO! added some flavor. There’s a bit of orange and a bit of blue raspberry thrown onto the film. Well, not really! But I could totally see why someone would think that. With KONO! Delight Art 100, I basically threw everything away that I knew about film. Overexposing it will lessen the effects. Underexposing it will amplify the orange and teal tones everyone loves. That means it’s best for many of us to put our cameras in aperture priority and underexposing by a stop of light. That’s precisely what I did using a Mamiya 6.

The Mamiya 6 and its square format is the true Goldilocks of medium format film. 645 format is too small. 6×7 format is what lots of folks who know nothing about film gravitate to. And for some sad reason, everyone treats the 6×9 format like Godzilla: they love looking at it, but they won’t mess with it. Square format, on the other hand, is perfect. It removes us from the typical rectangle and challenges us to think differently. It’s challenging to get right. But when you stop fixating on getting museum-worthy compositions, you start to slap that idea in the face and just shoot. The result is photos that are just so much more natural.

Table of Contents

Too Long, Didn’t Read

KONO! Delight Art 100 is basically a tinted Ektar 100 film. To some of us, Kodak Ektar 100 is as exciting as refolding a drawer of already folded, solid-color laundry. But KONO! Delight Art 100 takes the laundry and makes it tye-dye. It’s still laundry, but it’s got a new life. And you’ll get the best experience from it when you give it a bit less light.

Pros and Cons

Pros

A fun take on film!

Very sharp

Comes with a sticker to keep the film tightly sealed and closed when its done.

Makes you think totally different about film photography.

Cons

It’s very tough to get a perfect photo.

Innovations

KONO! Delight Art 100 isn’t really innovative. Lots of other films have been released before with tints on them. KONO! has actually been a manufacturer that has done just this. Lomography had blue and teal film years ago called Lomochrome Turquoise. This isn’t quite the same thing.

Gear Used

We used the Mamiya 6 to test KONO! Delight Art 100 film. The film was developed over at 37th Ave Photo in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Tech Specs

Specs are taken from the KONO! Website.

We start with the King of roll films, the medium format. KONO! DELIGHT ART 100 – COLOR TINTED FILM is our first 120 Medium Format Film, based on first class professional film stock. Each roll is carefully tinted by professionals. A completely new look is the outcome of carefully altered hue, saturation and contrast.

We here at the KONO Manufaktur® always took pride in the craftmanship behind the production of our films. Nearly 30 years of professional experience working with film stock, gave us the know how to design and built our machines.

We had to question everything we knew and rethink each production step to make the KONO! Delight Art 100 possible. This resulted in a new device, it is still a made by hand and time consuming process, but all crucial parameters are now completely digitally controlled. This ensures steady results and is at the same time as gentle to the film stock as imaginable.

Technical info:

120 MEDIUM FORMAT , COLOR TINTED FILM

ISO 100, PROCESS C-41

Enclosed EXPOSED sticker

Ease of Use

KONO! Delight Art 100 film is a totally different film than you might expect. First off, it’s a negative film. But it’s also a coated version of Kodak Ektar 100. Unlike most negative films, you’re not giving it more light. The effect gets lessened. So you’re either exposing KONO! Delight Art 100 film at box speed or underexposing it. To clarify, overexposing it kills the effect, and there’s no chance you can pull it in development to get the effect back. Underexposing it ...