Kodak Portra 800 .
Portra 800 is the low light superstar of the Portra range. It maintains the natural colour of its siblings without the pronounced grain you might expect in faster films. It's not the first choice in the line in daylight if you want shallow depth of field, but it does handle underexposure well and can be pushed or pulled comfortably.
Its lineage traces back to the 1970s from Kodak's Vericolor range which was reformulated Portra in 1998. Unlike 400 and 160 which were updated in 2010 and 2011 respectively, Portra 800 remains unchanged almost 30 years later. The difference is the colours shot with 800 tend to have a little more pop. Skin tones are still natural and it is still daylight balanced, but the colours have more depth.
It's an excellent all-rounder. People, product, landscapes, architecture and still life images are all well-suited to Portra 800.
Portra 800 is also available as Ektacolor Pro 800. It's exactly the same film, just rebranded. Both are made by Eastman Kodak. If you are shooting in daylight consider the 160 and 400 variants. If you're working with limited light, shooting with a deep depth of field or are comfortable underexposing then 800 is a great choice if you want subtle but noticeable pop in colour.
- + Portraits - family, weddings, studio
- + Low light scenes
- + Maintaining natural skin colour but you want more colour stauration than 160 or 400 versions
- − Brightly lit scenes unless you’re happy with a deep depth of field e.g. *f*/16
- − When you want the lowest grain in the Portra range - choose 160
- − A cheap roll - instead choose Gold 200
more from their film.
Portra 800 delivers genuinely fine grain for an ISO 800 film. In 35mm, the Print Grain Index sits at 48 at a 4x6 print — visible at close inspection, but controlled enough for good enlargements to A4 and beyond with normal viewing distances. In 120, the larger negative drops the PGI to 36 at 4x6 and only reaches 48 at A4 (equivalent to 8x10) — the same level 35mm hits at 4x6. In practical terms, 120 shooters can enlarge significantly further before grain becomes a compositional factor, making the format a worthwhile step up for portrait or editorial work where print size matters. The film's defining practical characteristic is underexposure latitude: Kodak describes it as "best-in-class," and the emulsion holds shadow detail well when underexposed. Overexposure tolerance is also solid; practical testing at EI 200 (two stops over) produced a correctable yellowish shift. No reciprocity correction is needed for exposures from 1/10,000 second to one second; beyond that, no manufacturer correction table is published, so testing is recommended.
Kodak officially supports pushing Portra 800 to EI 1600 (+1 stop) and EI 3200 (+2 stops), with characteristic curves, density reference tables, and specific development times published in the Z-131 processing guide — and these times apply regardless of format. Push 1 produces a moderate contrast increase with manageable shadow compression. Push 2 sharpens contrast noticeably, with the blue channel rising fastest — expect a cooler, more contrasty rendering and visible shadow fall-off. Saturation sits comfortably in the balanced range, with Kodak's TDS emphasising "well balanced color saturation" and "enhanced color in the most difficult lighting." Pull processing data is not published by Kodak for this film, and a reputable lab guide advises against pulling C-41.
Warm-up times depend on format and storage temperature. A 35mm cassette needs at least one hour from a standard fridge (13°C), 1 hour 15 minutes from 2°C cold storage, or 1 hour 30 minutes from a -18°C freezer. A 120 roll warms up faster: 30 minutes from the fridge, 45 minutes from cold storage, or one hour from the freezer. Because 120 lacks a light-tight cassette, open the packet only once the film has fully reached room temperature to avoid condensation on the emulsion surface. As a high-speed film, Portra 800 has elevated sensitivity to background radiation — request hand inspection rather than X-ray screening at airport security, and expose and process promptly after purchase.