Kodak Portra 400 120 Film (C-41)

Kodak Portra 400 in 120 format brings everything photographers love about this emulsion to medium format. It's daylight-balanced, C-41 processed, and built around fine grain, accurate skin tones, and a forgiving exposure latitude — now with the added resolution and tonal depth that medium format delivers.

Whether you're shooting portraits on a Hasselblad, weddings on a Mamiya 645, or travelling with a Rolleiflex, Portra 400 120 produces consistent, beautiful results across all kinds of light.

Price is per roll.

Why photographers love Portra 400 in 120

Everything that makes Portra 400 great in 35mm gets amplified in medium format. The larger negative means more detail, smoother grain, and more tonal gradation — especially noticeable in skin tones and highlight transitions.

It's one of the most forgiving emulsions available. Overexpose by two stops and the negatives scan beautifully. Underexpose a little and it still holds together well. That latitude makes it a reliable choice for weddings and portraits where you don't always control the light.

It pushes cleanly to 800 or 1600, which opens it up to indoor and low-light shooting. Camera pairings that work particularly well include the Hasselblad 500 series, Mamiya RB67 and 645, Pentax 67, Bronica ETRS, and Rolleiflex TLRs.

A bit of film history

Kodak's Portra line launched in 1998 as a replacement for the older Vericolor and Ektapress professional stocks. The current emulsion — reformulated in 2010 with T-GRAIN technology — quickly became the benchmark for colour negative film in both 35mm and 120 formats. It remains the most widely used professional colour negative film in the world.

Processing

Portra 400 120 requires standard C-41 colour negative processing. We process C-41 in-house at Ikigai Film Lab in Melbourne, with scanning available on our Fujifilm Frontier and Noritsu HS-1800 scanners.

Common questions

Can I push Portra 400 120? Yes — Portra 400 pushes reliably. Shooting at 800 gives slightly more contrast and warmer shadows. Pushing to 1600 is also viable, though grain becomes more visible. We offer push processing as an add-on when you send your film in.

How does Portra 400 handle overexposure in medium format? Very well. Overexposing by 1–2 stops is a popular technique — it retains highlight detail and gives skin tones a soft, luminous quality. The larger medium format negative handles this even better than 35mm, with more tonal range to play with.

How does Portra 400 120 compare to Portra 400 35mm? Same emulsion, different format. The 120 negative is significantly larger, which means finer apparent grain, more detail, and smoother tonal transitions when scanned or printed. If you're shooting a Hasselblad or Mamiya, 120 Portra is the obvious choice.