photography today

New Kodak Professional Portra 160 Film Review

by EveNSteve

When Kodak released the Portra 400 a few months ago many of us speculated that a new Portra 160 would be just around the corner… and guess what? Kodak has announced today that Kodak Professional Portra 160 will be released starting in March 2011 in: 35mm, 120/ 220, 4×5 and 8×10… fantastic!!! Click on the audio-play button to listen to a 13 minute in-depth review of this new film (I tested 120) and be sure to look at the sample images provided below while listening to the audio… What a nice way to start the week!!!

Viva la Revolution- Stephen

Please click on the images below to see larger versions of each.

Indian Hill Imageworks Interior Kodak Portra 160
Eve- Kodak Professional Portra 160- 50" x 71.65" Print!
16" x 20" Crop from a 50" x 71.65" File. WOW!!!
5" x 7" crop from a 50" x 71.65" file... amazing tonality and detail!

Article for Consideration

by EveNSteve

First click on the link below and read the article and look at the examples…

http://www.twinlenslife.com/2011/01/digital-vs-film-canon-5d-mark-ii-vs.html

Now here are my thoughts…

1. The film looks fantastic! The latitude is much better and I like the feeling of the film file much more.

2. The test was very good. It would have been even better if the film scan was done on a higher resolution scanner like say an Imacon. This would have also leveled the field a bit as the RAW processing done to the digital file corrects a lot (but apparently not enough) and the film image was stuck with a relatively middle of the road scan on a Fuji Frontier SP-2500. It is a shame that the scanned image had to be upsampled (due to the scanner resolution limitation) as this film has a lot of subtle detail that a higher quality scanner could have showed optically.

3. I would also like to hear their thoughts regarding a side by side print analysis say at 2 or 3 different sizes… the proof is in the print!

4. The digital wins in the high speed test but the film is still quite good.

In the end will this article sway any true blooded digital shooter to consider film…? I don’t think so, as there will be a myriad of excuses on the RAW conversion technique or other BS that really does not matter. It is a good solid test and it confirms once again the many strengths that film and the hybrid workflow provide for the working creative photographer

Viva la Revolution- Stephen

I’m Not Going To Say I Told You So

by EveNSteve

Click on the audio play button to listen to this 13 minute discussion on the future of photography…

Link to referenced article:

http://fstoppers.com/iphone/

Two Buck Chuck… Good Cheap Film Does Exist!

by EveNSteve

Yes Virginia, good cheap film does exist. Click on the audio play button to listen to my thoughts on new approaches and needs for film in this figital / hybrid world.

The test images below are Fuji 400 Superia X-Tra which is a fantastic film and is readidly available at only two bucks (24 exp)… that’s $2 Dollars, 1.51 Euro, 1.28 United Kingdom Pounds, 167.94 Yen… about the price of a cup of coffee!

Fuji 400 Superia X-Tra at EI 200
Fuji 400 Superia X-Tra at EI 100
Fuji 400 Superia X-Tra at EI 200
Fuji 400 Superia X-Tra at EI 1600

And for those of you who want even smoother results here is an example of the portrait of my wife (same file as above) that has been processed through Imagenomic Portraiture Photoshop Plugin at default settings and then faded back to 50%… very nice!

Fuji 400 Superia X-Tra at EI 200, Imagenomic Portraiture at 50%

Something for the Holidays

by EveNSteve

The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, Fourth Edition is a must-have for every serious photographer… period.  An earlier edition was a constant resource for me while at RIT and now this newer edition is my Xmas gift to myself this year… it is expensive but well worth it. It is quite thick and full of very useful content on just about every photographic topic imaginable from film to digital and beyond… and if the heat bills get too high this winter I can burn it to stay warm… or my wife could throw it at me to knock some sense into me or perhaps I could learn something about this wonderful medium we all love… either way it will be my constant companion for the dark winter months here in VT. Be sure to add this gem to your holiday wish-list today!

Viva la Revolution- Stephen

LINK to Amazon

New Kodak Portra 400 Review Part 4: Conclusion.

by EveNSteve

New Kodak Portra 400

Click on the audio play button to listen to my final thoughts on this new film offering by Kodak.

Viva la Revolution- Stephen

Kodak New Portra 400 Review Part 3: Usable EI Range

by EveNSteve

How low can you go!

As promised here are example images of the new Kodak Portra 400 film with a bit of a twist… you get to vote… again! There are two different films shown, both films are a 400 speed color negative material… one of them is the new Kodak Portra 400. Which do you like? These scans represent the outer edge for a 400 speed film… EI 25 and 50 as well as 1600! In the last post here on FR you are voting on EI 100 and box speed 400- if you have not voted in that post yet please do now:

https://figitalrevolution.com/2010/11/17/kodak-new-portra-400-review-part-2-skin-tones/

I will use the information gathered from both of these posts and your votes along with additional testing I am running for my final thoughts in Part 4 which will be next week.

All negatives were scanned on an Imacon Scanner as a 3F linear file with no sharpening… essentially a RAW scan.

All images were processed exactly the same in Photoshop. All images were captured with my Nikon FM3a and a 50mm f1.2 AI lens.

Tell every photographer you know to vote on this as the results will be very informative for our Figital community and will be covered in my fourth and final post on this review on Novemember 23, 2010… vote now!!

Be sure to Vote now!!!!


Why Shoot Film – Part 1

by EveNSteve

Click on the link above to listen to a 6:41 minute discussion on Why Shoot Film, Part 1.

Digital Test-Image
Film Test-Image

Please note that the test files are kinda big so if you have a slow internet connection just be patient. Also note that the different composition is due to the different aspect ratio but I tried to get at least the top and bottom about the same.

Viva la Revolution- Stephen