Best Slide Film for 4x5 Copy Work?

Hi All -

I am going to do some copy work for an artist friend. She has been using a loca l studio, and they have done the work on 4x5 chromes. She doesn't have a sample , so I don't know what they were using. The intended use is publication.

I've done lots of B&W, but color transparency is a little foreign to me. I've g ot lights and a flash meter, so that part isn't a problem. I'll probably shoot two as metered, one a half stop over, and one a half stop under. Any other work s of wisdom?

Thanks as always. - k

I would try one of the Fuji chromes. While Velvia might be too rich/saturated, the other ISO 100 chromes work nicely. when I copy student work onto 35 chromes I use Provia 100 Daylight. Bob

I like the neutral palate of Kodak EPN, which is designed for accurate color reproduction. I find it works best for me when exposed at its rated ISO of 100.

Kevin, alot of this depends on how picky your friend is about accurate color balance/rendition. About the best daylight chrome film for this would be Kodak EPN (Ektachrome 100). I assume you're shooting daylight because you mentioned a flashmeter...we shoot alot of paintings, textiles, etc. here and use Provia 100, and prior to that we shot both EPN and Fuji 50, and then 100 (the old stuff). While we have had some isolated problems with accurate color rendition (certain blues & greens in particular) with Provia 100, we've managed to nail down a good working process with it...but we do our own E6. So, offhand I'd say to find a good lab, shoot a rather flat/neutral chrome film, use UV coated flashtubes, and do some tests....BTW, we double up on all exposures and shoot just a normal and a half over. When I shoot a film like Ektachrome 100 VS (for an exaggerated contrast as an effect), I'll do a normal, and a half under. Run half the sheets, and see how they look...you can then make adjustments to the remaining if you have to. If you can find a lab running in control, then you can probably safely use Polaroid to proof everything. We use 55 P/N, and have found that the short range of the print matches chrome film pretty well. It holds about 5 stops or so, and if you "candle" the print, i.e. hold it up to a light source to view the shadows, you can get a good feel for the exposure. Then you have the neg to check focus too. The polaroid is nice because paintings will often look good at exposures that are quite different than meter readings. One last thing, a nice dark studio with black or dark neutral walls is nice, and a flat disc diffuser for your meter is a big help. Everything needs to be very even, all over the painting. If it's a valuable piece, do not touch the surface when you meter, you can sort of "hover" the meter over the painting and keep it safe. Good luck.

One more thing...get yourself a Kodak grayscale/colorbar and include this alongside the piece in each shot. It will give you a scale reference, and a std. to color correct against. The grayscale part is handy to use as well, for scanning etc. Do your shots against a dark, neutral background to avoid flare & color shifts....and remember to flag off your lens.

The best system is Tungsten film under controlled, defined tungsten lights. I h ave many superb slides made that way, even of black and white materials. And co ntrary to some opinions, Kodak does make excellent film emulsions.

I use strobes, and I use either Fuji Astia or Kodak EPN. EPN is more neutral. I also polarize my lights and polarize the lens as well (with the camera polarizer rotated ninety degrees to the axis of the orientation of the light polarizers. I do this to kill glare, but it eats up a lot of light.

I use strobes (Balcars & Elinchrom, but I used to use Norman) and I use either Fuji Astia or Kodak EPN. EPN is more neutral. I also polarize my lights and polarize the lens as well (with the camera polarizer rotated ninety degrees to the axis of the orientation of the light polarizers. I do this to kill glare, but it eats up a lot of light. make sure the light is even to within a tenth of a stop everywhere across the painting. If it isn't the artsit will notice it even if no one else does.

Well, I don't know if it really matters in the end which type of lights you use, i.e. tungsten or strobe. They both have merits. I will say that we use strobes here at the museum, because we've found they are easier to deal with in terms of heat and concerns over controlling UV light. If you want to do cross polarization, then strobes are nice because of the amount of power this method eats up. You can cross polarize with hotlights too, I'm thinking of the Polalights that Kodak used to make. Occasionally we'll use hotlights here to copy artwork, either on our Bencher copystand, or in the studio we'll use a couple of Totalights. If this is the case, then EPY, or Fuji 64T are good films to use. A good reference book for copywork is Kodak's publication "Copying and Duplicating in B&W and Color", even though this is a little dated (as some of the films are no longer made) the theory behind it remains solid.