Praise of Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra is a relatively recent color film family, first introduced in 1998. Initially, the film came in two designations:
NC for
Natural Color and
VC for
Vivid Color. For a short time in the early 2000s, Portra also existed in a B&W format and
UC -
Ultra Color.
The early 2000s were a difficult time for film, with digital camera releases finally achieving full-frame professional sensors at 16MP and multiple entry-level DSLR models arriving from Canon and Nikon. First the UC format disappeared, I've never actually seen this film. The B&W version was replaced by BW400CN and the NC and VC versions were merged into the Portra that exists today at speeds 160, 400, and 800.
Along the Chicago River by
Paul Sager, on Flickr
Kodak's Professional Portra 400 is officially described as a high-speed daylight-balanced color negative film offering a smooth and natural color palette that is balanced with vivid saturation and low contrast for accurate skin tones and consistent results.
St Augustine Pier In the '90s most people were still processing their work in a darkroom, the inherent differences in color and contrast in the NC and VC films were a big help. However, as editing film scans digitally became more the norm, Kodak saw the benefit of combining the two slightly different stocks. In 2010, the separate Portra 400NC and Portra 400VC versions were removed and merged to became the singular Kodak Portra 400.
North American P-64 The Portra family (160, 400, 800) are Kodak's most popular color films. When returning to film around 2013, I found suggestions to shoot the 400 speed film at ISO-320 or even ISO-200 for a more pastel look to the colors. The look from ISO-200 is my preferred setting with this 400-speed film.
OCC Portra 400 2019 The Portra films are known for their color and fine grain. As a film intended for portraits, the film is optimized for reproducing skin tones. As shown in these examples, the film is plenty capable in all situations and lighting.
Canal Street railroad bridge It took a few years and rolls and experiments to gain the confidence to load a 400-speed film as ISO-200. I now proselytize the idea that C-41 films should involve overexposure, rather than underexposure or using the box-speed exposure. The images shared in this post were either loaded as ISO-400 and adjusted with positive EC (Exposure Compensation), or were loaded as ISO-200 to the camera. The mild grain in the background sky of most of these examples show opportunities for still another +3/10 EC where Portra is capable of maintaining the highlights in the foreground.
Gabby on film In my own experiments with different film types, the sharpness and fine grain of Portra 400 is a preferred result. For the colors, I've found like the more saturated look I can achieve from Kodak Ektar or the Fuji Superia options. I do plan to experiment with the sharpness of Portra 400 in 2021, especially during the annual visit with the Chicago Tunnel Spiders in September.
Chicago skyline Details on the exposure and lenses are provided in the EXIF data from Flickr, just use the image titles as URL links to Flickr.