7 things to know about Kodak Portra 400 film \ Review + Sample Images for weddings and portrait photographers (2023)

Kodak Portra 400 Review

In the image: A house in Venice shot on Kodak Portra 400 120 (medium format) with a medium format camera Pentax 645 + 75mm 2.8 lens at 2.8. Developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab. This is probably the first image I have ever taken with the Pentax and I dind’t even have an external light meter. The photo came out a litttl under-exposed but I still like the result.

Over the last decade, Kodak Portra 400 film has become a top choice for professional photographers. It is a daylight high-speed color negative film that offers a smooth, natural color palette balanced with vivid saturation and low contrast for accurate skin tones and consistent results. The second reason of its popularity is it has hardly any tough competitors in the market.

Let’s see why this film stock is so popular. In this article, I’ll show you my point of view and what I think are the pros and cons of Portra 400.

In the picture: Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, Italy taken on 35mm Kodak Portra 400 film and an 85mm lens

portra-400-35mm-film-review-sample-images-carmencita-lab-12.jpg — The color palette

You can clearly see in this image the reasons why this film stock is so popular:
- Amazing warm and peachy skintones
- Great retention of details from blacks to whites.
- Sharpness
- Pastel colors
- Beautiful greens

In the image: a nice gate looking gate during golden hour. 50mm at 1.4, developed and scanned by Ghisa Film Lab on a Fujifilm Frontier sp-3000 scanner

Weddings and Portraits

The Kodak Portra 400 stands tall during its early launch in 1998. Earlier it was used as a replacement color for the Vericolor range. During its initial launch period, Kodak Portra 400 came in two variants, one is the Vivid color option, and the other was the Natural Color option.

The technical upgrade in the year 2010 paved the way for the separation, and from there it was World's Finest Grain in Colour 400 all the way. The Kodak Portra 400 is built especially for professional photography that includes high-quality portrait, and wedding photography. You can create high-quality skin tones along with some beautiful pastel colors with this magical film.

This film incorporates the technology of Kodak Vision professional cinema films, being the main cause of fine grain, resulting in an ideal negative for digitization in scanners.

In this image Villa Valmarana ai Nani in Vicenza, Italy. Image shot on a Canon 50mm 1.4 at 1.4. Developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab Scanned on the Fuji Frontier scanner.

In the image: Johanna and Andrea during their wedding day. This picture is shot on Portra 400 35mm with an 50mm lens at f. 2.0. Scanned on the Fuji Frontier Scanner

Flexibility

The Kodak Portra 400 is a completely flexible film and can be used in numerous photographic styles. The technology of this film provides the opportunity to cover stagnant street photography to picturesque landscapes. It comprises a soft palate that offers a certain touch of warmth to your photos.

The flexibility option also helps you to use the film in various ways along with maintaining its superior detailing and minimal grain. Moreover, the Kodak Portra 400 also covers different lighting scenarios with minimal difficulties.

Longevity

The greatest benefit of using the Kodak Portra 400 film is its longevity. It can withstand the life of the photos even after 100 and it will still look good. Moreover, it provides a much easier option for maintaining the aesthetic balance of your photos rather than the digital film.

Saturation

The Kodak Portra 400 is not highly saturated like the Portra 160, or the Portra 800. Though the speed is much less in Portra 400 but comprises more saturation than the 160. The other benefit is that it is a cheaper option as compared to the 800.

Finally, Portra 800 does not contain sheet film as compared to the 400 or the 160 does.

In the picture: A fashion detail of a Zanellato “Postina” Bag, camel boots and dry leafs from autumn. Image shot on a Canon 50mm 1.4 at 1.4. Developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab Scanned on the Fuji Frontier scanner.

Portrait of Daniel (his instagram here). Taken on Kodak Portra 400 and the medium format camera Pentax 645 + 75mm 2.8 lens at 2.8. Developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab Scanned on the Fuji Frontier scanner. The picture was taken with extremely low light (the sun was almost completely gone!) but I tried anyway eheh. I asked the lab to push it +1 stop (as If I shot it a Iso 800). It still has tons of grain and came out underexposed, but nothing that little clicks in lightroom can’t magically make better :)

TO SUM UP..

PROS:

COLORS: The most important feature of this film is its incomparable rendering of colors and that too in high quality. I would recommend this film stock for photographers who specialize in photographing people (weddings, portraits, seniors), the rendering of almost all skin tones is true to life and vibrant, with the only exception of lighter Asian skin tones who can sometimes appear too warm or yellow. I would describe the skin tones to be warm, tan, and vibrant. Most Kodak film stocks are yellow-based and that translated in an added layer of tan hue to the picture.

LATITUDE: The other benefit of this magnificent film has superb coverage in the exposure latitude. The quality of the photos is excellent along with offering vivid, gentle, soft tones in the final pictures regardless of the initial exposure. You can, in fact, under\over-expose Portra 400 by 1 or 2 stops without a significant alteration of the negative. I strongly recommend shooting at ISO 320 or 400 for best results and maximum dynamic range. Under-exposing can lead to muddy\grainy pictures while over-exposing too much can lead to a more “dense” negative with more contrast and color-shift.
AVAILABILITY: Kodak Portra 400 is still produced and sold almost anywhere in the world. I have no problem finding it at my local camera stores for a price of 13€ or 14€.
VERSATILITY: There are different reasons why this film is one of the most versatile out there. The first reason being the 400 ISO. That allows you to shoot in gloomy, overcast, sunny days as well as the possibility to shoot at night with flash or artificial lighting. This makes it the perfect choice for a wedding due to the fast-paced changes in lighting scenarios that you encounter during the wedding day.

With this characteristics, the Portra 400 becomes the ideal film for portrait, fashion, natural, travel, or outdoor photography, as well as action conditions in which it is required to shoot at high shutter speeds.

CONS:

PRICE: At the time of writing this article (2021) a roll of Kodak Portra 400 35mm costs 14€ at my local camera store, the price is similar online. Sometimes you can find deals and little price variation but it’s still very expensive compared to film stocks like Kodak Colorplus 200 or Kodak Gold 200.
COLORS: Colors of Kodak Portra 400 can be really beautiful and timeless but sometimes they are not the best. The first instance that comes to my mind is when it’s used to photograph lighter Asian skin tones. It can be very yellow and give the person a weird color cast (easy to tweak and correct in lightroom tho!). If you are a fan of Fuji 400h pastel colors, it takes a little bit more care and tweaks to get to the same softness and pastel colors (especially in the greens and the skin tones).
SCANNING: I found that Kodak Portra 400 was a little bit more difficult to scan at home as opposed to Colorplus 200 or Kodak Gold. It takes a little bit longer to get the colors “right”. This problem is easily solvable by using a professional lab to develop and scan your negatives. I love to ask my labs to scan it using the Frontier sp-3000 scanner and I’m very pleased with the results, but I’m not planning on self-scanning my rolls since It’s very frustrating and inconsistent.