Squick

Is portra 160 a good film to use for landscape photos. I will be using 120 film in a hasselblad 500 c/m camera. This camera is new to me as it was given to me by my brother.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It's a great choice. Ektar 100 is another great choice for color options available fresh.

Squick

Thanks I will try them both. Going on road trip in May from Oakland CA to South Carolina to bar harbor Maine back west to Yellowstone park

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Ektar is especially favored from the US SW.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Portra is a vast improvement over its predecessors, Varocolor and Ektacolor, in its rendition of foliage.The older versions used to gray down the greens. In its original introduction, Portra was intended for portraiture and wedding photography as per its excellent rendition of skin tones, clean whites and good shadow detail when expose correctly. At the time, Ektar, Kodacolor in several different versions such as Kodaolor Gold was still in production and were the preference of some landscape, architectural, and commercial shooters. The latter were not considered "Professional" films so the lack of a retouching surface and more tolerance to less than ideal storage conditions, made them sharper and more practice favourite for many outdoor shooters.

Frankly, I have not used Vericolrr and quite a long time. Since Kodak does no longer offers many choices of colour-negative material, my first choice would be Ektar but that is a guess based on my long but distant experience with both emulsions. All films have certain biases and palettes. Oftentimes it is just a matter of taste and style.

Of course, nowadays, if you scan and view or scan AND print, you can increase colour saturation in selected areas. in post processing.

I always found Portra to have excellent gradations, colour rendition, grain structure, and acutance. At one tie I was exposing hundreds of rolls per month in the 160 and 400 speed and printed it in-house on Ektkaolr and Fuji papers.

Perhpas it is wise to secure a roll of each and make some comparisons to suit the effect you prefer.

Squick

Thanks for the info

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

My preference has been Fujichrome Velvia 50 and a little faster. I’ve never been very happy with the fastest color films, but I can’t fault Kodak Ektar and Portra films.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Perhpas it is wise to secure a roll of each and make some comparisons to suit the effect you prefer.[/quote]

Great advice here. Try before the trip!

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

If you're going to scan the negatives, I would suggest Ektar. It has beautiful, perfect, fine grain and scans beautifully.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I am sure Portra 160 would be OK as it was designed for taming high contrast subjects - especially if that is what you are shooting ie bright direct sunlight subjects as related to landscapes. Ektar 100 might be even better. Both these are color negative - which can be challenging to scan and evaluate properly but safer for use with lesser experience - IOW, more latitude.

Most experienced pro shooters like Fuji Velvia 50 or 100 color transparency film which is challenging @ exposure but relatively easier to scan. and directly evaluate. This is what I would be using .......
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ELNikkor

Sounds like it is going to be an awesome trip, want to see the results later on this summer! (I lean toward Ektar, but Portra has its pluses. Try both in varying contrast situations and see which gives you the look you are after.)

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Portra 160 is made for flesh tone reproduction. We used thousands of miles of it in the school portrait industry before moving to an all-digital workflow in the early 2000s.

Ektar is a little better choice for landscapes, as it has a much more vibrant color response.

Fujichrome Velvia 50 transparency film would be my pick for landscapes. It has a distinctly dramatic look. (It is not a portrait film.)

Nicholas J DeSciose

What lenses will you have available

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

I would use Velvia 50 slide film for the vibrant colors.

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

I feel that Portra 400 delivers nice, more accurate colors than the 160. The 160 was designed and manufactured for “portrait” shooting. The 409 version always delivered the goods for me.