I shot 2 rolls of Kodak Portra 400 on this day with my Nikon Nikomat EL, with the Nikkor-S Auto 50mm 1:1.4 lens attached. The film was shot at 800 and developed by Panda Lab in Seattle. The one resolution I have for 2020 is to start developing my color film. A few images from the second roll will appear in a couple of days.
Steven Lawrence Pictures 
Wow, the color palette, appearance of the grain, and overall aesthetic of these images is incredibly pleasing. I’m going to assume you scanned them yourself? To my eye, these look far better than most lab scans and actually look the way Portra 400 is supposed to look. Very nice. Most lab scans are rather badly oversharpened and oversaturated to the point the film qualities are lost.
Happy New Year, Steven!
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I used the PrimeFilmXE film scanner set to Portra 400.
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I’d say that profile for the XE is dead on, and much better than whatever color profile most labs with Noritsus or Frontiers use for Portra 400. Those are great scanners, but most labs just don’t seem to know how to use them correctly, which is a real shame. Based on your results, I really wish I had the cash to invest in a PrimeFilm XE. It appears to be quite a good little scanner. I’m always impressed by your scans made with it.
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I love the scanner for colorwork. The scanner also delivers much more resolution at the same size. On black and white negatives every scratch or bit of dust is shown.
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Good luck with the adventure. My experience with Kodak Gold and three C41 kits so far is that it works well when chemicals are fresh and one adheres to the protocol/temps (I use a lab heated water bath and mercury lab thermometer I picked up cheap at the surplus store). With temp control equipment it’s easier than B/W.
Negatives starting getting too thin after the chemicals are more than 2-3 months old (I’m able to store my chemicals under CO2) has been my experience….at my rate of shooting color that means I only get about 4 good rolls out of each kit so I’m probably not going to continue doing my own C41 unless some special occasion.
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I would need to shoot more color than I do now or be content that developing my own film is more of a convenience and not a money saving idea.
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The enjoyment of doing one’s own chemistry aside, it’s not a matter of saving money, it’s a matter of costing twice as much! I’d like to find a good way to handle color, maybe I could convince my wife to let me replace digital with film for the family snapshots. Dad shot everything on Ektachrome in the 60s/70s. With digital scans, one would have the advantage of not having to worry about the darkening that afflicts Ektachrome over decades.
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