Question on Portra400 film with Minolta film camera

mcb0x12

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Hello! I recently purchased a Minolta Xg1 camera. I believe the lens I have is 50mm? Here are the details to my purchase: Minolta XG-1 camera with 50mm F1.7 MD-Rokkor-X and Vivitar 75-300mm F4.5/5.6 macro zoom and brand new Minolta 118X flash.

I'm guessing I can't use portra400 film with these lenses? Does anyone know the best COLOR film I can use to take portraits /photos of people? With hopefully some kind of vintage look.

Thank you all a ton
 
I don't see why not... Set the ASA/DIN (measure of light sensitivity that was the forerunner to ISO) to 400. If you shoot 100/125 or 200 speed film, set the ASA dial accordingly to match the box speed (what it says on the box!).

Use the meter to read if you have the amount of light needed for a proper exposure. Adjust shutter speed and/or aperture as needed. Keep the shutter speed at least at 125 (maybe 60 if you're steady enough hand held) or faster.

I don't know if you'll get a vintage look. Much of what I've seen 'out there' that's supposed to look like film looks more like film photos stored in a shoebox in somebody's attic. With fresh film in a camera you should get perfectly nice pictures. Portra is wonderful color film.
 
With hopefully some kind of vintage look.

Agree with Sharon....that vintage look you are after is from seeing photographs that have aged from long years in drawers and hanging on the wall. Making freshly shot film images look vintage is a digital thing. You could try vastly outdated film but the results are usually just muddy/muted colors and in most cases just one color.
 
Agreed, that the "vintage look" most people see today is done digitally, and that with modern fresh film and decent developing and printing, your images will not look "vintage", but rather quite nice. Portra is a popular film these days, and it looks quite nice.
 
You may also want to get the operator manual, if you don't already have one. It's vital for setting ASA/ISO values, and to give you an idea of the features of the camera. One of the best places to find the manuals is Michael Butkus. His web site is loaded with PDF's of film cameras. He only asks that you send him a bit of cash to help cover the cost of his site.
Michael Butkus Jr.; Trenton State College, College of New Jersey, Chinon Cameras, K-Mount, Ricoh cameras, UPS, power outages, swinning pool liners, camera instruction manuals, electronic flash manuals, hand held light meter manuals, instruction guides, orphancameras, user guides

And the previous responders have provided some great hints for accomplishing your goals. If you have any experience in digital editing, you can have the negatives scanned by the processor, and create the images as you want to see them. Good luck.
 
I think that is a good idea, to shoot color negative film and have a professional lab provide you with high-resolution scans. It's usually about $8 per roll for decent quality scans of around 2,000 pixels on the short side. Make sure the lab returns your negatives. Although it might seem expensive $8 / 36 scans is really quite a value, considering how long it takes to make a decent scan. Believe me, scanning a roll of 36 color negatives with a home scanner like an Epson or Nikon will take you pretty much much of a day, whereas a skilled operator can pound them out and they would likely be much better than your scans until you have at least a year's worth of experience. Once you have a decent scan open in image editor you can then apply whatever type of vintage look or Lightroom preset you wish to
 
I think that is a good idea, to shoot color negative film and have a professional lab provide you with high-resolution scans. It usually costs about $8 per roll for decent quality scans of around 2,000 pixels on the short side. Make sure the lab returns your negatives. Although it might seem expensive $8 / 36 scans is really quite a value, considering how long it takes to make a decent scan. Believe me, scanning a roll of 36 color negatives with a home scanner like an Epson or Nikon will take you pretty much much of a day, whereas a skilled operator can pound them out and they would likely be much better than your scans until you have at least a year's worth of experience. Once you have a decent scan open in an image editor you can then apply whatever type of vintage look or Lightroom preset you wish to.
 

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