Here is my honest, unfiltered take. Let’s get the elephant out of the room immediately. The Kodak Ultra F9 is made of ABS plastic. It is light. It is hollow. When you shake it, it rattles. If you are used to the cold, dense weight of a vintage Canon AE-1 or a Nikon FM2, you will initially be offended.
But is it a fun camera? Absolutely.
I shot a friend’s birthday dinner. My digital photos were technically perfect—white balanced to death, sharp eyes, clean shadows. The Ultra F9 photos? They were blown out, grainy, and had lens flares cutting across faces. kodak ultra f9 35mm film camera
The magic happens with the flash. In daylight, the F9 aperture works fine. You get decently sharp (for plastic) snapshots. But at night? And this is where the "Ultra F9 look" is born. Here is my honest, unfiltered take
My friends preferred the film photos. "They look like they are from a movie," one said. "They feel real," said another. It is light
I spent two months shooting three rolls of Kodak Gold 200 and UltraMax 400 through the Ultra F9. Was it a nostalgic waste of money, or did it actually capture a feeling my Sony A7III couldn’t?