 Pete Kuszmaul |
slide film comparisons I am starting to shoot more seriously with selling stock images in mind for the future and wondered if there is a good resource that compares the qualities of different films. I mostly shoot Velvia right now for the really good color saturation now, but don't know much about how other films compare.
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Terry L. Long |
I find Fuji Provia 100F to be the best film (transparency) out there. It has a very tight grain structure and produces accurate color (absolutely no saturation). I've read Fuji Astia 100F has the absolutely tightest grain structure in any film but haven't had the opportunity to use it. It too is suppose to produce accurate coloring without any saturation. I've used the Kodak E100GX and VS but found the grain structure to be a bit loose (grainy). Also, I've found that when using any saturated films (Velvia or the above mentioned Kodak films) I don't use any filters what-so-ever, except a polarizer, because they produce unrealistic coloring. However, with the Provia I've used a 81A, warming filters, and a didyium enhancifier that somewhat produce a saturated effect without overdoing it. For wildlife photography, I stay away from any saturated films...period! When I go shooting now, I usually just take the good ol' Provia 100F and Velvia 100F. Sometime in the near future I'll get some Astia 100F and give that a try. I want to make it clear though, none of my explainations mentioned above are scientific. They're just my personal experiences and preferences. You should get out and try different films on your own and settle on which one(s) you like best. Have fun and good luck.
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John A. Lind |
I use mostly Kodachrome 64 and Provia 100F for daylight. I've also used Ektachrome E100S and E200 in the past . . . the E200 usually for some very long timed exposures. For urban night shooting I've used the tungsten balanced Ektachromes (e.g. 64T) which I consider a specialty application. Others use Velvia and some use Ektachrome E100VS, principally for landscapes as they're highly saturated, especially the E100VS! Each of them has their own character in saturation and color rendition. I suggest you get a few rolls of each one and shoot them under a variety of conditions to see what fits *your* vision and style best. IMHO, there's no single film that can do it all . . . although the general purpose types (Kodachrome, Provia, E100S) have wider application than some of the others. BTW, Fuji Astia is the pro version of their consumer slide film . . . identical in color curves, granularity, etc., not that it's better or worse than any other, just a point of information about it. Fuji isn't the only company that does this. Kodak's general professional "E" series Ektachromes (E100S, E100VS E200, etc.) are the pro versions of their consumer Ektachromes. There are no consumer versions of Provia or Velvia. One thing I do not recommend doing if you want natural looking skin tones . . . using high saturation films (Velvia or E100VS) for any application that has people prominent in the photographs. Skin tones are not rendered very accurately them . . . unless, that is, you want the noticeably unnatural skin tones. Even without people, expect color to be different from the actual scene; rendition isn't accurate because of the extreme saturation. A technical note about Fuji's chrome films . . . -- John Lind
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Bob Cammarata |
I too, use Provia 100F...almost exclusively, for it's accurate color rendition and fine grain. For many years I shot only Kodachrome 64 for the same reasons, but as it became harder to find locally I began searching for an alternative. The Provia film has similar characteristics to what I was used to shooting and can be E-6 processed at any lab...(processing KR-64 was always such a hassle.) Also, I really enjoy the higher ISO rating of 100 in low-light conditions. When pushed to 200, Provia 100 really holds color and detail well. Fuji Velvia is also an excellent slide film for many applications where color is the primary point of interest,...such as flowers or fall scenics, but I find the colors a bit too exaggerated for my personal taste to use it on every day stuff. I concur with Terry and John that film preference is a matter of personal taste and that you should compare several film types under similar conditions to see which you like best. There was a concise comparison of different slide films in a past issue of PHOTOgraphic which you might find interesting. You can check it out at this link: www.photographic.com/film/143/
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John A. Lind |
Should have thought of this before . . . I need to read the review Bob posted. There's another one done by Photo Techniques a few years ago: It's a bit dated. Kodak has discontinued Kodchrome 25, professional and consumer (K-64 and K-200 still live on). I don't use the Ektachromes that much but wouldn't be surprised if one or two of the older ones have ended also. I do know all of the tungsten Ektachromes (64T, 160T and 320T), Ektachrome EIR (infra-red), and all of the daylight T-grain "E" Ektachromes are still around. Not covered is the very new Fuji Velvia 100, although I'm told it's similar to Velvia 50 at twice the speed. I also found Provia 100F (RDP III) to be the E-6 closest to Kodachrome, except for the problem with bright lights causing flare in Provia's film emulsion. It's what I use for medium format general purpose work (Kodachrome hasn't been available in 120 size for a long time). One film hasn't been mentioned and I use a few rolls of it every year: Agfa Scala 200X. It's the only true B&W chrome film. I don't use much of it prefering most work in color unless it really calls for B&W (in my mind). It is truly a unique B&W film, has wider latitude than the color chromes, doesn't get muddy in the mid-tones, and has granularity rivaling that of the ISO 100 Ektachromes. The one downside: it requires a very unique developing process and only three labs in the U.S. are licensed by Agfa to do it. I buy mine with pre-paid developing mailers and send it to a lab in Miami, Florida. Even so, if you've never tried it, you should. It's a unique experience and I've gotten some wonderful studio portraiture out of it. You should also get at least one or two Ilfochrome prints made from slides. Formerly called Cibachrome, it's a very unique positive print material specifically made for printing slides. They're expensive, but there's also no color negative print material that has the subtle metallic sheen of Ilfochrome. They're also ultra-high gloss making it very difficult to "see" the surface of the print material. Gives the image printed on it great clarity. Combine that with the unique look slides have and a good Ilfochrome print leaps off the wall with an appearance of very high realism; high saturation is not required for Ilfochrome to jump out of the frame. Just to try something different, I had the lab in Texas I use for making Ilfochromes print a couple portraits made using Agfa Scala 200X. These prints have an appearance uniquely different from any I've seen made from B&W negative. The mid-tones have a subtle silvery appearance. -- John Lind
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