Can we truly replicate film colors with our phones?
Ah, yes. The age-old question. Is film worth it, given the ever-rising costs? Do I need a second mortgage to fund my endless obsession with Portra 800?
Jokes aside, this article focuses on achieving color accuracy between true film and VSCO film presets. The visual depth of film photos will diverge significantly from those captured on an iPhone – after all, portrait mode is no match for the richness of 6x7 film, right? However, the colors and tones largely contribute to film photography's unique 'feel.' So, with this in mind, we’ll set aside sensor comparisons and concentrate on what truly counts.
Here are a few points to keep in mind from the start:
- Generally, the digital photos you see will be taken with an iPhone 12 Pro and noted if otherwise. Similarly, the film photos will be 35mm unless otherwise noted.
- The processing of film images varied; some were scanned by camera, and others underwent lab-scanning with various devices. These methods affect the final appearance of the film, but the objective remains to align the digital photo's color and feel with its film counterpart.
- We aimed to match the focal lengths between shots as closely as possible, yet there might be noticeable variances in perspective between the paired images. We encourage readers to look past these differences to concentrate on the color comparison, which is, after all, the crux of this discussion.