Saturated Colours

Lack of shadow details.

VC means Vivid Colour and that''s exactly what I got, but at the expence of shadow details. Colours were vibrant and satuated. Grain was acceptable for the speed. Overall not bad, agreed with the other reviewer that some negative comments were due to improper processing.

Similar Products Used:

Kodak 160NC, Gold 100, 200 Fuji Reala, NPH, X-tra 400

I blew one shot to 8"x8" and the grains are hardly noticeable.

Lack of color, never mind the vivid colors! If you have to shoot Kodak, then go for Royal Gold.

This was the first and last time I used this film and 160VC. Kodak needs to get their act together and make a film that is useful! I shot 4 roll of this film in 120 format and 1 roll in 35mm format on a fall color trip. Glad I didn''t take any chances and backed it up with 35mm Velvia or else my trip would have been a complete waste. It was the first time I was shooting 120 roll films and would have blamed it on the camera and lens, but the lens was a Zeiss and there were two completely different cameras, lenses and film formats involved with similar results. Can''t blame it on the developer either -- his work is top notch. My reprints at a different lab resulted the same.

Similar Products Used:

Fuji Xtra 400, Royal Gold 400, various Fuji print and slide films

Nice vibrant colors with fairly strong contrast. Facial tones were still good even with varying clothing and flash/bounce techniques. No sign of grain at 4x6 of course.

None from our results.

I assisted my son in taking senior pictures of his younger sister. My son usually is the "people picture taker" in the family, while I love landscapes. He was using 35mm Portra 160 NC and VC. He got good results. I had some 400VC in 220 format and thought I would try to get a few nice shots to supplement. I did not expect to get as good of results since I would be shooting the 400 ISO especially in VC. I was very pleasantly surprised. The prints were done 4x6 on matte. The colors were very saturated and we got a pleasant surprise in the facial tones. The best pictures were of her in a deep red blouse in shade. We used both fill flash and bounced a stroboframe, first gold side then a few with the silver side. We were a little afraid of what kind of contrast,etc that might give. The gold bounce provided a very warm glow to her face (blond/brown hair and light fair skin) as we expected. But I was surprised that the ones done with the silver side bounce and then some with no fill or bounce produced very nice even skin tones. Different, but not objectionable. Even those shots with a change to a medium brown leather kacket over white blouse kept good consistency. Overall we were very happy with the result with this film. Shots were done in mostly full shade in a park. Background colors of green and some early browns were fine and not overly saturated or off cast. Many were a little better than either the VC or NC 160 he was shooting in 35mm. I am ignoring the grain difference inherent between the two formats. Frankly at the 4x6 level, there was not a lot to see anyway in either 120/220 or 35mm. I assume we will see some when we blow up to 8x10 and/or beyond. I am especially anxious to see an 11x14 in the 220 shots. Prints were made at a local lab that uses all machine processing and video analyzer. Most of their business is 35mm for retail stores, and I don''t think they closely monitor each frame like a custom lab. Hence, we were happy that we got good results with so many different lighting techniques. We''re happy - I think this film did just fine for what we needed and then some.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

160NC and VC for portraits, and of course many other like Supra, Velvia for landscapes. This film is right for portraits from what we saw.

Bright, "jump-out-and-kick-you-in-the-guts" colors, especially flesh tones.

Why is this film so expensive? I also like Kodak Supra films, which are also "Professional" Kodak films and I don't understand why the Portra costs so much more?

Well, reading all the other reviews here it seems that I am in the minority here, but I really like this film. REALLY LIKE IT. Kodak calls this a 'Vivid Color' film, and they are right. The colors are extremely lively and vivid, with strong saturation and good contrast. Perhaps it just lends itself well to the type of work I do, which is glamour and nudes, 90% of which are taken outdoors using only natural light, or perhaps I just use a good lab that knows how to process this film, but my results have been consistent since I discovered this film a couple of months ago... I have shot about 40 rolls of it and have had no complaints at all. The flesh tones are so creamy and smooth, and blonde hair and lights eyes just seem to jump off the prints.

I know most of the other reviewers here disagree with me on this one, but I love this film.

I'd suggest you try a couple of rolls and decide for yourself because I've not found another film with the same sort of results as this one.

Customer Service

Haven't called them.

Similar Products Used:

Various Fuji, Agfa, and Kodaks

Speed, grain (?)

a lot of wierd color casts, especially skin tones

IF you NEED the speed, I suppose it's ok. Overexposure by 1/2 stop is probably a good idea. The 800 or 400NC is a lot better.

Similar Products Used:

None

Uh......

Green / Blue / Teal cast to almost all pictures.

Wish I would have read these reviews before buying. Kodak's site has "1" picture shot with 400vc and a good 10 with 400nc. I am trying the 400nc and porta 800 next...any one tried porta 800 and have any comments?

Similar Products Used:

None

None according to my experience.

Grain and unpredictability of the results.

I used a local pro Kodak lab. The pictures are unconsistent. Of the pictures shot on the same day at the same location some have yellow cast but most are plain blue and look very bland to me. Maybe it performs better in a studio. Complete disappointment, will never use again.

Similar Products Used:

Fuji Reala 100

Great color across the board -- I was impressed with everything from the skin tones (makes sense, considering this is a portrait film) to oceans/skies to fairly bright flowers and buildings. I used the film on a sunny day in Europe and was very impressed with the shots I got out of it.

The film can get grainy in dark spots and seems to be fairly sensitive to exposure. When shooting in dark areas 1/3-1/2 stop of overexposure might not be a bad idea. Pictures taken during hazy periods of the day are quite dull next to the sun pictures, but this would most likely be true on any film.

This is a great all around film. If you know that you will be shooting in low light, don't use this film. But if you need a fairly fast film with great saturation, 400VC Portra is the way to go.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Fuji Superia 400, Kodak Max 400

ummm... that it's a "true" 400 ASA (not really)

Grain, color, saturation

Yikes. Made the mistake of trying this film before I tried the NC. Ugh. What a disaster. I could have cried at the results. After reading other postings here, it seems obvious that this film is not consistant. I tried bracketing, flash, no flash, reprinting -- anything to get better skin tones and saturation. Finally I went back to setting the ASA a little slower, say at 320 or 250. That helped slightly, but not enough to make me keep buying this film. Seeing the results of the 400 VC made me sorely miss the PMC I loved so much.

Similar Products Used:

I couldn't possibly list all the films I have used. I stick to mostly professional stuff, color neg. and positive,

It's strength is when used with a flash indoors, shooting pictures of people in social settings when the goal is flatter their skin tones.

Bright light situations or when high contrast is desired. Also, you can get some weird color casts with this film when shooting outdoors. Very expensive film.

Best results are with flash indoors. I have heard that in medium format this film is great, but in 35 mm I was disappointed with its performance. If you want to shoot 400, go with Kodak Supra 400 or Fuji Superia 400. If you want to use Portra, try 160NC or 800.

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

Portra 160NC, Portra 800, Supra 400 and 800.