Kodak Portra for... Non-Portrait Stuff?

[steve_simons]

This year I'm going to be shooting a lot of skiing and snowboarding

with my friends. I usually shoot cheap film but this year I'm going

to step it up a bit with Professional film. Recently I bought a used

camera and the guy threw in a roll of Portra 160NC and Portra 160VC.

 

Now, I don't really have an intention of shooting any portraits...

well, maybe like 10 over the whole season... but I have 72 exposures

of Portra film with me... should I just use that for the

skiing/boarding (scenic sports stuff), or would it be a waste of

quality film that I could sell any buy some "normal" film.

 

I know the film was meant to bring out skin tones and everything,

would it be unsatisfactory with nice greens, blues, and whites?

Should I try and trade for some other stuff?

 

Any opinions are helpful.

[jbq]

One of the major points of Kodak's Portra film is that the entire range of films can be printed with just about the same color response.

 

Those are nice films, with NC havind a fairly muted color response, and VC being more saturated (N means Neutral and V Vivid).

 

400UC is really fun to shoot, it has an amazing color response.

 

In general, when taking pictures in a place that you're not used to and where it may be hard to go again, I try to stick to the films I'm used to.

 

If you want to have fun with blues, greens and whites, how about Velvia 50? Meter on the snow in sunlight, set exposure comp to +2...

[jay ott]

I'm no expert on Portra in any flavor. I've used it outdoors with pretty good results. <BR><center><img src=http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=1907587&size=md></center></br>It's certainly better than generic film and since it's a lower contrast film it might actually be a good choice for high contrast snow scenes with blue skies. The only thing is your highest shutter speed with ISO 160 on a sunny day will only be 125th which is not the greatest for sports action. Add a few clouds or shadows and you're down to 1/60th. ISO 400 would let you use a faster shutter. I'm not sure how Portra pushes.

[sue_deva]

"NC" actually stands for "Natural Color," not "Neutral Color." The Portra films that I have used (160NC, 160VC, 400UC) all perform quite well in outdoor environments. I think that NC might do particularly well in daylight ski-resort conditions. Concerning the other half of your question, well, I suppose you could save the stuff, but what would you replace it with? You can purchase a Pro-Pack of five additional rolls of 160NC from B&H for $20 ('USAW'). Why don't you try out the film and see how it performs. Then, if you like it, you can always order more. On the other hand, if you end up saving those rolls for a more important or special occasion/subject, you're going to end up photographing that occasion/subject with unfamiliar film. 160NC and VC aren't out of production or particularly expensive, so go for it. (If you end up being happy with the results of 160NC/VC, I second J-B's suggestion that you check out 400UC. It's a versatile film that produces very saturated color--witout lacking an excellent color balance. It's suitable for a wide range of environments, has excellent exposure latitude, and manifests the same grain as 160VC. [160NC has superior grain, though this shouldn't matter unless you're making big enlargements.])

[steve_simons]

About the guy that said my max shutter speed would be 1/125ths.... I doubt that. If I'm shooting at f3.5 or 4.5... I should have no trouble getting right up there to stop the action.

 

I usually do shoot 400ISO film though so I loaded my camera with some Fuji Superia 400F or whatever it is, just cheap stuff to waste on the first couple days the resort is open.

[edward_c._nemergut]

I've had really good luck with Portra 400UC. I've used it for everything from studio

portraits to outdoor action.

 

I keep a fairly up-to-date film review at:

http://photo.nemergut.com/equipment/film/film.html

[steve_levine]

According to Kodak.com,both of these films are suited for almost any subject,indoors or out.

[James G. Dainis]

Go ahead and use the Portra. Find out what a good film can do. You've only been shooting for a few months so you should be trying out different films to see which one you like. <BR>

Nice call on the 160ISO 1/125 max shutter speed. You are right. On a sunny day you should be able to get 1/500 @ f8.

<BR> If you use one hour photo labs, I would suggest using one that has a Noritsu processor for the Kodak films and a Fuji Frontier (Wal-Mart) for the Fuji films.

<BR> When taking closeups, portraits, use fill flash if possible.

[scott_eaton]

Both NC and VC will do fine under open sunlight. VC is far from my favorite film, but both materials will do fine under high contrast conditions or sunny skies. Portra NC is going to suffer if it gets overcast.

 

The biggest consideration with these films is to stick to Kodak processing. Pro films means better processing, and the Portra series of films will simply look better printed on Kodak materials. Not the stuff you want to take to a Fuji mini-lab.

[silent1]

Portra 400 NC and Portra 160 NC are the only color films I've used (other than a single roll of Reala 100) since I started shooting medium format again after 30 years away. They're many miles ahead of anything I shot back when C-22 was the standard, about as good as the then-new E-4 Ektachrome I tried. I use them for everything -- I don't shoot many people shots, and most of those are black and white, but I do shoot scenics, sunsets, and cloud shots with NC and I really like the way it renders those subjects.<div></div>