Comparing 6 Kodak Portra Film Simulation Recipes

Sunset Photography – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Portra 400 v2

Some of the absolute most popular Film Simulation Recipes for Fujifilm cameras are those that mimic Kodak Portra film. I have a number of Recipes that are modeled after Portra, and with so many choices it can be difficult to know which ones to program into your camera. I thought I’d take this opportunity to compare six of them, with the hopes that it will help you decide. There are actually several more Portra-inspired Recipes than the six here, but I chose to compare these because they’re all X-Trans IV Recipes compatible with my Fujifilm X100V, the camera I used to capture them on a recent trip to the California coast.

Kodak introduced the Portra line in 1998, with two ISO 160 versions, two ISO 400 versions, and an ISO 800 emulsion (plus a short-lived ISO 100 Tungsten film, for those keeping score). Portra saw a couple of updates by Kodak, and in 2010 the two ISO 160 versions were merged into one, as well as the two ISO 400 versions. The film has become iconic, with its warm yet natural colors. As the name implies, it was meant for portrait photography, but is popular for many genres.

Laguna Coast – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Portra 400 v2

One film can produce all sorts of various looks, depending on a host of factors, including how it was shot, developed, printed and/or scanned. The Kodak Portra 400 and the Kodak Portra 400 v2 Recipes are very similar, but they were modeled after two different photographer’s Portra film pictures, and so their rendering varies just a little. Kodak Portra 400 leans a little more towards red-orange, while Kodak Portra 400 v2 leans a little more towards yellow-green. Kodak Portra 400 Warm, which is a modification of both Kodak Portra 400 Recipes, is intended to better replicate the results of Alex MacDougall’s Portra-Style presets. To create Reggie’s Portra, Reggie Ballesteros modified my Kodak Portra 400 Recipe to better suit his style. Because it uses Auto White Balance and a slightly more neutral WB Shift, it is much better than the others in artificial light situations; also, because it has Clarity set to 0, it is the best option for fast photography (Clarity set to anything other than 0 causes a short “storing” pause). Kodak Portra 800 is the grainiest of these Recipes. To create Kodak Portra 800 v2, which is the least vivid of these six, Thomas Schwab captured side-by-side images with a Fujifilm X-Pro3 and an analog camera loaded with Portra 800 film.

While each of these Portra-inspired Film Simulations Recipes are different—some only slightly so, others more significantly so—they all produce a distinct Portra-like aesthetic. Looking at the results, it’s easy to understand why these are popular options! Because they are a little different from each other, you can find the one that most closely matches your style. Or you can choose different ones for various scenarios. Perhaps you prefer something like Kodak Portra 400 for sunsets, Kodak Portra 400 Warm for midday light, Kodak Portra 800 v2 for soft portraits, and Reggie’s Portra for indoor pictures. If you’ve never tried any of these Recipes, be sure to pick at least one to program into your camera today!

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Kodak Portra 400

Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400

Kodak Portra 400 v2

Kodak Portra 400 v2
Kodak Portra 400 v2
Kodak Portra 400 v2

Kodak Portra 400 Warm

Kodak Portra 400 Warm
Kodak Portra 400 Warm
Kodak Portra 400 Warm

Reggie’s Portra

Reggie’s Portra
Reggie’s Portra
Reggie’s Portra

Kodak Portra 800

Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 800

Kodak Portra 800 v2

Kodak Portra 800 v2
Kodak Portra 800 v2
Kodak Portra 800 v2

Fujifilm X-Trans IV Film Simulation Recipe: Kodak Portra 800 v2

Flower in a Tree – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – “Kodak Portra 800 v2”

This Kodak Portra 800 v2 recipe is beautiful! It was created by Thomas Schwab, who has made several film simulation recipes published on this website, including Superia Xtra 400, Urban Vintage Chrome, Kodachrome II, Classic Monochrome, B&W Superia, and Monochrome Kodachrome. Thomas has also collaborated on other recipes, playing an important role in getting them right, including Kodak Portra 800, Kodak Ektar 100, Kodachrome 1, Kodak Portra 400, and Kodak T-Max 400. This new Kodak Portra 800 v2 recipe might be his best one yet!

Kodak introduced Portra 800 in 1998. The Portra line has seen a number of revisions and updates over the years, but I couldn’t find any information if the current Portra 800 film is the exact same emulsion from 1998, or if it’s gone through some changes over the years like the ISO 400 and 160 versions. Portra 800 is one of the best options for high-ISO color photography, but I’ve never shot it myself.

Traffic Cone – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – “Kodak Portra 800 v2”

Thomas compared images side-by-side captured with actual Kodak Portra 800 film with images captured with his Fujifilm X-Pro3, making numerous adjustments in X RAW Studio, to achieve this nearly-identical picture aesthetic. He put in a lot of work, and it shows! Thank you, Thomas, for creating this great recipe and for your willingness to share! You’ll find some of Thomas Schwab’s pictures below. This Kodak Portra 800 film simulation recipe is currently compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, and X-E4 cameras.

Classic Chrome
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: 0
Shadow: -2
Color: -4
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -2
Clarity: -5
Grain Effect: Strong, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Strong
White Balance: Daylight, +3 Red & -6 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to +1 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this new Kodak Portra 800 v2 film simulation recipe:

Thomas Schwab

Photograph by Thomas Schwab
Photograph by Thomas Schwab
Photograph by Thomas Schwab
Photograph by Thomas Schwab
Photograph by Thomas Schwab
Photograph by Thomas Schwab
Photograph by Thomas Schwab

Ritchie Roesch

Treetop Sky – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Colorful Trees – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Tree Over Creek – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Log & Flowers – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Log & Trail – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Urban Landscape – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
McTrash – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Lobby – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Buckle – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Urban Flower Pot – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Blooms in the City – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4

Find this film simulation recipe on the Fuji X Weekly — Film Recipes App!

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Comparing Portra Film Simulation Recipes to Kyle McDougall’s Lightroom Presets

“Kodak Portra Style Neutral”

Kyle McDougall is a great photographer who shoots film and also Fujifilm X cameras. He recently created and shared some free Lightroom presets for creating a Portra look with your Fujifilm files. Fuji X Weekly reader Ryan, who you might remember from the Hugh’s RV video, shot some pictures with his Fujifilm X100V using different Portra film simulation recipes from this website, and he also applied Kyle’s presets to some RAW files in Lightroom. He sent me the pictures, and graciously allowed me to share them with you. Thank you, Ryan!

The film simulation recipes that Ryan used are Portra 160, Portra 400, Portra 400 v2 (currently available to Fuji X Weekly Patrons on the Fuji X Weekly iOS app), and Portra 800. The two Kyle McDougall presets are Kodak Portra Style Neutral and Kodak Portra Style Warm. Kyle mentions that his presets aren’t intended to strictly mimic Portra film, but are his preference to how he likes his Fujifilm photographs to look based on his experience shooting the film. Portra can have many different looks, not only because there are different stocks that share the name, but also because how it’s shot, developed, and printed or scanned can greatly affect the exact aesthetic.

Let’s look at some pictures!

“Kodak Portra 160”
“Kodak Portra 400”
“Kodak Portra 400 v2”
“Kodak Portra 800”
“Kodak Portra Style Neutral”
“Kodak Portra Style Warm”
“Kodak Portra 160”
“Kodak Portra 400”
“Kodak Portra 400 v2”
“Kodak Portra 800”
“Kodak Portra Style Neutral”
“Kodak Portra Style Warm”
“Kodak Portra 160”
“Kodak Portra 400”
“Kodak Portra 400 v2”
“Kodak Portra 800”
“Kodak Portra Style Neutral”
“Kodak Portra Style Warm”

As you can see, there are some pretty significant differences between each recipe and Kyle McDougall’s Lightroom presets. Kyle’s presets create a bright picture with a strong yellow color cast. Portra can certainly be that way, particularly if overexposed. My first thought is that my Bright Summer (a.k.a. “Preetra 400”) recipe is probably the closest to Kyle’s Portra Style. My second thought is that I need to create a recipe that’s a closer match to Kyle’s presets!

Ryan explained, “At the beginning of this project I got kind of discouraged as the weather was transitioning into fall and was gray and dismal here on the west side of the Cascade’s. Sunlit scenes are what I had in mind. But I did my best to work with what I had, which helped my creativity, and one of those creative positives would be the fall colors that I tried to utilize. I loaded the recipes into my X100V, and when I saw an opportunity to take some images, I would take a pic, change to the next recipe, snap, load the next recipe, etc. In my camera, C2 is Portra 400 v2, C4 is Portra 400, C5 is Portra 160, and C6 is Portra 800. I found that when composing the shot, that exposing +2/3 is what I liked, so I tried exposing that way for all the images, though I can’t remember if I hit it the same every time, but did my best to keep the exposure the same between and for each image taken in a session, trying to keep things uniform. It was neat to see the differences between the different recipes. From what I understand, the different Portra films are unique in their own way. I’d say that the Portra 400 v2 was closest to Kyle’s preset. By the way, that recipe and Portra 160 are my favorites!”

Below are a couple comparisons of the Kodak Portra 400 v2 recipe and Kyle McDougall’s Kodak Portra Style Neutral preset.

“Kodak Portra 400 v2”
“Kodak Portra Style Neutral”
“Kodak Portra 400 v2”
“Kodak Portra Style Neutral”

Here are a couple comparisons of the Portra 160 and Portra 400 v2 recipes:

“Kodak Portra 160”
“Kodak Portra 400 v2”
“Kodak Portra 160”
“Kodak Portra 400 v2”

Thank you again, Ryan, for doing this project and sharing the results! It’s very fascinating, and I’m sure helpful to the Fuji X Weekly community. It’s helpful to me personally!

If you appreciated this article, let myself and Ryan know by leaving a comment!

Fujifilm X100V Film Simulation Recipe: Kodak Portra 800

November Cherries – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – “Kodak Portra 800”

Kodak introduced Portra 800 in 1998. The Portra line has seen a number of revisions and updates over the years, but I couldn’t find any information if the current Portra 800 film is the exact same emulsion from 1998, or if it’s gone through some changes over the years like the ISO 400 and 160 versions. Portra 800 is one of the best options for high-ISO color photography, but I’ve never shot it myself.

There are some good online resources that are helpful when creating film simulation recipes for films that I’ve never used, which I did consult, but that’s not how these settings came about. You see, there’s a new version of my Portra 400 recipe (which I know you’ll love) that’s coming soon, and this recipe is a variant of that. Thomas Schwab, who I’ve collaborated with on a number of different recipes (including Portra 400), and who has actually shot Portra 800, helped me out with this one. Thanks, Thomas!

Cabela’s Boy – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – “Kodak Portra 800”

I know that many of will love this Kodak Portra 800 film simulation recipe! It’s really nice, and has a good film-like aesthetic. Does it faithfully resemble real Portra 800? I think it does, but film can look different depending on how it’s shot, developed, scanned or printed, and this recipe won’t mimic every aspect of the film. Even so, I think this one will be quite popular, and many of you will use it regularly. It’s only compatible (as of this writing) with the Fujifilm X100V, X-Pro3, X-T4 and X-S10 cameras.

Classic Chrome
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: +1
Shadow: 0
Color: +3
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -2
Clarity: -4
Grain Effect: Strong, Large
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Weak
White Balance: 5200K, +1 Red & -5 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this new Kodak Portra 800 film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:

Brown Tree Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Small Shrub – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Backyard Tree Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Yellow House – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Suburban Mailboxes – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Red Fire Hydrant – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Suburban Peek – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Evening Commute – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Smith’s – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Drug – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Suburban Dusk – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Parked Car in the Dark – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Tunnel Bench – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Night Mall Architecture – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Empty Sidewalk at Night – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Christmas Decor Display – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Succulent & Globe – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Jon Wearing Cabela’s Hat – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Potted Plant on End Table – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Accidental Exposure – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Sunlight Through a Tree – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V

See also: Fujifilm X-Trans IV Recipes

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Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!

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