Portra 400 Film Simulation

Written By Gered Hickey

Picture Profile

Since we're aiming for a Portra 400 look, you'll want to start with a flat profile to give you more latitude in post-processing. Sony cameras offer Picture Profiles that can be customized. If you're not using a specific Picture Profile for video, you can still adjust these settings for stills to some extent, or apply similar concepts within the Creative Style adjustments.

Creative Style: Neutral (Baseline)

Picture Profile Settings (if using for video or fine-tuning stills)

Black Level: 0. This setting affects the darkest parts of your image. Portra 400 has a very natural shadow rendition, so start at 0 and adjust if needed based on your specific lighting conditions.

Gamma: Cine2 or Cine4. These gamma curves offer a softer contrast which is closer to the dynamic range and response of Portra 400. They provide good shadow details without crushing blacks, similar to the film.

Black Gamma:

Level: Low

Range: Middle. This will help in lifting the shadows slightly without making them appear washed out, maintaining detail in darker areas akin to Portra's characteristics.

Knee: (if available) Set it to Auto. This helps in managing highlights, preventing them from blowing out too quickly which is crucial for emulating the soft highlight roll-off of Portra 400.

Color ModeSaturation: -1. This dials back the digital sensor's typically vibrant colors to align more closely with Portra 400’s subdued palette.

Color Phase: 0. Starting at the neutral position is recommended. Adjust only if you notice significant color shifts that don't align with the Portra 400 look.

Color Depth: (if available) You might not need to adjust this, but you can fine-tune specific colors here if they are not rendering as you'd like them to. For example, adjusting the reds and yellows slightly can help in achieving Portra's skin tones.

Detail: -2 or lower. Reducing in-camera sharpening will help mimic the softer look of film. Film grain contributes to perceived sharpness in film photography, not edge contrast as in digital images.

Gered Hickey