C-41, to push or not. Accidentally shot portra160nc at 320

At a wedding from hell, I accidentally shot a 220 roll of 6x7 portra

160 at 320 (the speed i usually shoot my portra 400). I have

searched this sight about pushing c-41 in general and know it's

possible.

 

Is it better to push this particular film 1 stop, or is it better to

process normally and pray for enough detail in the shadows to get

an "acceptible" set of prints? The largest enlargement I expect from

this roll of mostly candids is 8x10 (I seriously doubt much more than

5x7 will be warrented)

 

Thank God I don't shoot weddings for a living. Hats off to those of

you who do.

I'm no expert here, so don't take what I say as the definitive answer. My general instinct tells me to not leave C-41 underexposed, and that it's probably better to push it. I don't have any experience at all with the film you're mentioning, just that of a guy who noticed on his scanner that it's harder to get anything good out of underexposed C-41.

Give Kodak a call, they are very helpful with questions like this. Portra is a very forgiving film.

Go to a pro lab and ask for a clip test pushed one stop...you will

then see the first few frames and make your decision from there.

You will loose a frame as the tech cuts the film in the dark, you

did say they were candids. If you are nervous about this don't

worry these guys do it every day for pro commercial shooters

normally with E-6. Go in and talk to them explain the situation

and sleep easier....it takes years of experience to become a

good wedding photographer, just like everything else.

A lot depends on how you exposed this film.Did you use flash?Were they shot under high contrast conditions?A film's latitude is directly related to the "brightness range" of the scene.If the conditions were high key and high medium contrast,a 1 stop underexposure should print okay.If you shot in low light,with high contrast,the film will have less latitude.Then you might want to consider altering processing times(pushing).At weddings,I always over expose a stop or so by firing more flash and allowing more ambient exposure.This assures good shadow detail,and in your case would have saved your butt.As far as pushing C41 materials,neither Kodak or Fuji really reccomends this.The emulsion's different layers can react unevenly to the extra development resulting in shifted color.Of course with todays lab technology(Frontier's & Noritsu's)almost any deviations in color can be corrected.

Calm, everyone's done it at some point. Get a Clip test. My thought is to push it, most print films push ok at least a stop if not two. I've done it a few times with Landscapes & Portraits when caught with the wrong film at the right time. A slight change in the grain & contrast will result

Portra pushes very well at one or even two stops. I would push it. Or you can get a clip test, but you don't have many frames to work with on a roll of 220.

Best,

Barry

i pushed film like this successfuly, main thing is to ask the lab and find one that is competant...no wal mart or costco here...

 

m

Rather than clipping the roll you shot, why not do some test shots on another roll of the same film? Same settings, same flash, etc. and that way you won't risk clipping through an important shot.

My experience with the Portra films is that they are optimistic in their ISO ratings. I usually rate 400 at 250. I accidentally exposed some Portra 160 at 250, and got very thin negatives. Not good! I would go ahead and push it one stop.

Thanks all for the advice. I will push the roll by a stop. For future weddings, I'll use only one film speed to avoid this mistaks again.