Colour issue with Kodak Portra

Paul Manuell · Aug 7, 2017

Whenever there're reds in whatever I'm shooting, they always come out a fuchsia pink when developed. Is this a characteristic of Portra or a problem with where I get it developed?

chassis · Aug 7, 2017

I haven't noticed a pink shift. I develop using Flexicolor chemistry and scan for digital delivery. I don't RA-4 print.

Prest_400 · Aug 7, 2017

There may be a few steps where this is originating.
If you look at scanned output (or even prints as they are from scans), it quite possibly is from that step. Software has to invert colors and comoensate the orange mask.

I once scanned some of my P400 in a V600 and a lime green happened to become a mild yellow, then some orange turned into red.

Paul Manuell · Aug 7, 2017

I get it developed and scanned in a shop local to me. I've been going there a few years now and love the work they to for me but have always wondered whether this red to pink issue was a Portra 'thing' or something to do with their developing/scanning.

Sirius Glass · Aug 7, 2017

It sounds like a scanning problem. The film can be working properly but if the scanning is not done correctly or not calibrated the color can be off. We would have to see the negatives, but of course if the scanning it off we would not know if the color was off or scanning is the problem. Use a different photo finisher.

MattKing · Aug 7, 2017

If you are happy with your lab, discuss this with them.
They may think the subjects of your photos are fuchsia!
Also, see if a UV filter makes a difference.

Paul Manuell · Aug 7, 2017

I discuss it with them every time it occurs, and they resolve it by altering the pink on their computer to make it red, but I would prefer it not to happen in the first place as sometimes the results aren't convincing. After now reading the replies in this thread, though, I'll discuss it in more depth with the shop next time I'm in there, see if they can do something about it with their developing machine.

MattKing · Aug 7, 2017

It isn't the development.
It is the scanning software they are using and its "profile" for Portra film.

Prof_Pixel · Aug 7, 2017

For an excellent discussion of color reproduction issues, see http://munsell.com/color-blog/color...hy-printing-television-40-years-colorchecker/

Sirius Glass · Aug 7, 2017

I had a reoccurring problem with Dywannes years ago, they kept printing red rock on the ground in Utah and Arizona as green. I would complain and have them reprint them. Dywannes said their printers thought that they were correcting the color. I told them to print the film as is was. When they printed the film as it was the colors were correct. I got tired of sending everything back and often they would forget to pay my postage to them. I stopped using them and switched to other film processors. No one else ever had that problem.

Paul Manuell · Aug 7, 2017

MattKing said:
It isn't the development.
It is the scanning software they are using and its "profile" for Portra film.

Ah, that's interesting. I'm guessing that's (hopefully) an easier fix for them than if it was a problem with their developing machine.

MattKing · Aug 8, 2017

Paul Manuell said:
Ah, that's interesting. I'm guessing that's (hopefully) an easier fix for them than if it was a problem with their developing machine.

It isn't so much a "fix" as it is an adjustment.
Strictly speaking, it is impossible to set up an automatic printer to always get the colour right on photographs of scenes that vary. All the automatic systems out there try to evaluate the subject and then estimate what the correct adjustments are for good exposure and colour. And just like automatic metering, the "correct" setting isn't always what the automatic system suggests.
There is one other variable though. I am assuming that you have got good results from this lab using other films. That tells me that their printing systems (which includes scanning systems in almost cases now) are calibrated correctly for those films - i.e. they are using the right profile for those films. Different films require different profiles.

Paul Manuell · Aug 8, 2017

MattKing said:
It isn't so much a "fix" as it is an adjustment.
Strictly speaking, it is impossible to set up an automatic printer to always get the colour right on photographs of scenes that vary. All the automatic systems out there try to evaluate the subject and then estimate what the correct adjustments are for good exposure and colour. And just like automatic metering, the "correct" setting isn't always what the automatic system suggests.
There is one other variable though. I am assuming that you have got good results from this lab using other films. That tells me that their printing systems (which includes scanning systems in almost cases now) are calibrated correctly for those films - i.e. they are using the right profile for those films. Different films require different profiles.

As far as I can remember, I've only ever used Portra all the time I've been using that shop.

pentaxuser · Aug 8, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
I had a reoccurring problem with Dywannes years ago, they kept printing red rock on the ground in Utah and Arizona as green. I would complain and have them reprint them. .

As green rocks are relatively rare, you'd think that the operators might have queried what they saw instead of assuming that the machine had to be right.

Kind of reminds me of my nightmare of the future which is that we end up with a human race that has stopped thinking for itself and accepts that whatever a complex machine tells them must be right. Actually it has already happened. An ordinary householder gets bills of say £50 a month for heating and lighting which suddenly jump to £50,000. Nobody at the utility company questions it and the householder has difficulty convincing it that some thing has gone wrong at the utility company's end

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