Shutterbug Strasse

Posted by flatflips (A) on November 30, 2003 at 06:19:18

In Reply to: Unscientific answer- There are two types of daylight balanced films on the market created for scene posted by Joe M on June 11, 2003 at 08:18:56:

I must say, your information is misleading at best. First, the NC and VC designations of Kodak Portra film are not acronyms for "No Contrast" and "Very Contrasty". They actually mean "Vivid Color" and "Natural Color". VC is used when one really wants ones colors to pop, eg. when the subject is a colorful hot air ballon. NC is used when one wants the full range of tones rendered in a "Natural" way, eg. when taking portraits it is usually desirable to acheive the full range of skin tones. Without contrast, an image would not exist. All images have contrast, a very flat image has low contrast but does have some contrast. If the image has a density range, it has by definition, contrast. A no contast image would look like a picture of a flat single color wall. Having said this, it is true that VC film is more contrasty than NC film and indeed has more contrast than the human eye would normally render the same seen, so in this sense you are correct. Thanks for your post on Kodak HD film. I have not used it yet and was looking for user feedback.