Kodak Portra 160 or 400 film

[Stephen Sample]

Hello,

I plan to do a series of 4 x 5 photos of the Cave Creek, Arizona cowboys that I have become friends with. These are very colorful and wonderful guys, but I'll only get one chance with each. Most will be outdoor natural settings at fences, in barns, hay bails, horses, buffalos and etc. I plan to use my fuji 240 lens.

I am considering Portra NC color film as well as B & W. Since, I haven't used color negative film for years, I would appreciate your opinions of the Portra 160 vs the 400 characteristics and also what film speed to use. I suppose that I will just use my minolta III incident meter to determine the exposure, but don't know what film speed to set at?

Is there a good Fuji alternative?

Thanks, Steve

[Walter Calahan]

I use the Fuji Pro 160S for great results on LF (mostly 8x10). I rate it at 125 ISO.

Kodak Portra 400NC is wonderful film too. Use it a lot when I need the extra f/stop. I rate it at 320 ISO.

Hope that helps.

[Michael T. Murphy]

Both the Portra 160NC and 400NC are wonderful films.

Are you on a tripod? Open shade in Arizona, without a lot of movements? You should be fine with the 160 at ISO 125.

I use the 400 - grudgingly - for hand held work, or monopod work, with my Cambo Wide or Fotoman. Also at +1/3 stop, 320. Or more - err on more exposure if you don't have a super high contrast scene.

In Michigan this time of year we are lucky to get 1/60th at f/4.0 at 2pm. Definitely time for the 400. :)

[Bruce Watson]

Since, I haven't used color negative film for years, I would appreciate your opinions of the Portra 160 vs the 400 characteristics and also what film speed to use.

The new Portras are just excellent films. And 400PortraNC may just be the best color film ever made. It's really really good - excellent sharpness, excellent tonal rendering, nice balanced colors, exceedingly fine grain. The only down side is that it's pricey. But if you need the speed it can't be beat.

I probably use 90% 160PortraVC and 10% 400PortraNC. I'd use more 400PortraNC if a) it weren't so expensive in loose sheets, or b) if it came in readyloads.

I do my own drum scanning, and both films drum scan very easily.

I've tried Fujifilm 160S also. Another excellent film. Really, with current color negative films, it's hard to go wrong.

[Stephen Sample]

Thanks, I'll report back after I use the Portra 400. Steve

[Steve Sample]

Thanks, I'll report back after I use the Portra 400. Steve

Hi all, After an absence from large format photography, I am back in good health and have just stocked up on 120 fuji quickloads. Will you advise on what asa ratings to use on them and how best to store it? I suspect that it will take me a few years to use up this much film, as I am a slow and reflective photographer who will wait for good photos and locations. I want to eventually standardize on one or two color films.

I now have Fuji Velvia 50, Velvia 100, Provia 100, 160C and 160S. I have been using asa 100 on my Velvia 100 in the past and the transparencies look good to me. I use an old analog Pentax spotmeter and meter all zones in the scene and generally open 1.5 to 2 stops from zone VIII depending in the situation. I see that some of you advise asa 125 for the Fuji 160 film? I have never used color negative film in 4x5 size. I was planning to try my Minolta III incident meter for the negative film and set the asa, meter the sunlight and expose?

I have only been refrigerating the Velvia in the past. I also froze some T-Max 100 for a year and just took a few photos recently. Everything seemed fine with it.

Thanks, Steve

[Greg Blank]

I get good results shooting the 160 negative films at 125 and the 100 Films at 80 asa
when shoot trans films I bracket so 80 is my mid point. I don't like velvia 50 much...its a bit too slow.



Hi all, After an absence from large format photography, I am back in good health and have just stocked up on 120 fuji quickloads. Will you advise on what asa ratings to use on them and how best to store it? I suspect that it will take me a few years to use up this much film, as I am a slow and reflective photographer who will wait for good photos and locations. I want to eventually standardize on one or two color films.

I now have Fuji Velvia 50, Velvia 100, Provia 100, 160C and 160S. I have been using asa 100 on my Velvia 100 in the past and the transparencies look good to me. I use an old digital Pentax spotmeter and meter all zones in the scene and generally open 1.5 to 2 stops from zone VIII depending in the situation. I see that some of you advise asa 125 for the Fuji 160 film? I have never used color negative film in 4x5 size. I was planning to try my Minolta incident meter for the negative film.

I have only been refrigerating the Velvia in the past. I also froze some T-Max 100 for a year and just took a few photos recently. Everything seemed fine with it.

Thanks, Steve

[Filmnut]

In general, colour neg films work well with a slight overexposure, say 1/3 to 1/2 stop, and often the grain is a finer and you avoid a loss of shadow detail. This is why many photographers rate the 160 speed at 125, and the 400 at 320, or so.
These colour neg films all have good overexposure latitude, so this technique really doesn't compromise the highlights.
You would have to do your own testing, of course, but this could be a fair starting point.
Remember to evaluate the negs themselves, not the prints or proofs that the lab makes from your negs.
Keith

[Ralph Miyashiro]

I've used these films only in medium format, usually the 400 (all hand held) at box speed. Good results. If I err on exposure it is on slight over exposure.

[ljsegil]

Can anyone comment on the differences they find between the Fuji negative films and Portra? Why might one be preferred over another?
Larry

[Sascha Welter]

Larry, I currently prefer the Fuji films because I can buy them cheaper. Budget is an important point right now, otherwise I'd be fine with either of them.

A few times I ran out of stock and had to buy in local shops, where it's expensive (2x the price of what I pay when ordering over the net) and they usually have Kodak films.

The Kodak Portra 160NC I got in the local shop was fine. I wasn't too happy when they gave me 400VC by mistake (out of a box that said 160NC) and I noticed only right before loading the cassette. Not that 400VC is a bad film (in the end I took some good shots with it), but it wasn't what I had in mind.