Kodak Portra 400
How this look was derived, and why every control does what it does. The settings themselves are in the pack.
The film
Kodak Professional Portra 400 (current emulsion 2010→, T-GRAIN). The modern professional portrait negative, the sheet (pub. E-4050, archived in _reference-sources/datasheets/) specifies:
- "World's finest grain high-speed color negative film"
- Print Grain Index 37 for a 4×6 print from 135 (25 = visual threshold of graininess), i.e. grain just barely perceptible at album size
- "Exceptional colour saturation over a wide range of lighting conditions", in the Portra register: natural, never punchy
- Beautiful, neutral skin tones; optimized sharpness (T-GRAIN)
- Wide exposure latitude; optimized for printing to ENDURA papers
- Skin-density aims (Status M, red channel): normally-lit forehead 1.08–1.18 (light complexion), the film expects generously exposed skin
- Daylight balanced; CC-filter tables for fluorescent/HID confirm it is not meant to self-correct artificial light
Trait → setting derivation
| Datasheet trait | Recipe setting | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Muted-warm pro-negative palette | Classic Chrome base | Restrained saturation + gentle separation; warmth restored via WB (the family consensus base, independently justified) |
| "World's finest grain," PGI 37@4×6 | Grain —, — | Below-visibility grain at normal size; — grain would model scans/pushes, not the emulsion |
| Warm-neutral balance, neutral skin | WB Daylight —/— | Fixed, repeatable warm-neutral; not golden-hour baked (that's the v2 reference's 5200K/—) |
| Huge overexposure latitude, soft shoulder | — + Highlight — | Long non-biting highlight rolloff |
| Low contrast, open shadows | Shadow — | Portra never crushes blacks |
| Natural "exceptional" saturation | Color —, CCE — | Above-neutral colour that stays skin-first |
| T-GRAIN sharpness, negative acuity | Sharpness — | Detail without digital edge |
| X-Trans V deep blues | CCFXB Off | Portra blues are soft; V-generation already deepens blues (x-trans-v) |
| No grit traits | — | Quality standard |
| Skin-density aims sit high | EC +1/3…+1 | Expose skin bright, as the film expects |
Relationship to the reference recipes
| This original | kodak-portra-400-v2 | reggies-portra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Emulsion as manufactured (E-4050 datasheet) | Scanned/golden-hour Portra as usually seen online | Reggie's own portrait interpretation of the palette |
| Grain | Weak, Small (PGI 37 → below visibility) | Strong, Small (models a scan, not the film) | Weak, Small |
| WB | Daylight —/— (fixed, repeatable) | 5200K, —/— (fixed, warmer/golden-hour) | Auto, —/— (adapts per scene) |
| Dynamic Range | — | — | DR-Auto |
| Highlight / Shadow | −1.5 / −1 | 0 / −2 | −1 / −1 |
| Color | +1 (restrained, skin-first) | +2 | +2 |
| Sharpness | −1 | −2 | −2 |
| Clarity | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Design intent | Match the datasheet's stated grain/latitude/skin numbers | Match how Portra scans look once developed, scanned, and often warmed for golden hour | Versatile, adaptive, tuned by eye for Reggie's own portrait work |
None of the three is "wrong". They answer different questions (VALIDATION-AUDIT: emulsion-faithful vs artifact-faithful). This original is the one to reach for if you want what Kodak's own data says the film does; the other two are closer to what people actually remember Portra looking like in a photo. See also the parallel Superia comparison, the same three-way tension shows up there too.
What would make it unfaithful
- Strong/Large grain (PGI says no), crushed shadows, heavy warm WB baked in (turns "wide range of lighting" film into a one-light look), Color above —.
Validation status
- Datasheet tier: ✅ (E-4050 archived PDF; PGI table + exposure/latitude + skin aims read directly, 2026-07-15)
- Characteristic tier: strong: the most-documented colour negative in circulation; formal ≥3-source log to be added
- Scan tier: pending: needs ≥5 scans across light/subjects (note scanner pipeline per methodology); drop into
references/
Derived 2026-07-15 from the archived datasheet. See also VALIDATION-AUDIT.md.
Get Kodak Portra 400
Every value, the movie-mode translation, and the datasheet evidence behind the grade.