2011 current 800 ISO colour film

[Bob Carnie]

My wife is using a holga and wants to shoot inside with a monopod using colour film.. Can anyone recommend an 800 speed colour film? thx Bob

 

[CGW]

My wife is using a holga and wants to shoot inside with a monopod using colour film.. Can anyone recommend an 800 speed colour film? thx Bob

If you can find it around TO, Portra 800 or, more likely, new Portra 400 pushed a stop. In either case, use a tripod if at all possible.

 

[Tim Gray]

Portra 800 is nice stuff.

 

[SuzanneR]

I've used the Portra 800 in the Holga this past summer, and have been pretty happy with the results.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Thanks all, 800 Portra it is.

 

[perkeleellinen]

800 Portra is all there is in 120 now.

 

[lancekingphoto]

I'm also fond of using Portra 800 in my Holga 120N. However, I use that as an all around OUTDOOR film (yes, even on sunny days, although perhaps not in direct sunlight).

The monopod may help, but I'm doubtful about getting good results indoors with that speed film. It might be tricky holding the monopod still enough during the longer exposure required. FWIW, I had very disappointing results trying to use 3200 speed film indoors with my Holga in a fairly dim environment. She might want to try a roll before you commit to buying a boxful of the Portra...

 

[Bob Carnie]

She may have to resort to a tripod , which would do the trick.

 

[mikecnichols]

I was thinking of trying Portra 800 for some band (live show) photography at the end of the month. I currently have a huge stock of Kodak UltraMax 800. Are these two emulsions really different? If so, what are the advantages of Portra? Also, my last show, I pushed the UM800 and a roll of Fuji Superia 800 to 1600. The Superia did much better than the Kodak, overall though I think part of the problem were my settings for the UM800 roll. I'm thinking that I won't have to push this time, but I would like some variety from Superia, plus the idea of 36 exposures is inviting.

 

[perkeleellinen]

If UItraMax 800 is the same as Gold 800 then Portra 800 is a much nicer looking film, certainly nicer grain. Superia 800, however, seems to handle mixed lighting better than the Kodak. All these films benefit from slight over exposure (~ASA640).

 

[Matt5791]

The other alternative is to push Portra 400 - some customers have found that it is more effective to push it than to actually use Portra 800.

 

[Araakii]

But use a $10 roll with the Holga? It seems to be defeating the purpose.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Unless she's got a specially modified Holga it's gonna shoot at the same shutter speed anyway so what good is a mono or tripod going to do?

 

[Araakii]

Unless she's got a specially modified Holga it's gonna shoot at the same shutter speed anyway so what good is a mono or tripod going to do?

The Holga doesn't have B mode? (I never used one.)

 

[tomalophicon]

The Holga TLR I used once had a B mode I think.

 

[mikecnichols]

If UItraMax 800 is the same as Gold 800 then Portra 800 is a much nicer looking film, certainly nicer grain. Superia 800, however, seems to handle mixed lighting better than the Kodak. All these films benefit from slight over exposure (~ASA640).

Thank you for that. I was hoping the grain structure would be nicer. I'll post examples later.

The other alternative is to push Portra 400 - some customers have found that it is more effective to push it than to actually use Portra 800.

Thanks. I was thinking about doing that too. I think I'll get some rolls of both and rate at 640 for both if possible. I seem to do fine holding the camera in a bouncing room and shooting at 1/30th.

 

[mikecnichols]

Thank you for that. I was hoping the grain structure would be nicer. I'll post examples later.

Fuji Superia 800:



Kodak UltraMax 800:

 

[waynecrider]

From what I read in an article on Portra 400, it handles under and overexposure to different degree's very well. I believe it was a Hick's review I read.

 

[Aristophanes]

From what I read in an article on Portra 400, it handles under and overexposure to different degree's very well. I believe it was a Hick's review I read.

http://canlasphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/kodak-portra-400-miami-south-beach-fl.html

And if you need to re-code for DX:

http://isolation.net/photo/dxcodes.html

 

[mikecnichols]

The other alternative is to push Portra 400 - some customers have found that it is more effective to push it than to actually use Portra 800.

If I push to 800, should I adjust my developing time to 3:45 instead of 3:15?

 

[mikecnichols]

If I push to 800, should I adjust my developing time to 3:45 instead of 3:15?

Should I push process the Portra 400 to 800 since I shot it at 800 or should I process at normal time? I would like to know before tonight so that I can develop the rolls tonight after work.

 

[Brian C. Miller]

When you push a film one stop in exposure, you have to push it one stop in development.

 

[mikecnichols]

When you push a film one stop in exposure, you have to push it one stop in development.

I just wanted to make sure before I processed. From what I had read about the Portra 400, the "opinions" were all over the place as to whether it was better to push process it or process it normally. Thanks for the reply.

 

[polyglot]

Depends on the lighting you shot it in. Portra 400 has lots of latitude so if your scenes had little dynamic range then you might lose no shadow detail to the under-exposure. But then, you might benefit from the additional contrast of the pushing...

Conversely if your scenes had lots of dynamic range, you might lose shadow detail unless you push... but the extra contrast means that you will then (unless scanning) need to decide whether to clips highlights or shadows when printing so either way you might lose something.

 

[mikecnichols]

Depends on the lighting you shot it in. Portra 400 has lots of latitude so if your scenes had little dynamic range then you might lose no shadow detail to the under-exposure. But then, you might benefit from the additional contrast of the pushing...

Conversely if your scenes had lots of dynamic range, you might lose shadow detail unless you push... but the extra contrast means that you will then (unless scanning) need to decide whether to clips highlights or shadows when printing so either way you might lose something.

Thanks for that. I hope to have a little stronger contrast, so I'll push process.