Ektar does not give "punchy" color, unless punchy color is
resident in the actual scene. It's fairly accurate for a color
film. But neither does it artificially soften things like
skintones, which is something Porta 160 does. Nor does it
forgive errors in color balance as easily. If you are
comfortable shooting chromes, Ektar should be easy to learn. If
you want something more forgiving of exposure error, go Portra.
These films are tightly engineered for specific categories of
use. And consistency is one thing you tend to get in quality
products like these. If you want high quality results, then the
learning curve is going to be more consistent too. Any mistakes
which come out in the end result are likely to be your own. But
you might pay a dollar more a roll for that privilege. Amateur
films are made and marketed under less stringent conditions, and
often have a buffer zone for sloppy use, so that you get
"something", yet at the expense of something else.