Comments on: Ghosts of Portra Past – Shooting Kodak Portra 400 VC and 160 NC Today

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 13 May 2022 08:31:16 +0000

I just ran a roll of Portra 160 NC through my Mamiya 645 Pro and was amazed at the vivid–“NC” designation notwithstanding–rendition of color in the final images, even though it was at least a decade expired. In my experience, modern Portra starts getting that washed-out, 1970s faded-color look the SECOND it expires…not that that’s a bad thing, I quite like expired Portra, but the results of this particular roll quite surprised me.

RE: modern film images looking far superior to those in your parents’ photo albums, the only camera we had in my household growing up was a Kodak Star. If you’re not familiar with 110 film, a single frame is smaller than a postage stamp, so the images were soft and grainy, even in 4×6 prints. We didn’t help it by shooting too close to the subject so they were always out of focus, leaving the flash off when it needed to be on (and vice versa), shooting indoors with daylight-balanced film, etc. I seriously didn’t know what an SLR was until college.

By: James Tocchio

James Tocchio — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 01:44:07 +0000

In reply to Sree. Happy to hear that you liked the article! Good luck shooting your Portra, my friend.

By: Sree

Sree — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 18:11:06 +0000

I was looking through a bunch of film I had, not realizing how much time had passed since I bought it. I found a couple roles of Portra 400 VC. A web search led me to this post. I’m definitely going to be thinking more when shooting this role. Thank you for the wonderful post!

By: Patty

Patty — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 07:20:58 +0000

I was born in the 90’s so my younger years were spent toting compact 8mp Canon’s for school field trips. I have only recently started shooting analog and while it does not spark any form of nostalgia for me, there is a certain level of fascination in using cameras that existed way before I was born. Some of my favorites are even older than my mom and dad! While my Fuji X-T30 can produce amazing photographs on it’s own, it doesn’t spark that same feeling of joy when you use analog cameras.

Anyway, this review made me realize how much the younger generation (who has only started to take an interest on film in the recent years) has missed the glory days of analog. I wish Fuji and Kodak would one day bring back the greats.

By: Nicolas Molinero

Nicolas Molinero — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:57:02 +0000

In reply to James Tocchio. Jajajak, best reply ever! Well, then I'll have to add 8 stops when I'll shoot those films

By: Chris Russo

Chris Russo — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 16:41:22 +0000

Thanks for a great exploration of both the mechanics and less tangible aspects of shooting old film stock. It certainly seems to have struck a chord with many, myself included. As one who was (ostensibly) an adult in the 1990’s and shooting film at the time, I do sometimes pine for those days. But in retrospect, as I was living them, I was oblivious to them if that makes any sense. Just like someday, today’s youth will look nostalgically back at when they all carried phones with them and did x, y, and z that we currently take for granted but will someday also be things of the past. Given the nostalgic bent of the discussion, a favorite short story entitled “Where the Cluetts Are” by Jack Finney comes to mind. Storyline centers around being in (or out) of time with the world about you. Dig it up if you can… I think you’ll enjoy it.