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Portra 400 - Changed the game for colour neg film

Rolo

By Rolo
in Film Forum

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Rolo

Rolo

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My mate, Jonathan Canlas is top photographer and a great enthusiast for film. Following his pre-launch trial with the new Kodak Portra 400 he's put a ton of other film up for sale on his Film is Not Dead Facebook site. Whilst he's not said that the two are connected, it seem inevitable.

 

He's shooting the 400 iso film at nominal value all the way up to 6400 iso. Read here and follow the links to his samples

 

see: http://www.formspring.me/jonathancanlas/q/1757160813

 

Changing the game .... interesting.

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adan

adan

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Well, what he actually says is "I habe(sic) not even tried 6400 which i am goong(sic) to assume that it is 100% acceptable as when it was pushed to 3200 there was no visible grain."

 

So he isn't (yet) shooting at 6400. But 3200 sounds pretty good.

 

When he says "no visible grain," is he shooting 35mm - or a larger format? This being a Leica forum, until Leica builds a film version of the S2 (or bigger), larger formats don't really count....;)

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Rolo

Rolo

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The film will be available in 35mm. I anticipate that the 35mm format qualities will share the film's characteristics in the same way that other films relate to bigger formats of the same material.

 

Something worth looking forward to, IMO. :)

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Rolo

Rolo

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The Kodak website says that it will be replacing Portra 400 NC and VC. Any idea which of those films the colour rendition is closer to?

 

Stephen, if you follow the link, you'll find dozens of examples to review. Jonathan appears to be achieving NC characteristics with it. I'm sure we'll see variations on this from other photographers.

 

Kodak recognised that 80% of films are now scanned and have included that into the design brief. Hopefully, it is a breakthrough to the advantage of film users. :)

 

btw, Jonathan Canlas uses a Contax 645 and Canon 1v for his superb wedding work.

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holmes

holmes

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Not wanting to throw damp water on Kodak, But just read a financial article listing 9 international companies that are facing serious problems. Kodak was on the list. A Kodak spokesman tried to put some 'spin' on what he was saying. It just pointed out all the mistakes Kodak has made in trying to adapt to digital. All those mistakes have cost it time and money in trying to play catch up. As the article pointed out Kodak was listed as one of nine corporations walking on egg shells.

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alun

alun

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Not wanting to throw damp water on Kodak, But just read a financial article listing 9 international companies that are facing serious problems. Kodak was on the list. A Kodak spokesman tried to put some 'spin' on what he was saying. It just pointed out all the mistakes Kodak has made in trying to adapt to digital. All those mistakes have cost it time and money in trying to play catch up. As the article pointed out Kodak was listed as one of nine corporations walking on egg shells.

 

Holmes, No one has said that Kodak might not be struggling in the current economic climate -- how many companies aren't? -- but that they are still designing and launching new films engineered to levels we could only have dreamt of fifteen or twenty years ago.

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tgray

tgray

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As much as I like Portra some of the above sounds like a bit of hype. Or maybe something people might say if they haven't tried the recent versions. I've not use the new stuff yet but I can't imagine it's that much different from the old, just some tweaks here and there.

 

The most recent portra 400 films were very good in my opinion.

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jacarape

jacarape

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I am in the minority of what is probably me only, but this film has left me flat. I'm sure it is pretty damned good, but it is not on my list of things to do in 2011.

 

I really liked 400VC. I understood what it would do with my lenses and in what light. Now it has lower saturation and according to K, the same contrast as "old" NC. The "old" NC was nice, look at Bill's photos to see what it does.

 

Now I'm told by K since everyone scans just PP the film. I can really say I love Adobe Acrobat and that I will never sit in front of an Adobe Suite and process scans. If K thinks that they can compete with digital by making film more like it, it really is the end of the company.

 

In future retrospect, some will note the passing of 35mm NC/VC in about a year. Sometimes you don't need tea leaves. I have a few dozen rolls of film, and some 400VC labeled "NEW" in 120 that will probably never be replaced by any product.

 

To call this film Portra is a just marketing. Two great films have been replaced by another (?).

 

So for me, this film marks the beginning of an end of a 40 year hobby that started with an 8mm el cheapo movie camera in the late 60s. I'm not a pro, I don't need to move on, I'm not interested in digital, an ephemeral best is a ploy.

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Zorki>Leica

Zorki>Leica

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I am in the minority of what is probably me only, but this film has left me flat. I'm sure it is pretty damned good, but it is not on my list of things to do in 2011.

 

I really liked 400VC. I understood what it would do with my lenses and in what light. Now it has lower saturation and according to K, the same contrast as "old" NC. The "old" NC was nice, look at Bill's photos to see what it does.

 

Now I'm told by K since everyone scans just PP the film. I can really say I love Adobe Acrobat and that I will never sit in front of an Adobe Suite and process scans. If K thinks that they can compete with digital by making film more like it, it really is the end of the company.

 

In future retrospect, some will note the passing of 35mm NC/VC in about a year. Sometimes you don't need tea leaves. I have a few dozen rolls of film, and some 400VC labeled "NEW" in 120 that will probably never be replaced by any product.

 

To call this film Portra is a just marketing. Two great films have been replaced by another (?).

 

So for me, this film marks the beginning of an end of a 40 year hobby that started with an 8mm el cheapo movie camera in the late 60s. I'm not a pro, I don't need to move on, I'm not interested in digital, an ephemeral best is a ploy.

 

Am I reading this right, you are wet printing? And you see a huge difference between the "old" and the "new" Portras 400?

 

I find that hard to believe.

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