I got a roll of a brand-new 35mm colour film when I was in New York back in October `10, and couldn't wait to get my hands on it for my medium format camera. Naturally, the week that it was first available found Toronto in a greyed-out snowy mood.
Fortunately for me, there's always construction sites.
I have now standardized on Ektar 100 in 135, Portra 400 in 120, and XP2 in both formats. Once the new Portra is out for 135 format I'll always keep a roll or two on-hand, but it won't be replacing Ektar as my general small-format colour film. The rare exception might be if I use both formats for a major project, but that's something that would take a lot of thinking.
There are solid reasons for using different film in different formats. My rangefinder is typically used at f/1.5-f/8, so iso100 film helps me keep the shutter speeds in check. My 135 cameras both have very accurate meters, giving me a lot of control over Ektar which changes its character when it's over-exposed. In contrast my medium format camera typically lives between f/11 and f/32, so even with a tripod the faster iso400 films are an advantage. Portra is also very forgiving with over-exposure, which makes a huge difference when I can only work in whole stops on a meterless camera. It still doesn't quite have the magic that the fickle Ektar does for me, but having negatives five times the size of 35mm supplies quite a bit of its own magic, and the colour of this latest Portra is beautiful. I can depend on it for great results from a single exposure in a way that I can't with Ektar or chromes.
And in case anyone wonders why I'm going into such detail here, this is a companion post to my Portra 400 article on Thews' Reviews.
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