Kodak Portra 400 Film Impressions - Cityscapes in London

Kodak Portra 400 is one of the most popular and sought after 35mm film stocks available. So many people love this 35mm film and use it for portraits, cityscapes, landscapes, and more. I was curious to see how Portra 400 would handle high dynamic range scenes typical of cityscapes. I took a stroll to the Waterloo Bridge in London and captured some classic London views. Here is a light film stock review and my impressions. All images were taken with the Canon EOS 650 film camera.

I also bring you into my home darkroom to make a color negative print. I was curious to see how Portra would behave on darkroom prints.

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[carmenmiles]

This video turned out great! I’ve learned to always carry a few extra rolls with me because you never know how quickly you’ll go through a roll.

[certs]

Portra and Ektar are films I use for specific purposes. Same with Fuji Pro 400. Kodak is getting very expensive but they are very good films for what I need them for which is mainly for portraits for light skin models and a relatively flat image to start with.

[ZeptonicScientist]

I’ve been loving the videos while developing/scanning my film. I think that portra is such a great all rounder, but for street photography I think cheaper films are king. Keep up the great work I’ll be looking out for the next video 😄

[andrewf.]

Put a whole roll in there? 

You savage!

Nice video thanks

[ZainRiza]

Bro, you're looking like a black Zeus with that beard! That 5:17 shot is still my fave haha. The clouds look like water colours.

[banzai]

Corona season had me cracked up 🤣
Inspirational material on your channel here, impressive shots! 👌

[Sohail_]

The 3 dimensionality is incredible - especially the curve of the wheel at the top

[kennethcole]

I like Portra, my preference is for more subdued colours. Having said that it is pricey so I have just bought some Kodak colour plus to see how that goes. Great video, I one my favourite spots in London

[md]

Awesome video. I've used Portra 400 once, mainly because of the price and I really like it. The best of my exposures with it were in bright sunlight. I'm still pretty new to film in that I've only used like 4 different kinds of film but I really like Portra :)

[KeithElliott]

Hi Ribs! Hey, next time you are out and about and run out of film, make a grab for your smartphone...you can then take the shot, afterwards you can see if the composition matches your desired look. i.e. How well did the image live up to your expectation.

Secondly, depending on how the negatives were scanned, it's possible subtle changes in the photo characteristics could exist from the scanned result...so, you could revisit or explore other settings when doing the initial negative scan.

I enjoyed the video! Cheers

[GraemeSimpsonPhotography]

I'm new to Portra. I avoided it because of the cost (120 format) after shooting a few rolls I'm starting to see how it works, what light it likes and doesn't like and what I find for landscapes and Portra 400 is that it captures the moment "as it was" with no quirks, tints and not really anything other than an exact capture of the moment. So unlike a nice cheap black and white like Fomapan vs Tmax you don't really get any character or something that makes me think "oh that's a Portra film". It replicates colour wonderfully and that's totally fine if it's what you are going for but if you're wanting some thing quirky with colour then you go buy some Lomo or Street Candy etc It's a vanilla film to me...but i also love it

Make sense? :)

[marcossantana]

I mainly shoot slides thus I've learned to love little or no details in the shadows, but I prefer the +1 shot. It looses a little bit of saturation but that's something you have to learn to accept when shooting color negs. I like portra 400 pushed precisely because of the increase saturation and contrast. And now that I think of it, I havent shot portra 400 in a quiet a while now. Time to grab some rolls and go out and shoot :-)

[jasonsantiago]

Bruh the helmet on top of the cap tho lmao. But them ferris wheel shots tho. A1

[joevelezart]

Never shot 160. Just 400 and 800. I'm going to try it out. I don't think its overrated because of how much latitude you get. It's definitely an editor's film though.

[lucasleonardo]

I think the biggest advantage portra has is how much overexposure it can handle it's just ridiculous. But I'd agree it's quite expensive. Nice prints :)

[scottalanphotography]

Also, who was the song by at the beginning of the video? That sounded fresh.

[scottalanphotography]

I have a love hate relationship with Portra. I cannot stand the price. I usually will shoot hybrid, both digital and film on paid shoots, so I'll shoot a roll of Portra 400 during one of those. But I tend to stay away from it otherwise. I do usually overexpose by one stop when I shoot it.

[ShootFilmLikeaBoss]

Love London summer evening cityscapes! Nice sets and vid 👍 thanks for sharing.