Ektar or Portra this winter?

The biggest mistake one can make with Ektar is to put on a cocky swagger and assume you can correct anything in Photoshop afterwards. You can't. It's not just about overall color balance. Once any particular dye curve is significantly underexposed relative to the other two at the time of exposure, you're going to get crossover on the lower part of the curve, onto a wrong dye. Once the mud is mixed, you're not likely to unmix it. More typical color neg films not only have lower contrast, but deliberately create a bit of "mud" for sake of "pleasing skintones". Ever wonder why every shade of orange or yellow comes out kinda pumpkin-color, or every tan or light brown comes out a bit like Crayola "fleshtone"? Stephen Shore built an entire body of work on the flaws of good ole Vericolor L - poison green and pumpkin orange in every image. I'm not implying good portraits can't be done with Ektar. Heck, they're done with slide films too. But don't expect it to be forgiving. Not the best choice for High School yearbooks full of kids with zits. But if you understand how to correctly meter, filter, and expose for Ektar, it can deliver exceptional results in landscape shots especially. If you want something more forgiving but still a bit saturated, go for Portra 400. If you want a softer look and even wider exposure latitude, go with Portra 160.

benjiboy said:

I would choose Kodak Portra 400.

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So would I, but depending on the subject I might use Ektar, Kodak Vivid Color or Kodak Ultra Color. I would use a Zone Spot Meter or an incident meter for the exposure.

Sirius Glass said:

So would I, but depending on the subject I might use Ektar, Kodak Vivid Color or Kodak Ultra Color. I would use a Zone Spot Meter or an incident meter for the exposure.

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The reason I would choose Kodak Portrait 400 is it's a versatile film to use in Winter in Europe because it's two stops faster than Kodak Ektar or other 100 I.S.O films.

benjiboy said:

The reason I would choose Kodak Portrait 400 is it's a versatile film to use in Winter in Europe because it's two stops faster than Kodak Ektar or other 100 I.S.O films.

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This may be true, but I still prefer slow-speed film for most types of photography.

benjiboy said:

The reason I would choose Kodak Portrait 400 is it's a versatile film to use in Winter in Europe because it's two stops faster than Kodak Ektar or other 100 I.S.O films.

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Kodak Portrait 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400 are my go to films year round. The others are for higher color saturation.