Shooting Portra 800 (120)
In the shipyard at Porth Penrhyn. This particular subject worked well as a square image. 1/125s 110mm F11.
Long time blog readers will know that I’ve written about Portra 800 before when I shot it in 35mm (you can read that by clicking here). Despite the increased amount of grain, I still found the images to hold a great deal of detail even when cropping in and with its added versatility faster shutter speeds I found it much more enjoyable to use than the much slower Portra 160. Following on from this I was keen to try it out on my Bronica SQ-A to see how much more detail I could pull out, as well as see how useful a faster film is for the slower pace of medium format shooting. Fortunately, I had the perfect opportunity in an autumn road trip to North Wales and the Peak District. Surely the warm autumn colours would be the perfect foil for any Kodak colour film.
Lacking in contrast compared to slide film but still full of colour, these Rex Begonias caught my eye at the tropical house at the Treborth Botanical Gardens. 8s 110mm F16.
I tried to make use of the man in the yellow jacket as he fit with the autumnal theme, however I couldn’t quite get him in focus. 1/15s 100m F8.0.
At first it may not seem that useful for the format I am shooting. Fast film works well in 35mm where you have equally fast glass to really make the most of capturing action even in lower light levels. It’s rare you’d see someone then or now shooting any kind of fast movement with a Bronica or equivalent camera. However, being autumn, the conditions were often dull which made an ISO 800 film ideal to shoot with. Despite the fact I was predominantly shooting subjects that didn’t move like mountains and trees, because I was using such small apertures, I was still often restricted to slow shutter speeds that would have required a tripod even for a more handholdable 35mm camera. Had I used Portra 400, and especially if I had used Portra 160, I would have at required much longer exposes made using the the manual T mode on my lens and run me into issues with reciprocity failure.
Macro images are a good way to test detail and it’s evident there is plenty here. 1/15s 110mm F22.
Of the three images I feel like this one came out the best as everything is in a similar focus plane compared to the other two. 1/15s 110mm F22.
As you are unable to focus stack with film you do need to take more care with macro work. You can’t get everything in focus even if you stopped down to F22 or F32 and as above it looks better to frame subjects that are in a similar plane of focus. The out of focus areas here aren’t out of focus enough and distract the eye from the main subject of the image. 1/2s 110mm F22.
There were times when even with ISO 800 I was forced to use multi second exposures, and there were a few choice subjects such as waterfalls where I had to deliberately slow the shutter speed down to get the correct effect. Now bear in mind that faster films are not designed for long exposure photography, the whole point is that you can keep shooting in a more normal range and finer grained films with ISO 100 or 200 actually suffer far less reciprocity failure. However, with a bit of guess work on exposure compensation I still managed to get the long exposures to work and highlights how these films have a bit more flexibility than some people believe. Though I really wouldn’t recommend shooting anything longer than 10s as you will inevitably start to hit much greater difficulties.
A close-up of Swallow Falls in North Wales. I deliberately slowed the shutter speed down with neutral density filters in order to blur the movement of the water. Something this film is not considered best suited to. 2s 110mm F22 2 ND filters totaling 5 stops.
The well know lone tree of Lyn Padarn. The trials and tribulations of shooting this will feature in its own upcoming blog. 8s 110mm F32 2 ND filters totaling 5 stops.
My trusty stead at the entrance to Sychnant Pass. One of the few photos I took in bright sunlight. 1/125s 110mm F11 with polariser.
When it comes to detail, it really was there as I had hoped. Even in soft lighting these large negatives are still able to pull out a lot of detail with grainer film as I showed before when I shot Ilford Delta 3200. There’s no question that shooting ISO 160 or ISO 400 would give greater detail again, but you have the tradeoff of slower shutter speeds or larger apertures with less depth of field, which may prove difficult in certain situations. This is also a film where you have many more opportunities to shoot handheld if you are so inclined, though it is not something I ever do. The confusion of seeing a mirrored image through the viewfinder makes it a bit of a headache.
The autumn colours I had travelled across the country to see, Portra was perfect for this. 1/4s 110mm F11.
The vivid bright red Acacia pops out amongst the surrounding green foliage. As with the image above with the Rex Begonia, I was surprised at how well green was rendered in this photo. 1/30s 110mm F11.
Finally, on colours it behaves exactly how you’d expect a Kodak Portra film to, with its warm orangery tones that fit perfectly with the autumn foliage I was shooting. The vivid contrast of the bright red Acacia leaves amongst the surrounding green foliage goes to show what you can achieve without having to resort to slide film. Perhaps it would fare better in brighter, sunnier conditions but I was happy with what I was able to achieve. The only time it let me down in this regard was where I attempted to photograph a sunset Snowdonia. Admittedly I had already missed the most dramatic light, but it flopped in even capturing what was left. I’ll have to stick to slide film for the vibrant sun rises and sun sets.
My failed attempt to capture the colour of a Snowdonia sunset. You can see a small amount of pink in the clouds but it was nothing like what I saw in real life. 1/2s 110m F11.
The wreckage of the B-29 Bomber Overexposed, this will also soon feature in its own blog. 1/60s 110mm F16.
Overall, the film met my expectations and demonstrated its versatility with a combination of detail and practicality. Sadly, as much as I would want to shoot this film stock again, I won’t be doing so anytime soon as it has just become so expensive. Every year the price of film continues to increase, and January 2022 saw even bigger increases than normal across all of Kodak’s range. Portra 800 is now not only the most expensive thing they make, but also by a significant margin, even eclipsing its slide film Ektachrome. Unfortunately, this will put it out of the reach of many people. I do recommend shooting this at least once or if you can get your hands on some cheap, but it won’t ever be something to shoot on a regular basis unless you have deep pockets.
The fast ISO 800 means you can still capture (slow moving) living things even on a dull day with the aperture stopped down. 1/60s 110mm F11.
What are your thoughts on Portra 800? Will you still be shooting it despite the price increases? Let me know in the comments down below.
The red of the poppy also stands out here and I do feel the less busy background does fade out well compared to the other macro images above. 1/4s 110mm F22.
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