Kodak Professional Portra 160NC review

Here’s a Kodak film stock that I only came across recently and being a lover of Portra in general, I simply had to try it.
I shoot a lot of Portra both on 35mm and medium format but I wanted to try NC on my 6x7 first, just to gauge it on a large negative fit. By the way, this roll of NC expired back in 1998.
I first picked a solid colour subject matter to see how it stood up. You’ll notice here that there is four blues, the double doors, the side shutter, the sea and the sky. All different shades of blue. To my eyes, there’s not colour separation at all and NC has performed really well given the fact that its over 20 years old

The next image was shot early doors just as the sun was coming up positioned slightly behind me. I picked this frame as I thought it would best represent a series of colours for a decent Portra test. Again, I think the film stood up really well the colours to me are classic Portra, perhaps more 160 than 400

I think it’s important to note here that I don’t use Photoshop, Lightroom or filters. I still struggle to understand that if you’re shooting film, you take all that time to compose the shot, get your light levels, shutter speed etc, you then take that image and change it, add and manipulate the hell out of it. If you shot it wrong in the first place, go back and do it again or learn from your mistakes.

Again, the colours here for a well expired film look really good and they are as I saw them. Clearly previous storage on his roll has been good or at least been kept away from heat etc.
On balance then, If i can get hold of some more of this stock, I certainly would. Its clearly Portra both on the quality and the colour front.

Please note: Other views and opinions are available but these are mine. Cheers….

My first roll of Portra 160 on the Hassy

Im a firm believer that if you shoot film on a regular basis, you should work your way through most film stocks that are out there. Im a bit colour lover and favour certain films but Id never tried Portra 160 until a few week ago. I was keen to save this roll until I found a certain subject matter which I thought might lend itself to well to Portra’s vivid colour and tones. So a recent trip to Croatia seems a perfect choice.

A photographer that I often speak on film related stuff reckoned i should over exposed Portra 160 by a few stops. I’d say that his work has a very neutral look to it and suits his style of photography really well. For me, I do what I always do, shoot it straight, no tweeks and very standard ish. Ive never bothered with the over under exposed option or that push and pull process stuff when developing. I just shoot film out of the box.

So, enclosed are a selection of shots I managed to grab. See what you think. Im happy with them. Would I shoot Portra 160 again. I guess so but it doesn’t rock my boat enough to go nuts with it. Photography is all about choice and what best suit your needs and requirements given the kit you’ve got and the film stock you shoot with.

Please note: No photoshop, lightroom or presets were used or will ever be used in the making of my images. All the shots you see are straight out of the box. Real photography you might say