Natasha F4 1/250
In a haste to get acquainted with the new addition to the burgeoning family of cameras, the Mamiya 645 super was taken out with a roll of Portra 400 on an overcast but bright day. No internal meter, inverted waist level finder, unfamiliar buttons and being exclusive to 35mm until now; the sheer size handheld, made the outing rather challenging at first. I’m now into my second roll and its a breeze.
The star of the roll as well as on the day itself was Natasha, which was a lovely person and am fortunate to have taken her picture. She did the roll justice.
A few firsts for this roll were first 120 roll shot, first time pushing, first time with this camera, first time relying exclusively on external meter (phone app…still counts), first time shooting Portra, and first time shooting film in bright overcast.
Considering it took about 2 1/2 hours to meander around the streets and use up a roll, with the exception above im thinking the results are not bad, but from an aesthetic point of view, I feel some did effort did go by the wayside in framing or use of existing lighting.
I think the downfall of this roll was inconsistent metering (damn phone) the results could have been better, or am i just to hard on myself?
Porta is definitely a people roll, though not so much of a performer in overcast conditions if not correctly metered as I have noticed a definite yellow cast if overexposed.
I guess the points that I had to take away were:
- Dont rush, particularly if using a new system
- Meter relative to you subject, not the whole scene
- Shoot away from the direction of most light when overcast, otherwise overexposure is likely
- Use push processing sparingly when shooting people, unless for artistic purpose.
- Push or pull film once familiar with its characteristics.
- Aimless shooting is wasteful, but don’t be precious on your film either.
F4 1/60
James and Callum F4 1/125
F4 1/125
F4 1/25
F2.8 1/125
F4 1/250
F5.6 1/500
F2.8 1/30
F4 1/30
52 rolls 
I really like these shots. With my limited experience with Portra I have shot it at either 200 or box speed. It’s great to see the results at 800. Deep colors, natural. Your metering is very good.
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Thanks! as for the metering, I might shoot 1/3 stop underexposed next time, but still pushed. see what happens hey?!
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I much prefer to push my Portra 400 to ASA-800, I feel it gives a much better colour saturation and representation. A bit more contrast than the box speed. Wonderful images!
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This is the first roll of portra shot on any format, so i have no basis for comparison, but will do my research to see the different tones others are getting. Cheers!
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Lovely colours … I always overexpose Portra 400 but will try this next time 🙂
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