Recreating the classic Kodak film look with Fujifilm X-Trans IV
I’ve been spending time on Threads recently, and enjoying the posts of some film photographers. I like to see how different film stocks render and think about capturing the vibe in a film recipe.
The various Kodak Portra films are very popular, and I see 400 and 800 a lot. A little less often, I come across images with Portra 160, and these inspired me to have a fresh try at captuing this classic Kodak look.
I personally feel that you can creatie a Kodak Portra style with several of the film simulations in our cameras. I’ve used Classic Chrome a few times, Classic Negative and even Pro Neg too (see bottom of the page), but for this soft film style, my starting point was Eterna.
Some Portra recipes push the creamy tones aesthetic quite hard, but I don’t always see this in scans of actual Portra photos. So this recipe is another contribution to the growing list of Portra looks, but it’s one that I really enjoy, and feel captures the Kodak Portra look quite closely.
Kodak Portra 160 Film Recipe
- Simulation: Eterna/Cinema
- Grain Effect: Weak, Small
- Colour Chrome Effect: Weak
- Colour Chrome Blue: Off (IV) / Off (V)
- White Balance: Fluorescent 2
- WB Shift: -2 Red, -6 Blue
- Dynamic Range: DR400
- Highlights: +1.5 (use +1 on older cameras)
- Shadows: -0.5 (use 0 on older cameras)
- Color: +3
- Sharpness: -2
- ISO Noise Reduction: -4
- Clarity: -3
- EV compensation: +1/3
More Kodak Portra Film Recipes
As one of the most popular film stocks, there are a good selection of film recipes that prsent different takes on the Kodak Portra vibe. Here’s a few from this site and others to inspire your next photo session.
- Aged Kodak Portra – modelled on expired Portra film
- Kodak Portra Daily – an everyday Portra with Classic Chrome
- Kodak Portra 66 – go for the creamy vibe with this recipe
- Kodak Portra Grainy – Classic Negative Portra
- Kodak Portra 160 – by Piotr Skrzypek
- Kodak Portra 160 – by Ritchie Roesch
Film Recipes for Fujifilm Cameras 