 Justin G. |
How does slide film work? I have a question. I've been reading a lot about film lately and I'm getting confused about all the films. I read about pushing and pulling films and all that stuff and they said negative is hard to work with but slide is great. Anyways then I got to reading about slide film and they said most beginning photographers have never used slide film. Hey couldn't be any more true! Anyways it said its hard to get prints from it. Here's my question or two. If you can't hardly get prints from slide film, what in the world are the benefits of it. I mean I understand colors are better dot dot dot, things like that but how do I show off my work. I mean there's only 1 slide and I want to make prints, scan them for Photoshop CS 8 and all that good stuff. They also said that its really hard to get your work published without slides. How in the world is this? I'm just really confused. Please help.
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John A. Lind |
Justin, Not hard to get prints from . . . not any more. Your nearest Wal-Mart can do it right there in the store. If they know what they're doing with the slide print machine, it makes acceptable 4x6's. I shoot almost exlusively slide films. The reason is wanting to make large gallery quality prints. For the ones I have printed, the slides are sent to a lab that makes Ilfochrome (former name Cibachrome) prints . . . designed as a positive print material specifically for printing slides . . . and there's no other color print material like it. Ilfochromes aren't cheap though. Another company called The Slide Printer in Denver, CO, does a decent job by mail order. The larger prints I've had them do were the next best thing to Ilfochrome prints. Slides are a whole lot easier to look at and evaluate for publication or large print making than color negatives which not only have the negative colors, but an orange mask on top of that. Since the original slide is the film from the camera, what you shot is what you've got . . . without relying on someone knowing what they're doing with a print machine in making proofs from negatives. My usual process for downselecting what slides will be earmarked for large prints: I pretty much know just looking at them with 4X loupe on the light box which ones will be earmarked at the end . . . the small and large projections simply validate it. -- John Lind
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Justin G. |
Me again - Much appreciate your help in the matter. Now that I know you can make prints, how large can I go. My family is my biggest supporter and they litteraly are always wanting 8x10s and 11x14s to hang up in the house (yes i'm very grateful for them). anyways... "Slides are a whole lot easier to look at and evaluate for publication or large print making". large print making... how large? and how can I get my slides into photoshop cs? I have a canoscan 8400f (great bang for the buck!) and it can scan my negs. at 3200 dpi. can I scan these slide positives? i'm just concerned if I use slide print more often, it'll be hard to get these photos on paper. (and large paper!) Thanks for your previous answer also, helps a lot!
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John A. Lind |
Because they're gallery prints, I limit the 35mm slides to 11x14 (the lab will also go near full frame to 11x16 if I want it). I have no problem making much bigger ones from medium format slides. Occasionally a very, very good pro lab can eek out a 16x20 using an optical enlarger from a truly tack sharp Kodachrome 64, Vlevia 50 or Provia 100F slide if it's printed by one of their techs who is an expert with an optical enlarger. Velvia 50 and Provia 100F have exceptionally fine grain. Kodachrome 64 is blessed with sharper edge definition that makes up for its very slightly coarser grain compared to the other two. I've found that labs making large prints by scanning the slide specifically for printing (res of scan based on print size) cannot make a 16x20 that looks as good as one done properly on a good optical enlarger with top grade enlarger lens. It has to do with the limitations of the slide/film scanner that's typically hooked to their printer . . . usually about 4000 dpi max . . . they don't have the 6000-8000 dpi res or dMax of a drum scanner (or equivalent) which is really needed to do a digial print at 16x20 from 35mm slides. Some Tips on Large Prints: -- John Lind
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John A. Lind |
Justin, I'm not familiar with the Canon scanner you mentioned. I'll look it up and poke around a bit to see if others have used one with slides. If it's a true film scanner (not a flatbed) it should be able to handle slides (perhaps with a carrier to hold the slide frame). I don't know of a true film scanner that cannot. However the software settings on the computer end of it need to be set for scanning a positive, not a negative . . . and you may have to tweak them a bit. Some flatbeds can do OK with scanning slides for lower res stuff (web use and small prints) but haven't seen or heard of one that does very well for large prints. -- John Lind
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Justin G. |
Thanks again for the info. Those last two comments really helped a lot!! Thanks so much for your help. Yeah the Canon, its a flatbed scanner. I mean I'm not trying to make it sound pro or anything but its great for me right now. I actually just started shooting a year ago. I ordered my Elan last june so I think i'm making good progress. But yeah that scanner ($180) and the printer ($190) is the best two bangs for the buck. My borderless 8x10s are nearly perfect with a fine grained film. Well thanks again so much for your help! Be ready for lots more questions..haha! Justin Goeden
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