It’s time to pour one out for another film emulsions–though I have to say we all should have seen the discontinuation of Kodak Portra 800 coming. The film, which is marketed nowhere as well as Kodak Portra 160 and 400, was a truly special emulsion that I wish was just marketed in a better way; that could have ensured its survival. For those of you who always want that “analog look” in your digital photos by applying some fake filer by InstaVSCTin, Kodak Portra 800 had a secret sauce that really, truly did the job.
What made Kodak Portra 800 so special is the fact that it was based on the VISION2 emulsion instead of the current VISION3 technology that Kodak outputs. VISION3 is a technology that is marketed more so towards scanning and the digital photographer. But VISION2 was truly analog in its look and rendering because it simply wasn’t designed for digital. This also means that Kodak’s last VISION2 film will now be gone.
The discontinuation notice was given to retailers today and, via leaked communication to B&H Photo, a price hike was mentioned to begin on April 15th. The current supply of Kodak Portra 800 is expected to last until the end of holiday season 2018. And because it’s about to be gone, the price hike makes sense. Afterall, look at what Fujifilm did with Acros and 100-C film.
We’re pretty saddened by this news. We reviewed Kodak Portra 800 a while back and said the following:
“Kodak Portra 800 is unlike many other negative films. By that, I mean that when you go to expose Kodak Portra 800, you’re best off exposing it and shooting it at ISO 800. At least that’s when I feel that you’ll get the genuinely best results. With Kodak Portra 400 I prefer to expose at ISO 200 and develop for ISO 320. With Portra 160, I tend to expose at 125. In general, negative films need a bit more light; but not Kodak Portra 800. I’ve pushed it to 1600 and exposed it 1250 and I’ve shot it at ISO 400. The results are good all across the board, but I feel like the best image quality comes at ISO 800. That generally means that between this and Kodak Portra 400, you’ll be set to go around for an entire day if you wish. Portra has always been a film that is catered to photographers who shoot portraits; quite obviously due to the name.”
You can pick up some of the last bits of Kodak Portra 800 over at Amazon.
Editor’s Note: This is an April Fools Joke and we’re now removing the affiliate link. This post was meant to mimic what our other news posts would look like.
