Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 6: Kodak Portra 160

UPDATE: After messing around with Color Efx Pro 4from DxO's Nik Collection 3, I think my criticism and reaction to the SOOC JPEGs from my Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 5: Kodak Portra 400 test was "user error". I think the exposure compensation dial may have moved during my photo walk. That would certainly explain the washed-out look of the SOOC image. As a test, I used Fuji X RAW Studio to reprocess the images with Ritchie's Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation recipe and adjusted exposure compensation settings, and the results are much better. I think the photos were over-exposed by between EV +1/3 to +1. In the interest of transparency, I left the original blog post but included reprocessed images at the bottom of the post.

This blog entry is my fifth instalment for the Ritchie Roesch's Fujifilm inspired Film Simulation Challenge. For this challenge, I chose Ritchie's Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation recipe for X-Trans III sensors and went for an early morning walk around downtown Princeton. This recipe attempts to simulate the look of Kodak Portra 400 Professional ISO 400 film. I've never used the actual Kodak Portra 400 Professional ISO 400 film, but I like the SOOC JPEG images on Ritchie's web page and decided to give it a try.

I walked north on Nassau Street toward Hogie Haven. I shot using Kodak Portra 400 until I got to Shouse, then switched to Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation.

I shot RAW + JPEG and EV +2/3. The challenge is all about film simulation recipes and SOOC JPEGs, so I've included the best of the roll of 36. Many of the SOOC images have been cropped and edited for perspective correction only. Despite my best efforts with the built-in level of the Fujifilm X-T2 I tend to tilt.

What I learned from this experience is that while it's an ISO 160 film, Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation might not be the best for brightly lit scenes. The image of the woman walking toward me seems washed out, although this could be because I did not expose correctly. I think Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation might be best when shooting in the shade or shadows or on more overcast days.

Other entries in this challenge series.

• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 1: Kodachrome II
• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 2: Velvia
• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 3: Tri-X Push
• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 5: Kodak Portra 400
• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 6: Kodak Portra 160
• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 7: Fujicolor Pro 400H
• Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 8: Vintage Kodachrome

Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation Recipe

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