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Prints from slides


I have been using Provia 100F slide film with really fine results (at least for a relative beginner.) I tend to have prints made of the slides which I think are really good. I have noticed though that prints made from low-light shots tend to be much darker than the actual slide: so much so that detail clearly visible on the slide is lost in the print. I have had some prints redone and lightened, but the folks at the photo shop said that I would be better served by using print film if I am primarily interested in prints, since prints from negatives are superior to prints from slides.
I am currently trying a role of Fuji Reala (100) and will be interested to see the results.
Any thoughts on this? Any way to correct the problem of dark prints other than asking the shop to make certain that the print reflects the brightness and detail of the slide.

Thanks, John Jones (I use a canon eos 7)


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May 24, 2001

 

Jeff S. Kennedy
  As a general rule prints from slides will be darker. If you are going to do prints from slides you need to bracket you shots and come up with versions that are anywhere from 1/2-1 stop brighter than what you normally like. Underexposed slides look great projected or viewed with a light box since the light is passing through them and showing every detail. Prints don't have that luxure since we are viewing them via the light reflected from their surface. One way to see how a slide will print is to hold it up in front of a white piece of paper. That will approximate the detail you will get.

Another option is to get the slides scanned and have them printed from a digitally outputted negative. The prints I sell in the gallery are drum scanned. But it's not cheap.


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May 24, 2001

 

doug Nelson
  John, I've been up against the same brick wall. If you try to have the shop bring up shadow detail, the rest of the image suffers. I gave up on color prints long ago, as the mushy colors I got back were unacceptable. So I shot slides, knowing that if I lost detail in the shadows or highlights, it was my own darn fault and no one else's. It sure taught me exposure and bracketing. Then along came digital. I'm having the time of my life scanning every decent shot I've ever taken for 30 years. If the exposure is anywhere close at all, I can have my shadow detail, fix crooked horizon lines, fritz out power lines, fix buildigs that come to points . . . This doesn't come cheap, but Nikon's Coolscan IV is 800-900 bucks. (less than the cost of a point 'n shoot digital and the big memory card to make the darned thing usable)The state-of-the art 4,000 ppi Nikon is about 1600.
The printer you want is Epson, the present model is the 890 (1280 if you want bigger than 8 x 10). Print your scanned images and see color you'll never get elsewhere short of a custom print by a darkroom expert. See luminous-landscape.com for comments on Provia, Canon, and Epson. You'll like this guy.


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June 25, 2001

 
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