Hey Bruce, I have been using Fuji NPS, NPH and Kodak Portra 160NC for my "portraits" (friends, family, my baby, etc.). In the summer of 2001 I was really hooked on NPS. My lab was printing it beautifully(Kodak Royal paper-equipment? probably Fuji). This past spring, it seemed as though skin tones were off, too pink-red(I didn't fuss at the lab) so I explored Portra 160 NC. Loved it. Skin tones ALWAYS good. The only thing I've noticed is that sometimes peoples eyes look black(when they are blue) and brunettes look really, really dark haired, unnaturally so. Recently, I tried NPH and NPS again and specifically asked the lab to "give me good, natural skin tones and make the NPH print its best", you know, set the channels properly, etc. Man they did it right. The pics were great. I have also gotten excellent skin tones using Agfa Vista 400 though inconsistent.
I use the same lab all the time. I guess the lesson here is that the lab makes the difference. If they make the effort, they can make any of the aforementioned films shine.(I have to make the effort to communicate my preferences to the lab also) In summary, my current favorite portrait(people) films are: Fuji NPS and Fuji NPH ======================= Also good: Kodak Portra 160 NC Agfa Vista 400 Kodak Royal Gold 100 Fuji Superia Reala Slide film: Kodachrome 64 and 200(hard to find as hens teeth in Greenville SC) Black and White: Kodak TriX Pan and Ilford HP5 Want to try(have two rolls in the fridge): Agfa Portrait 160 My favorite lenses for people: Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 and FA 50mm f1.4(at about f4 to f8) Other good people lenses: FA 28-105 f4-5.6 Power Zoom SMC 135 f3.5 SMC M 50mm f1.4 Tamron 70-300(great bokeh and handy 1:2 macro at 180-300) (E.R.N. Reed take note: I still want an FA 80-320) Favorite walk around body/lens combos for people shots: ZX5n with FA 50mm f1.4 ================================= Other favs: Spotmatic with SuperTak 50mm f1.4 ME Super with SMC M 50mm f1.4 For me, an amateur, FILM RULES. I am very excited about some new films coming to market(Agfa Ultra 100, etc.). With regard, Robert ___________________________________________________ GO.com Mail Get Your Free, Private E-mail at http://mail.go.com
