Direct comparison of Fuji Superia 400 and Kodak Portra 400VC

[Heinz_Anderle]

A comparison of Kodak Portra 400VC (most likely equivalent to the newly introduced Ultra Max/Farbwelt 400) and the newest generation of Fuji Superia 400 (without the cyan-sensitive layer) shows that the Portra has relatively coarser grain in the shadows and a higher contrast. I will stay with the green boxes.

 

[Richard Harris]

Heinz, I would have agreed with you until recently. Then I developed some Kodak 400VR and 200VR This is a cheap consumer film available in the UK. I forgot to click my darkroom timer and so had to guess the development time.

 

[Richard Harris]

sorry folks I hit the wrong button and posted the reply before I'd finished writing it. I was going to say I think I underdeveloped the films a bit, but the results were fantastic. The 400 speed film displayed very very little more grain than Fuji 400 and the 200 had much less grain than superia 400. The colours were excellent without being overblown or too contrasty. We accept that fuji E6 films need a little more development than Kodak; I think the same runs true for C41.
I have developed Kodak 400VC with fuji NPH in 120 size together in the past and thought the Kodak film was grainy and contrasty. I shall, from now on, just pull the development time a little for Kodak just as I do with E6. I'd start with 15 seconds less. I don't know if this is enough because I found this out due to my original error. I have to say that the Kodak pallette of colours is more to my liking than fuji but the grain thing has always put me off Kodak. I'm quite excited now.