Portra 800

Kodak Portra 800 is a classic. It was originally released as a part of the Portra family in 1998 and hasn’t been changed since (unlike 160 & 400). It is much warmer than other Portra stocks, and is less forgiving when underexposed.

Even though box speed is 800, the colors are a bit nicer and more saturated when overexposed by a stop or two. When using flash, we recommend metering at box speed.

Like the majority of still photography films, Portra 800 is daylight balanced (5500K). For best results, shoot it in daylight or with a quality flash or strobe. If you shoot with interior lighting, expect an orange tint to your image.

METERED AT 400

METERED AT 800

METERED AT 800 W/ FLASH

All photos were taken by Sam Street on a Leica M6 with a 50mm Summicron and a Contax T3. Thanks to Grace Albritton for modeling.

Kodak Ultramax 400

Kodak 400 is one of the cheapest and most underrated films available. You can find it at Walgreens in 24 frame rolls, but you’re better off buying 36 frame rolls online to save a little extra cash. It’s super warm and a little on the grainy side, which makes it perfect for broad daylight and flash photography - plus it gives the “retro film” look that people often use presets for.

Box speed is 400, but cheaper films don’t maintain shadow detail well - so we recommend overexposing by a stop or two to get best results. You’ll get better colors and saturation - plus people won’t know you only spent $6.

METERED AT 200

METERED AT 400

As is the case with most films, we recommend metering at box speed when using flash.

METERED AT 400 w/ flash

All photos were taken by Sam Street on a Leica M6 with a 50mm Summicron and a Contax T3. Thanks to Courtney Tipps for modeling.

Cinestill 800T

Cinestill 800T is amazing. It’s actually Kodak 500T Vision3 film, but Cinestill figured out how to remove the remjet so that it can be processed in C-41 chemicals. Most of the prettiest motion films were shot on 500T, so the ability to capture stills on the same stock is incredible. Unlike most other readily available still film, 800T is tungsten balanced (3200K). This means it looks great at night (gas station photos anyone?), but if you shoot it in daylight you’ll have a blue tint to all of your images. More on that in a bit.

Box speed is 800, but 800T is very forgiving when it comes to exposure. You can meter anywhere from 200-1600 with great results. It also pushes well, so you’ll have no trouble shooting it at 3200. We actually prefer to push 800T a stop regardless of how it was metered for the increased contrast (all of the photos in this blog were pushed). Also Phantom Thread was shot at 640 on 500T and pushed a stop, so we’re going to copy PTA whenever possible.

Due to the fact that 800T is tungsten balanced, your images will have a blue tint when shooting in daylight. However, if you overexpose (between 200-400) you’ll cut through the red layer and get nice results regardless of daylight.

METERED AT 200 IN DAYLIGHT

When using 800T in studio, you’ll want to keep the tungsten balance in mind. Strobes are typically daylight balanced, so you’ll want to use a gel to correct for that. We recommend a full CTO, which is what we used below.

METERED AT 800 IN STUDIO

Cinestill 800T looks great with colored lights. Typically bright colors will trick a light meter (especially if they’re red), so we’d recommend underexposing a bit if you have direct colored lights. The photos below were metered at 800 as an example, but would have looked better if metered at 1600.

COLORED LIGHTS METERED AT 800

All photos were taken by Sam Street on a Leica M6 with a 50mm Summicron. Thanks to Minnie Morklithavong for modeling.