Juan Valdenebro
Truth is beauty
Hi,
How do you rate / meter (incident) Portra 160VC? Any other comments?
Cheers,
Juan
How do you rate / meter (incident) Portra 160VC? Any other comments?
Cheers,
Juan
How do you meter Portra 160VC?
- Thread starter Juan Valdenebro
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ferider
Veteran
Box speed Juan. Although it's OK and maybe safer to overexpose a bit.
filmfan
Well-known
When I shoot it using my camera's simple reflective meter, I rate at ISO 125.
John Lawrence
Well-known
I've always rated it at 100 ISO, and used incident metering.
Lovely film.
John
Lovely film.
John
pachuco
El ****
When I first purchased it the man at the photo shop told me to meter it at 100. I did so and I loved it. Eventually I forgot and shot it at box speed. I loved how that looked as well!
Oh Two
Established
Would you beleive 50?
Would you beleive 50?
I shoot Porta almost exclusively so I rarely fiddle with my meter settings, but one roll I shot at 50 (long story) and the pictures were all very usable, kind of like Kodachrome on acid. The subject was custom cars and hot rods so the color saturation was a benefit. Many folks suggest a half stop over, and i would do that for low light or shadows with detail. Generally I shoot at rated speed and have great success. Porta is the best!
Would you beleive 50?
I shoot Porta almost exclusively so I rarely fiddle with my meter settings, but one roll I shot at 50 (long story) and the pictures were all very usable, kind of like Kodachrome on acid. The subject was custom cars and hot rods so the color saturation was a benefit. Many folks suggest a half stop over, and i would do that for low light or shadows with detail. Generally I shoot at rated speed and have great success. Porta is the best!
Oh Two
Established
Would you believe 50?
Would you believe 50?
I shoot Porta almost exclusively so I rarely fiddle with my meter settings, but one roll I shot at 50 (long story) and the pictures were all very usable, kind of like Kodachrome on acid. The subject was custom cars and hot rods so the color saturation was a benefit. Many folks suggest a half stop over, and i would do that for low light or shadows with detail. Generally I shoot at rated speed and have great success. Porta is the best!
Would you believe 50?
I shoot Porta almost exclusively so I rarely fiddle with my meter settings, but one roll I shot at 50 (long story) and the pictures were all very usable, kind of like Kodachrome on acid. The subject was custom cars and hot rods so the color saturation was a benefit. Many folks suggest a half stop over, and i would do that for low light or shadows with detail. Generally I shoot at rated speed and have great success. Porta is the best!
kzphoto
Well-known
I use 160 VC / NC a ton when shooting wedding photos. The slight over exposure really makes skin tones sing, and gives you just a bit more punch in your images. Rate at ASA 100, and use an incident meter.
Example below:
Leica M7, 50 Pre-ASPH Lux @ f/2.8 on Portra 160 VC
Example below:
Leica M7, 50 Pre-ASPH Lux @ f/2.8 on Portra 160 VC
Last edited:
martin s
Well-known
Another vote for ei100.
martin
martin
Dave Wilkinson
Veteran
Same as any other print film.
oftheherd
Veteran
I have used it at rated speed and a Gossen Luna Pro SBC in reflective mode. Beautiful.
From other's experiences above, it sounds like almost any speed from 50 to 400 will work. It is a nice film.
From other's experiences above, it sounds like almost any speed from 50 to 400 will work. It is a nice film.
Tim Gray
Well-known
Most color neg film benefits from 1/3-1/2 stop of overexposure. Not only does it give you an extra buffer against underexposure, but it it puts more of the exposure on the slower fine-grain emulsion in the film.
The take home message - Portra works great at box speed, but a bit of extra exposure can help reduce grain.
It seems to have a lot of latitude though. Two stops under to four stops over:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgray1/sets/72157623656615947/
The take home message - Portra works great at box speed, but a bit of extra exposure can help reduce grain.
It seems to have a lot of latitude though. Two stops under to four stops over:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgray1/sets/72157623656615947/
Fujitsu
Well-known
Just meter it at 160. There´s a reason Kodak put "160" on the box right?
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
I always rate 160NC at 125. Works fine. Love the VC shot, gotta try that too someday!!
bobby_novatron
Photon Collector
Nice posts with the Portra -- makes me want to raid my fridge and shoot some right now! 🙂
Juan Valdenebro
Truth is beauty
Thanks all for the comments!
I'm a bit surprised after seeing that -2 to +4 test... (I guess it was incident...) At least on my screen, the film clearly starts losing saturation by +1! Different to most color negative films I've used, including Ektar 100...
I don't see much latitude here... Nor color saturation from overexposure (at least from that test...) Maybe 160 or 125 for real color, and 100 to start opening skin... Looks like this film's box speed is more accurate than usual...
Cheers,
Juan
I'm a bit surprised after seeing that -2 to +4 test... (I guess it was incident...) At least on my screen, the film clearly starts losing saturation by +1! Different to most color negative films I've used, including Ektar 100...
I don't see much latitude here... Nor color saturation from overexposure (at least from that test...) Maybe 160 or 125 for real color, and 100 to start opening skin... Looks like this film's box speed is more accurate than usual...
Cheers,
Juan
paulfish4570
Veteran
I have shot one roll, at box speed on my Yashica Lynx, using the camer's reflective meter in a wide variety of conditions. The film made me look pretty good:
raid
Dad Photographer
I rate Portra at 100~160. All come out great.
Papa Smurf
Established
Box speed or slightly slower.
Box speed or slightly slower.
Juan, I use a lot of Portra 160 both NC and VC in four different cameras, a Contax G1, a Canon A1, a Minolta 600SI, and lastly, a Minolta 700SI. Those that have adjustable metering, I set to heavily centered weighted, not necessarily spot, and get great results for just about all subjects at box speed. With the other cameras I sometimes go to ISO 125 or + 1/3 to get the deep shadows. It is very forgiving, fast enough for dusk/dawn or deep shade without being unmanageable in full sunlight. Actually, I buy it on e-bay whenever I find a bargain. Some of mine is over a year out-dated with no noticeable problems. Then again, someone else might not agree, so let me close with try it at box speed first, I am certain that you will like it. If not then do your own experiments. 😉
Box speed or slightly slower.
Juan, I use a lot of Portra 160 both NC and VC in four different cameras, a Contax G1, a Canon A1, a Minolta 600SI, and lastly, a Minolta 700SI. Those that have adjustable metering, I set to heavily centered weighted, not necessarily spot, and get great results for just about all subjects at box speed. With the other cameras I sometimes go to ISO 125 or + 1/3 to get the deep shadows. It is very forgiving, fast enough for dusk/dawn or deep shade without being unmanageable in full sunlight. Actually, I buy it on e-bay whenever I find a bargain. Some of mine is over a year out-dated with no noticeable problems. Then again, someone else might not agree, so let me close with try it at box speed first, I am certain that you will like it. If not then do your own experiments. 😉
Tim Gray
Well-known
I saw similar behavior with respect to saturation from Portra 160NC, 400VC, 400NC, 800, and Ektar. I did tests of them all.
The caveat to these tests is that I did not adjust the color, contrast, or anything else. I just posted the lab scans as they came in. You can download the original sizes of all the files though and tweak them yourself if you'd like to see what you can get out of it. A couple of curves in Photoshop actually goes a long way to restoring contrast and saturation on the heavily overexposed shots.
Latitude as I know it is not the range you can shoot the film and get ideal results. Instead, its the range you can get *usable* results. I think Kodak gives 160VC a latitude -2 to +3, and I'd have to agree with them - any of this pictures are useable, though I certainly like the ones shot closest to box speed the best.
