Category: Portra160

Photos From the Art Walk

The Moose on

I took some photos of bands playing at Baba during the art walk in June. A few of them were pretty good, so I thought I’d share. I really like a couple of Cameron, and the shots of Mitch are not bad, though that may be sentimentality speaking.

These were on Portra 160, taken with an F6 and an F3. Lab scans — I really should redo these myself, but I’m too lazy.

I also took some photos of the first band, On The Menu. There was just too much going on, too many people around, and too much in the way to get good framing. But it’s not always about the photos themselves, sometimes it’s about the good people in them. Here are a few of my favorite.

These weren’t at the Art Walk, they were taken another evening. However, they were on the same rolls of film and they’re music, so why the heck not.

This is the Soto Six. Three of them, at least. They play at Baba every Friday and I occasionally decide that it might be fun to try and get some shots with the Baba logo for Rob and Reegan. These shots were taken July 1, 2022. Portra 160 and Tmax100 pushed 1 stop.

The Last Photo

The Moose on

I had my cameras out at the Art Walk, trying to capture some of the bands playing at Baba that afternoon. It was all rather a mess, but I captured a few, and it was my last chance to do so, so I thought I’d share the final one. Portra 160 taken with the F6 and a 70-200 f/2.8 VRII.

Behold:

Nothing else to say right now. I’mma just sticky this on the blog. I have a few other nice shots, I’ll post them later.

Portra 160 in the F6

The Moose on

135 is a special challenge to me. The grain is enough that it bothers me in a lot of situations. I found the Portra 400 tests I did unsatisfying, even though I really like the film in 120. But shooting 6×8 negatives gives me a lot more resolution, so I decided to give up on high speed (for the moment — I have a roll of cinestill 800 in the camera now) and try Portra 160.

All Kodak film is 2/3 of a stop slower than advertised. At least this is my rule

All Kodak film is 2/3 of a stop slower than advertised. At least this is my rule now, and since I’ve been following it I’ve been getting much better scans and more consistent results. In the F6 I just shoot +0.7, regardless. Medium format I set the meter for 100 instead of 160. To expand that rule, I shoot Kodak negatives +2/3 of a stop over, and always miss high. I find I can over expose a full stop from the box speed and the scan is still better than shooting at the speed published.

Since I’m bringing it up, I have experimented with Fuji, as well. Pro 160 NS I shoot exactly at box speed. If I miss, I can go down 1/3, or up 2/3, so I tend to miss high. Fuji slides are also exactly box speed. But don’t miss. At all. Velvia’s lovely, but exposure latitude is narrow.

Enough jibber jabber. Here are some samples, all just taken around town over a couple weekends. I am happy with the grain, and the not over saturated (like Ektar) colors. It’s not fast, but Portra works well enough in 135 for my tastes.