Testing The Exposure Limits Of Kodak's Portra 400 Film

Hi Kyle! Curious for this test if you shot these Kodak Portra 400 photos at box speed 400 ISO? Or a different ISO?

Comparing these off the scans is silly as the scan tech can adjust the exposure. The evaluation should be made from the negative, on a light box with a loop

cheers for taking the time to make this <3

When you have an overexposed negative, does the scanner compensate for this automatically when scanning? So in effect, the better the scanner you or a lab uses, the better the result? I had some scans back from a lab recently and they were overexposed on the digital scan but the negatives were not that dense in comparison :/

Would of liked to have seen this test with some skin tones.

What happens when I shoot a 400 film at 1600 but my camera (Contax G1) exposes correctly? Do I just have a photo with more grain like digital?

It would have been really helpful to know your metering process. Does the "normal" shot expose for the shadows, the highlights, or somewhere in between?

How do you scan your film?

when you pull the film from 400 to 200 ISO, do you need to tell your developer?

Do you develop the photos as if they were at box speed?

Can you do one for portra 800?

question - are the faded shadows a result of trying to normalise the exposure through scanning i.e. lifting the shadows / black point? For example, could you 'fix' and underexposed negative by lowering the shadows / black point during scanning and accept that those areas will appear darker in the final image. Would this avoid the faded shadows look?

Interesting, is there any impact of the scanner software on the end results?

mahalos for doing this film aint cheap broher!

Why would you overexpose a photo up to 4-5 stops ? To shoot wide open and achieve more bokeh ?

I recognize the look of +6 exposure, I see this hue shift and low contrast tone a lot, so your test result is basically telling me every IG "film shooter" are shooting their film so so so overly exposed, they are basically stupid hippies who knew nothing, just want to look cool amongst the peer.

seriously, from -3 to +6, every single shot is beautiful, very moody, and tasty.

so shooting film is basically for dummies and totally failure-proof, since the film chemistry is so good and so well-developed, it can take overexposed scenes to this extreme degree and still function normally.

essentially, what it means is the typical film look you see on the IG is actually just stupid people not knowing how to properly expose the scene but was nonetheless saved by the extraordinary film science, the slightly shifted color and tone is just how the film stock is reacting to the extreme lighting condition.

The Chad Kyle McDongliss

so when you under/overexpose, do you use a different roll? like are both the underexposed and overexposed frames developed together?

As a newcomer to film photography I am getting so much out of your videos.... on all levels. The chip change from digital to film is a challenge but I am slowly getting there, I think. I have been looking around for either videos or written literature on using flash in film photography and I haven't found a lot. For example, when you are talking about exposing for shadows or over or under exposing, ISO rating etc, I am not all that clear on where this would fit into flash. One of my main loves as a portrait photographer is low key, isolating my subject in an island of intrigue and mood... it took me a while to come to grips with this in digital, but in film, I have no idea at all. I have a Yashika mat 124g with a leaf shutter on indefnite loan (in perfect condition... thanks for pointing me in that direction in an earlier video) and a Mamiya 645Pro. Low key is something I would love to try with both. But flash and film in general is something I would love to discover... any pointers? Video plans? Thanks so much for your vieos.... and your excellent approach to imparting your wealth of knowlege.

i didnt quite catch, for what did you meter? highlights or shadows? iam kinda confused on that, anyone can help? :)

Your videos are so enjoyable and u spend a great deal of effort on them, subscribed❤️❤️

+6 on film. Can still use that.

+1 on digital. Lol

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. It has been extremely helpful and spot on what I needed! Subscribed.

I first saw this video and linked from Petal Pixel. There was a menu option to send a tip. I had thought that I had a way to send some cash to Kyle's tip jar because I found this exposure test to be well done and very informative. Great job. Let me find out how else to tip Kyle :-)

Very useful stuff, as always. Thanks.

Good morning Kyle i need your help i am new to film what can you tell me about reciprocity on portra 400 film is there a chart that i can get can you give me help on this?

Excellent info.

so does that mean you can shoot portra 400 rated at 1600 and develop it as normal, and itll look fine?

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time too produce these videos. When I hit lotto, I will pay it forward ✌

Please,all shots are made in F16 correct, over and under expose.thanks!

Do you have a photobook?

Even though this video is years old, one thing to note that hasnt been said is that under exposing doesnt bring muddy shadows at all if the lab sets the black point correctly. You can get a correct look with under exposure or if you want darker moody scenes. The problem with this over exposure waffle thats so supposedly en trend is that every bugger now over exposes Portra because they think they have to. Its wrong. You dont want open shadows in a dimly lit it dark scene? Youd want them dark or black. Just like if you wanted silhouettes youd want them rich black not open with detail. Theres more to exposure than just opening up a stop

I like the over exposed look at day,and at night the under exposed look
Interesting video

I’ve watched this a few times now. Not sure if I missed the info. But when developing, was the roll developed for box speed? How does that affect the other exposers? I’m developing at home and after watching this think it’s safe for me to shoot portra 400 at 200, but wanting to now see the affects of developing film at box speed vs pulled

Kyle - I recall you stating that you recommend pushing Portra by 1 stop over (hopefully I am not misquoting you). Do you recommend this for portraits as well? I am just getting into film photography after many years, and am realizing I never really knew what I was doing!

Nice video, again! 🙏🏻 How much would you underrate the box speed?

Just discovered your channel. Interesting stuff. I realize this was uploaded a long time ago. But why did you use the shutter speed to control the over- and under- exposure? My experience, after measureing 100:s of film cameras, is that almost none is accurate enough. Maybe you know that your camera is precise, but the aperture is even more accurate for this type of test. Anyway the reults where interesting. 5 stops latitude, about what is expected.

So glad I found your channel, it's July 2020 I am starting film astrophotography, thank you for the review!

The scanning process is largely compensating for failure of the over-exposed image. I think you might reach a more conservative conclusion as to the quality of the overexposed images if the image had a sequence of high key (light tone) components. You would see a more obvious compression of those tones, in effect loosing the separation or differences between those tones. For example, clouds. If you just do not know how to meter a scene and determine proper exposure, then feel free to shoot at half box speed or whatever you like, but doing so will impair your images more than indicated in this example. Frankly, it's cheaper, and in the end easier, to learn how to use a light meter.

Very educational. Subscribed!

I actually think that 6 stops overexposed gave a very cool picture. Nice and flat and filmic and I like the color of the skies.

So shoot ports 400 at 200 speed ?

Please tell some about how you metered this particular scene, including your chosen light meter (or camera's meter, if so). I want to know this first step that determined your base first frame. It will help me a lot.

straight to the point!

I wish there were more people printing their work in a darkroom instead of always scanning everything, especially with negs this size

Shutter sound is definitely orgasmic.

Very useful video. Really good see how far you can go with the film

Just getting into film! It's great!

I'm curious though. So you just overexposed your film and it achieved those nicer pictures right. You did that by rating your film on your camera at a lower iso thus underexposing the film.

My question is when you send your film in, do you tell them that you over exposed the film? This is that whole pushing and pulling film that confuses me.