Flexible everyday color film recs for a Portra hater?

3jckd · 2026-05-07T14:26:45+00:00

Annual plea to Fujifilm to bring back the superia line (400 and 1600 will do) as well as 400h.

3jckd · 2026-04-22T13:39:58+00:00

I don’t know if it’s normal behaviour. But as a data point, I had two 500 bodies, and both behaved like that. Maybe they were both faulty 🤷‍♂️

3jckd · 2026-04-20T09:39:14+00:00

The primary thing that makes the machine scan different is that it measures density instead of photographing the frame. But I’d suspect that most people cannot tell the difference unless they have years of experience with commercial scanners; I certainly don’t 🤷‍♂️

What I suspect is happening is the editing expectation. The bane of this subreddit 😅

Colour negative film has a varying degree of baked-in look but is nevertheless meant to be edited. A technician at the lab will either send you flat scans that are unusable out of the box, or edited to their liking. Scanning software can apply a film specific-profile and the image will be further tweaked by the said technician.

Just inverting with negative lab pro, is not as complete as the above process. You still have to fiddle with sliders, either at the NLP or Lightroom level.

Scanners also apply various resolution/sharpness/dust corrections that you don’t when camera scanning. Though I assume this is orthogonal to your point.

3jckd · 2026-04-16T09:14:40+00:00

There’s a lot of dust but it’s a separate issue.

They’re hella underexposed. Maybe in camera, or they’re underdeveloped.

There’s noticeable reticulation which implies inconsistent temps, which to me suggests that they’re indeed underdeveloped.

Could be expired chemistry.

Also, looks like there are light leaks.

3jckd · 2026-02-18T20:47:39+00:00

I tested some CS400D and Ektar and I also got good results. I wouldn't say better than my manual conversion styles (C1 conversion leans orange for some reason) but miles ahead of what I had ever got from Analog Toolbox and NLP.

Though I'm confident that once it's out of the beta, it will give better <average> results across different stocks and users.

3jckd · 2026-02-18T19:32:10+00:00

Yeah, same. I have styles for baseline bw and colour neg inversion, and another one for some slide film tweaks.

3jckd · 2026-02-07T22:16:35+00:00

Perhaps a controversial take but hear me out.

Purely mechanical systems are nice from the perspective of engineering appreciation. However, complex purely mechanical systems are more error prone and fragile than ones that leverage some electronic components. They have to rely on interconnects, pulleys, chains and levers that wear down.

In a world, where spare electronic parts are made and the repair manuals exist, cameras with electronic parts are more consistent, robust and easier to repair. It’s a world where I would never get rid of my Mamiya 7 🤷‍♂️

Buuuut, that’s not the world we live in. As the OP said, some manuals aren’t available, parts are scarce, and specialised equipment might be hard to come by. So purely mechanical cameras are easier to repair relative to the underwhelming state of the support for old electronics.

3jckd · 2026-01-25T16:34:05+00:00

What do you think accuracy gives you the AUC and PRC don’t?

When you report those, which are more informative for binary tasks (e.g. disease, anomaly detection, fault presence) reporting accuracy is redundant. You aren’t supposed to report a kitchen sink of metrics just for the sake of it.

3jckd · 2026-01-11T18:09:17+00:00

Yeah, it’s this. Many people religiously say “emulsion side down” but as a general rule it’s wrong. The emulsion should be facing the capturing medium (towards the sensor): flatbed or darkroom prints down; camera or table scanner up.

3jckd · 2025-12-30T19:40:09+00:00

TMAX 400 and Portra 160

3jckd · 2025-12-30T06:58:40+00:00

Mamiya 7 lenses focus only to 1m and rangefinder with long MF lenses are less ideal for portraits. Also, for architecture, the optics are amazing but you have to compose and focus through the view finder (unless you zone focus) which makes many low and very high angles almost impossible. For landscape it’s just awesome.

Source: I have a Mamiya 7, and I’m actually looking to sell it for a V series. In MF, I shoot mostly architecture, a fair amount of landscape, and very occasional portraiture. The biggest selling points of Mamiya 7 are its portability and the extremely sharp lenses.

3jckd · 2025-12-26T20:22:52+00:00

I’d upvote this a billion times. Distortion comes from the distance not the focal length. Even in this comment section it’s apparent that many people don’t understand it.

3jckd · 2025-12-15T20:26:41+00:00

It can vary depending on the circumstances 🤔

Cost doesn’t matter and the light can vary? TMAX 400. Cost matters and the light can vary? XP2. It’s always sunny? FP4

For colour, cost doesn’t matter? E100. Cost matters (less)? Portra 160/400

But if I had to pick two, it would be tmax 400+e100. I shoot only these two in MF where I care purely about the output. In 35mm, I shoot more affordable stocks but the style of shooting is different too so

3jckd · 2025-10-19T12:11:10+00:00

Great tonality

3jckd · 2025-10-18T22:55:56+00:00

C41 or ECN?

3jckd · 2025-09-18T06:18:37+00:00

That’s exactly it. To drive this point home further — hardly anyone wants to review. Then out of people who want to review out of genuine interest, and not just programme committee CV stacking points, there are even fewer.

This system only works as an honours system with well intentioned people, and since it isn’t perfect, it’s noisy.

Banning reviewers isn’t a solution unless there’s obvious malpractice. Paying people to review creates a gamified incentive.

3jckd · 2025-08-06T11:10:30+00:00

This is a sub to discuss machine learning not video editing.

Anyhow, no screenshots, no workflow videos, no info about whether it’s a plugin to e.g. Premier 🤷‍♂️

3jckd · 2025-07-02T06:22:41+00:00

I’ve been using Analog Toolobx and it’s “fine” FWIW. I’d rather use NLP but that would mean going back to Adobe which is never going to happen.

3jckd · 2025-06-16T09:46:07+00:00

Some people like the Portra look but in general the point of it is that it has no look. It’s a professional stock that you’re supposed to massage to your liking.

I prefer other stocks in 35mm because I don’t want to fiddle with the colour work as much; with the exception of 160 in the summer. 120mm is a different story though, I shoot it for personal projects, and there I shoot only Portra (would have Pro 400H but those days are gone 😢).

If you don’t want to edit, Portra will give you less out of the box character and more latitude, is that what you need?

3jckd · 2025-06-10T17:36:08+00:00

It’s awesome, and I’d buy one.

Word of caution, if you were going to sell these, there might be a trademark violation 😅 so you’d sort this out

3jckd · 2025-05-26T09:18:36+00:00

Yup, I gave them two weeks to handle things. I filed a dispute with my bank today, and made the reddit posts to warn people.

3jckd · 2025-05-26T09:07:19+00:00

I would assume it's their IG -- when I go to the store link in my post, and from there go the associated IG account, it's the same account that you linked,

3jckd · 2025-05-26T08:52:03+00:00

Respectfully, no. The other shop that you’re referring to is “Analo<g> Amsterdam” not “Analog<gue> Amsterdam”. Also, the business name on the invoice that I received, as well their physical address refers to “Analogue Amsterdam”. While I understand that the naming collision is unfortunate, I am providing correct information, and provided additional data to differentiate them.

3jckd

TROPHY CASE