This morning I headed out with my Fujifilm X-T5 to capture some images, so that I could do a side-by-side comparison of the new Kodak Portra 800 v3 Film Simulation Recipes with the other two Portra 800 options, plus Kodak Portra 400 v2. As I explained in the article for the new Recipe, Peter McKinnon’s Portra 800 photographs were the inspiration for it, and it is also reminiscent of some of Kyle McDougall’s An American Mile Portra 400 pictures. With all of these Recipe options, perhaps you are unsure which one you should use. Just because I published a new version, doesn’t mean that it is inherently the best one or the right one for you; it’s simply an alternative that you may or may not like. Hopefully, this article will help you with your decision. I do believe that many of you will appreciate the new Kodak Portra 800 v3 Recipe.
It’s important to understand that one film can produce many different looks based on a whole host of factors: how shot (film format, lens, exposure, filters, light, etc.), how developed (push/pull, brand of chemicals, freshness of chemicals, timing, temperature and pH of the water, etc.), how printed (paper, chemicals, timing, filters, etc.) and/or how scanned (brand of scanner, correction profiles, post-editing, etc.). Even within one photographer’s collection of one specific emulsion, there can be some noticeable variances. In the case of Peter McKinnon and his Kodak Portra 800, there is indeed significant divergences in the exact look of different pictures. My Kodak Portra 800 v3 Recipe does not accurately mimic all of his pictures captured with the film, but it is pretty close to some of them.
These three Kodak Portra 800 Recipes can all resemble the film; however, they’re much different from each other. Since one emulsion can produce divergent results, you can achieve various looks by choosing different Film Simulation Recipes. My original Kodak Portra 800 Film Simulation Recipe was a joint venture between myself and Thomas Schwab based on “memory color” (as Fujifilm likes to put it) of the film. The next version, Kodak Portra 800 v2, was created entirely by Thomas Schwab after he shot a roll of the film and his Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera side-by-side. The third version was created by me after carefully examining Peter McKinnon’s pictures of Kodak Portra 800 film. I included my Kodak Portra 400 v2 Recipe in this comparison because it is fairly similar to the Kodak Portra 800 v3 Recipe, and because there is an obvious resemblance with the new Recipe to some Portra 400 film photographs.
With all of that said, let’s jump right into the comparison! Because X-Trans V renders blue more deeply on some film sims, I adjusted Color Chrome FX Blue down one notch on Kodak Portra 800 and Kodak Portra 800 v2 to make them compatible with my X-T5.
For me, personally, it’s really hard to beat Kodak Portra 400 v2. It’s one of my all-time personal favorite Film Simulation Recipes, and it’s also one of the most popular. In each of these five sets, it’s the Recipe that I’m most drawn to. Kodak Portra 800 v3 is the most warm of these four options; a comparison of warmer Recipes—1970’s Summer, 1971 Kodak, Vibrant Arizona, Kodak Vericolor Warm, Kodak Portra 400 Warm, Bright Summer, Bright Kodak, and the new Kodak Portra 800 v3—would be interesting. The original Kodak Portra 800 Recipe is the punchiest, Kodak Portra 800 v2 is the softest, and v3 is the warmest. Ignoring the Kodak Portra 400 v2 pictures, I like Kodak Portra 800 v3 the best in the first set (with the truck), the third set (broken window, wide), and the fourth set (gas station); I like the original Kodak Portra 800 Recipe the best in the second set (broken window, tall) and the last set (Motor Hotel); while I do like Kodak Portra 800 v2 in each set, it wasn’t my top choice in any.
Now it’s your turn! From this test, which of these four Film Simulation Recipes did you like best? Which was your favorite for each set? Let me know in the comments!
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Fujifilm X-T5 in black: Amazon B&H Moment
Fujifilm X-T5 in silver: Amazon B&H Moment
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Beautiful comparison. Would love to see comparison of 197x recipes and some other Kodaks. Wanted to do one myself but we have winter here now and they don’t really perform too well in the current dreich condition.
I think such a comparison would be helpful. Maybe I can get to that this upcoming week. Thanks!
Nice shots! I was just out shooting in downtown Buckeye yesterday!
Awesome! I don’t live all that terribly far away from downtown Buckeye, but I’ve only made it out there a couple of times. There’s definitely some interesting photographic opportunities.
I think the new 800v3 is like a mixture of Porta 400v2 with a touch vibrant Arizona in it because of the vibrant orange colours. Personally I like 400v2 the most an now I’m wondering what kind of look a „mixture“ it would be with combination of Porta and pacific blues. I think we would land somewhere in the summer 1970 or 19** region.
I can definitely see the resemblance of that mix. Kodak Portra 400 v2 was my favorite from this test. Not sure how to mix Pacific Blues and Portra 400, I’ll have to put some thought into that. Thanks so much for the feedback!
Thanks for the comparison. I prefer v2 for the lower saturation and cooler tones but all 3 (plus the 400v2) have their places. I like them all!
Awesome! Hopefully this comparison helped with your decision. 😀
For me, Portra 400 v2 is winner. It is in my Q menu 🙂 800 v3 is too reddish for my taste.
Kodak Portra 400 v2 was the winner for me, too. It’s so good! 😀
I really like the side by side comparisons. Helps highlight the differences between the recipes.
Awesome! I appreciate the feedback!
I ended up comparing 800 v1 with 400 v2 all the time.
Now, looking at them, I like 800 v1, and I consider 800 v2 a little too much (too bright, less contrast and color). I see 800 v3 takes from both, but I would have made 800 v3 only coming from v1, not mixing anything from v2… or not that much. Well, this means nothing, there are people that likes 800 v2 very much.
I think v1 is my favorite, but v3 is also a favorite; v2 is the most different yet it has its place. I appreciate the feedback!
1. In first photo with the truck, I like 800 v1 and 400 v2, but I love 800 v3.
2. Here I like 800 v3 but love 800 v1.
3. Here, nothing to say, my eyes are not satisfied…
4. In this photo with Gas station, I love both 800 v1 and 800 v3. Both ways (cold/neutral and warm) are working well for this scene.
5. In the last photo, I love 800 v1. In this scene I consider both 800 v2 and 800 v3 too much on their extremes… and I will end up in underexposing, to deal with it.
This is my complete feedback. Portra 400 was there as a reference, it works well for some scenes, but has a tint that I do not like, compared to 800 – I am from the other camp, it seems 😀
I appreciate the thorough feedback! Thanks so much! 😀
Truck – 800 v2
Outside window – 800
Broken window – 800 v3 / 400 v2
Gas station – 800 v3
Motel – 400 v2
So it’s a tie for me between 400 v2 and 800 v3 😀
Thanks for the feedback! 😀
Hi! What lens did you use?
Fujinon 18-55mm f/2.8-4