Kodak Portra 400NC

This is a great film for what it is designed for, namely portraiture and the accurate reproduction of subtle colours. One reviewer in this thread mentions it didn't perform well shooting colourful flowers in his local park - and I can well image this is the case. If that's your thing, pick a transparency film like Velvia or EliteChrome, or try Portra VC for more punch.

I shoot on Portra 400 NC when shooting documentary. It has everything I like in a film. And the newly released stuff from Kodak (as of Spring 2007) has ll the same properties, except it is easier to scan, having finer grain.

Great for extremes of contrast. A white wedding dress next to a black suit on a sunny day, for instance.

Scans well.

Good latitude.

A tad pricey.

Really needs to be processed by a lab who knows what they are doing.

Other Kodak Portra films, namely 160NC. Also Fuji NPH (or whatever it used to be called, I forget. The low contrast one...)

Never had cause to use it.

I first tried this film when I wanted to try out my aunt's old medium format camera that she gave me. I would have preferred Provia 100F, however the local photo shop that I went to before the shoot was completely out of 120/220 slide. Unfortunately I am not too familiar with print films so I wound up with 2 rolls of 400NC, selected essentially on a whim. The first roll was shot at a local park and the second one was shot around town. Both suffered from the same problem: very dull colors. I realize that I wasn't using the proper film for the job, however I expected a little bit better than what I got out of it.

No grain.

Dull colors, expensive.

I just pulled the calculator out and tallied up the number of frames of Portra 400NC that I have shot in the past three years... over 40,000. With that said, I can tell you that I believe that I understand the limits of this film! Portra NC gives absolutely increadible skin tones. Exposure latitude is increadible though personally I believe that this is a 200 ISO film not the ISO 400 that Kodak claims (better sharpness at 400... better shadow detail and saturation at 200... you choose what you want). Grain... None, period. When properly exposed, this film is increadibly fine grained. If you underexpose it, please don't bash the film and claim its grainy when it wasn't the films problem... It was the operator... (that goes for underprocessing too...) Anyway, I routinely make 20 X 24" prints from 645 and 6x6 negatives and have never taken issue with the grain... Writer seen stepping off soap box!!! Colors are accurate. If you are after vivid, buy something designed for vivid colors, not this! Contrast is great... This film handles the great variation in contrast that outdoor weddings and portraits present.

NO GRAIN for a 400 speed film. Great exposure latitude. Roll to roll consistancy. I always know the results I will get. Skin tones are dead on.

Perhaps the contrast is a touch flat ( but it makes exposure easier!) A bit pricey

Kodak and Fuji print films

Excellent. If you ever need help, call the toll free kodak customer service line. They are a great asset!

I used this film a few times already mainly at family reunions and weddings. I also used it during a safari this summer in Kenya and Tanzania (I wanted accurate colours). I processed those at a lab where work is done with care. The results are mixed : - with good lightning and proper exposure, there is no grain, I enlarged some views to get 20x30cms prints and the results are very good, with nearly no grain visible. - under poor lightning or when underexposed, grain is apparent even on a 10x15 cms print. This is very visible for areas where the contrast is low and the colors a bit dull. Grain is visible and unpleasant. On a side note, the manager of the lab told me all my films were underexposed by half a stop. Either my metering is inaccurate (but I used my camera with slides with good results) or the film could use a slight over exposure. In conclusion, a very good film in terms of colour rendition. But tricky to use, especially in adverse lightning situations : beware of the grain.

- Colour rendition - Little grain when properly exposed with good lightning

- Unpleasant grain when underexposed

Superia 100/400, Velvia, Provia 400F, Kodak Royal Gold, Superia 800

I have used this film at two different wedding shoots, the first time, I used a well respected pro lab in the UK to do the processing and the results were very grainy, noticable at 8x6, unbearable at 10x8 (from a 645 neg!). The second wedding I chose a different lab and am delighted with the quality of the processing, almost grain free in this instance. If you have problems with grain in your results, try a different lab to process it next time, honestly, the difference was incredible.

Superb skin tones in varied lights

Perhaps difficult to process?

Various