[HUG] Portra in the camera

Dear Friends,

         I cannot say if I am the only HUG list user who still does his own
colour darkroom work, but if I am, my 2 cents worth on the Portra issue:

1.       I play with what I can get - Portra 160 VC is the only Kodak colour
neg sheet film that they import into Western Australia. The Fuji equivalent
is fine, but I have found it to be heat-sensitive - giving colour shifts and
uncorrectable crossovers if the holders have had to cycle through a number
of days on the road. As heat is what we do in WA in summer ( Our motto is
Sweat r Us.) the Kodak is the go.

2.       This VC and the equivalent 120-sized rolls are perfect for studio
dance shots where you can pour in electronic flash and you want the dancer's
costumes to give you that eyes-are-bleeding saturation. That's a technical
term, but if the belly dancer has not sewn her glass baubles onto the
costume firmly, it can be real....

3.       Sometimes this saturation helps to counteract the light flood and
pastelitiziationisticality that occurs on a white scoop. Sometimes it makes
the skin tones....robust.

4.      Out in the field, when I need to stop the action of a sword fight at
close range, the 400 ASA version is invaluable, but here I have found the NC
far better. I pump a fill flash in with a 45 CT1 to clear the harsh WA sun
shadows and there is no problem with the over saturation on the skin tone.

5.      There is nothing that tames the contrast problem of a wedding like
the 160NC and plenty of fill flash, other than persuading the bride and
groom to dress in 18% grey suits. The faces of the bridal couple can be
reliably reduced to 18% grey with a night of hard drinking beforehand.

6.       For the Dunkelkammersaurus there is no way to fiddle the saturation
up or down in printing but you can sometimes fail to see the timer in the C
41 developer stage and be surprised.

        Uncle Dick

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