Need Help picking a color film

[ronald lamarsh]

I have been requested by a friend to do some environmental portrait work in color. I almost never use color materials and would like some suggestions as to what to use. I would prefer to use color negative material and we will be outdoors with available light. Also are there color neg material available in readyloads that will fit my 545 back? thanks to all

[Graham Hughes]

It should be noted that planning an image in color is surprisingly difficult.

Anyway, 4x5 color negative material is a little scarce on the ground, but Portra 160NC and 400NC are available, I think even in Readyloads, and will be good with skin tones. I think Fuji offers NPS in Quickloads. If you don't like the NCs--maybe they're not saturated enough--then you're probably going to have to use reversal film; 160VC is the only other alternative that I'm aware of. If you do use reversal film, I happen to like Astia (but it has the same issues as the NCs and NPS, in that it doesn't scream at you) but Provia 100F is okay as long as you're careful about the blue cast in shade.

[Ralph Barker]

In my opinion, Ron, the color rendition of available color films is highly subjective. So much so, that you may want to run some tests of your own with a smaller format - just to see what you like. I like Fuji NPS, but many others like the lo0k of Kodak's Portra films. The only real way to know for sure is to test them yourself.

[Jim_3565]

Portra 160VC is available in Readyloads which will work fine in your 545 holder. It's a little contrasty for my taste, but the color balance is beautiful. I'd try to use pretty flat lighting.

[Richard Littlewood]

NPS.

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hallo

I do not see what should be difficult with colors today. The Portra serie is really nice and my favorite! I take the NC for high contrast scenes and the VC for low contrast scenes!

Good luck!

[Ted Harris]

Also .... curious ...why color negative? Have you thoyght at all about positive film?

[Henry Ambrose]

You won't go wrong with NPS or whatever flavor of Portra - they're designed as portrait films and they are really good. Shoot the 160 films at 100-125 and the 400 at 320. You might want the extra stop that you get from 400NC - or not.......

[Don Wallace]

Both Portra and Fuji equivalent, as others have said, are fine. I use Portra 160 and 400, both VC, and get excellent results. If you want a shallow depth of field for your portraits and you are shooting outdoors, the 160 is probably the better choice. Bring both just in case.