Consistent and reliable performance: This film is known for its consistent and reliable performance, which means you can count on it to deliver stunning results every time. If you want to know the exact photography equipment I use to make my film portraits, other than the film and a camera see the links below. I used to avoid writing about my non-camera gear but I thought it was time to reveal all! I detail the speicific speedlights and wireless triggers I use together with the other photography gear needed for my portrait photography. If you’re uncertain of how your subject should be exposed the sky can be a good reference point in this sort of light. On Portra I feel that the sky, whether partly cloudy or clear blue, looks best when exposed with that extra ⅔ stop of compensation. This reduces some of the saturation in the sky, which often leans towards an unattractive cyan on Portra. If your entire scene is in daylight, chances are that metering the sky and adding this extra exposure will result in a good exposure for your image on Portra, no matter what the subject is. With negative film there’s still a bit of work to be done after shooting and developing. I have a feeling that many people who are dissatisfied with Portra are having troubles getting the colors right during the scanning process. I recommend reading through my guide on Scanning and Editing Color Negative Film to help you nail the colors. At the high end of the speed spectrum (and higher price point), Portra 800 is the final offering from Kodak’s Portra line.

Fujifilm X100V Film Simulation Recipe: Kodak Portra 400 v2 Fujifilm X100V Film Simulation Recipe: Kodak Portra 400 v2

Portra 800 creates saturated and punchy warm tones, with soft contrast and a subtle grain (even at the level of 800). The 800 speed also provides great exposure latitude, allowing you to shoot a stop or two either over- or underexposed, along with accommodating high shutter speeds, letting you capture action and movement. This is where the two films showed the biggest difference. When a film is underexposed, the darker shadow tones will become unrecoverable. Capture life’s vibrancy and passion with the classic film that inspired a whole crop of new portrait photographers. Kodak Portra 400 is one of the world’s most popular colour negative film and is perfect for both studio and location shoots. It is loved by experienced film shooters for its accurate skin tones, sharp focus, fine grain structure and superior flexibility in exposure. Most 400-speed color films suggest rating the film at ISO 100 at night to gather enough light with the reduced spectrum of incandescent street lights. In this case, I shot the films at ISO 400 just to see how they would perform under these circumstances.

Kodak Portra 160 vs. 400 vs. 800: What’s the Difference?

At the same time Vericolor VPL was replaced by that Ektacolor tungsten film, Vericolor VPS was also being killed off to make way for the new Portra NC – or natural colour – films, which were available in 160 and 400 speeds. Lomo 400, on the other hand, accentuated the fall colors brilliantly. The yellow and red autumn leaves appeared more saturated, and simply dominated the image. In some ways, that was exactly how I wanted it. In others, I wish that I had a little bit more control. For years, professional photographers have preferred KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA Films because of their consistently smooth, natural reproduction of the full range of skin tones. In that same tradition, the new PORTRA 400 Film is the ideal choice for portrait and fashion photography, as well as for nature, travel and outdoor photography, where the action is fast or the lighting can?t be controlled. We view Portra 160 as the most comparable to Cinestill 50D. Both films are low ISO, have fine grain, and made for detailed daylight shooting. The main difference here would be the color reproduction of both films. Portra 160 would achieve real, true to life colors with warm tones heightened, whereas Cinestill 50D would lean towards changing those warm tones to cooler blues with accentuated reds. Fast forward to 1971 and Kodak launched another colour negative film called Vericolor. This also had Type S and Type L versions, which were given the codes VS and VL.

Portra and Choosing the Best One A Handy Guide to Kodak Portra and Choosing the Best One

As the name suggests, Kodak Portra films were designed with portraits firmly in mind. This means they keep skin tones looking nice and natural, unlike some of the more vivid Kodak films, and have very fine grain. The world’s finest grain at 400 speed in fact, if the box is to be believed.It’s Vericolor II that brings us to the Portra era, with the VPL one first being replaced by a short-lived Ektacolor Pro Gold 100T film in 1998. A year later, this was rebranded as Portra 100T, a film that was discontinued in 2006. The rolls were developed in Flic Film’s color chemistry kit using the same temperatures and developing times. Then they were dried and scanned using the Essential Film Holder and Negative Lab Pro. I’m sure that herd mentality is a factor. It’d be easy for people to see what film someone with more followers than you or I will ever have is shooting and be influenced to go with that too. If Portra helps more people to enjoy film and keep buying it, Kodak will make more money and will be able to keep producing all their films for all of us. And that’s kind of where I’m going with this.

Kodak Portra 400 Film Simulation Recipe My Fujifilm X100F Kodak Portra 400 Film Simulation Recipe

It doesn’t matter if your photographs are posed ones with models or candid ones with strangers. Having natural skin tones on people is equally welcome. So in 2010, Kodak Portra 400 NC and Kodak Portra VC 400 both ceased to exist as they merged together and became the simple, singular Kodak Portra 400 we have today. Strangely, these are some of my favorite conditions for this film. Most love shooting Portra where there is so much color to play with and that can certainly be exciting, but I feel it can handle these more dreary scenes much better than a film like Ektar can, and I love it for that.Pro Tip: the latest emulsions of Kodak Portra were designed to be scanned. We recommend Portra 400 more than almost anything else out there.

Kodak Portra 400 35mm Film Review - My Favourite Lens

However, I should be honest in the fact that the only reason I took the Portra on that trip is that I had four or five rolls in my drawer not being shot. If I hadn’t have had that Portra, I probably would have shot more Gold or Ultramax on that trip as it’s the film I prefer. Thankfully though, Portra gave me beautiful results that I’m extremely happy with. The reality is, though, that if I wanted to, it would be easy to get the same tones with either film. The differences between them aren’t so big that they would be impossible to capture with another film. This film is mostly designed for the way it renders skin tones. If you’re photographing someone with darker skin tones, balance it out with a silver reflector. Again: just before sunrise, but a different angle: Portra 400 / Summicron 35mm ASPH Ektar / Summilux 50mmAs noted above then it’s worth remembering that ISO 100 speed Ektar (and Portra 160) requires more ambient light than Portra 400/800 and Fuji Pro 400H films. That’s why me and others tend to use ISo 400/800 films more and why Portra 400 and Pro 400H are probably the 2 most popular films for weddings photography. Both these films also have greater latitude so cope better for under/ over exposure (vs Ektar especially if under exposed). The 800 speed opens this film up to extensive use from bright to low light situations. The high speed also allows capture at high shutter speeds, making this the best option if you’re focused on action and movement. The exposure latitude with 800 lets you meter at 640, or even 400 – although, the film will do just fine at box speed metering. After shooting 13 rolls of Kodak Portra 400 I thought it was time to give Ektar a try, as was suggested by some people who read my previous posts. A couple of weeks ago I loaded a roll in my M2 with the intention to try it on my regular daily photography. But after a day or so my man and I decided on a last minute trip to Karpathos (a Greek island in the Aegean Sea) since the Dutch summer wasn’t really taking off properly. As I wasn’t sure yet on the outcome of Ektar, I took a some Portra 400 with me as well, and concluded that it was a good opportunity to compare them both. We were only in Greece for three days, so I more or less shot one day with Ektar, and one day with Portra. The weather was very much the same over those few days: clear blue skies with only a very small hint of cloud if you looked really hard.