Suggestions for a c41 film pushed to 6400

[Jake Mongey]

Hey I have an event coming up involving a small gig in a very dingy British pub and just my luck my digital is being serviced so i will need a film stock to cover it.

Problem is when it comes to fast color films I have no idea where to begin. I need it to be able to shoot at 6400 ISO pushed while still maintaining decent enough quality.

So far my question is should i use Portra 800 or Fuji natura? Of course if anyone else has some better idea please let me know

 

[jojoman2]

I would rent a digital cam tbh. Portra 800 is fairly grainy even without pushing it. Or shoot with a flash

 

[tightsqueez]

Pushed to 6400 AND it's color AND looks decent?

Doesn't exist. It's called digital. Sorry mate, that's too tall of an order.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Advice? Don't. Borrow/hire a full-frame, low-megapixel camera such as the 16Mp Df.

Or switch to B+W and use Delta 3200 film.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Fraser]

Closest thing to that which I don't even know if you can still buy was Fuji press 1600, the 800 was pretty bad. When I worked for a local paper we covered night time rugby matches I used to shoot tmax 3200 maybe pushed a couple of stops and it was horrible!
Good luck.

 

[Faintandfuzzy]

The most I would suggest is Fuji Natura rated at 3200 and pushed a stop. It'll be grainy. I would suggest borrowing a digital body. 6400 is just too much for that type of event. I love the look of grain...but for a gig, stick with the digital.

 

[unixrevolution]

Delta 3200 BW and deal with the lack of color, or digital. I haven't ever heard of someone pushing Color that far.

I have seen some 400 pushed to 1600 on Flickr, but I don't know how pushing to 6400, even from 800, will affect the outcome.

Of particular interest: https://www.flickr.com/photos/trocaofilme/29349790274/in/pool-push/

 

[znapper]

C-41 doesn't like underexposure at all, at best it will be muddy with strange colors and have color-shifts in the shadows, most likely it will be grainy as well.

This is one of the cases where *D* actually does a much better job than film ever will be able to do. (my Canon 5D mk III can shoot ISO 6400 with very nice results, if you have a fast lens, you can even cap the ISO at 3200 and have stunning results).

I love film, but for high volume or cr@ppy light, I use*D*, without exception.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Does anybody read these day? I read in OP - Sony A7.

If you insist to go film, get BW ISO 400 film and push it to 1600. I like Ilford HP5+.
If you insist to use color film get flash.

From my low light photography experience with both media, I could tell what ISO 6400 on digital doesn't related to film ISO, btw....

 

[sara]

I too agree - shoot with flash.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

There's no way to do that with color film. Not even 3200.
For decent image quality portra 800 can go to 1600. But with f/1.4 maybe it can be done, depending on the situation...
If it's really that dark, all I can think of in your case is using a tiny little bit of fill flash aimed up with a difusser, trying to keep some of the scene's nature.
Much better idea to get any digital camera in that case.
Cheers,
Juan

 

[02Pilot]

A friend of mine has experimented with two-stop pushes of C41 consumer films for shooting gigs in dark venues. It's nowhere near 6400, but you might have a look at his results for a sense of what's possible: http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=8262.msg111136#msg111136

 

[philipus]

Not sure what type of results you're looking for but you could crush the shadows and use a lower-than-6400 film/EI and spot meter/expose for the brighter parts of a scene. Like a Portra or Superia 800 pushed one stop or even an Agfa Vista 400 pushed two stops (Vista pushes quite well). Just an idea.

 

[FrozenInTime]

Fuji 800 used to the press film of choice and pushed well.
I remember running C41 in a CPE2 for double the time in the first developer and getting good results.

 

[Scapevision]

Does anybody read these day? I read in OP - Sony A7.

If you insist to go film, get BW ISO 400 film and push it to 1600. I like Ilford HP5+.
If you insist to use color film get flash.

From my low light photography experience with both media, I could tell what ISO 6400 on digital doesn't related to film ISO, btw....

yeah he said it's being serviced 🙄

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Stupid me!

 

[Faintandfuzzy]

There's no way to do that with color film. Not even 3200.
For decent image quality portra 800 can go to 1600. But with f/1.4 maybe it can be done, depending on the situation...
If it's really that dark, all I can think of in your case is using a tiny little bit of fill flash aimed up with a difusser, trying to keep some of the scene's nature.
Much better idea to get any digital camera in that case.
Cheers,
Juan

I suggest you google The Brothers Wright and their tests of Cinestill and Porta at 3200 and 6400. Looks lovely like it can be done

 

[Skiff]

In such situations I've used Fuji Superia 1600 ( = Natura 1600) and fill-in flash with very good results.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I suggest you google The Brothers Wright and their tests of Cinestill and Porta at 3200 and 6400. Looks lovely like it can be done

Hi,
Portra800 starts losing quality when used beyond 2000... If anyone gets decent images at 3200 and 6400, which is not possible with color film, it only means metering was not truly at 3200 and 6400. I suggest you to test it yourself: not all web information is true...
Cheers,
Juan

 

[FujiLove]

I'd suggest Cinestill 800T (kodak 500T). It seems to work well right up to 3200 and you could try it at 6400 with a 1-stop push in development. There are example image here:

http://www.twinlenslife.com/2010/12/in-bleak-midwinter-new-kodak-portra400.html

http://www.twinlenslife.com/2010/02/films-future-is-far-brighter-than.html