Why Does Anyone Shoot Trannies - Round Two

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I just like the Velvia look- saturated colors, ultrafine grain, and it just glows when used to photograph low contrast scenes in warm light, which is what I usually seek out. Film choice is obviously a personal matter, so use whatever allows you to make the images you want.

[John Cook]

And now for something completely different ;0)

Having used b&w exclusively for many years, you will have to get used to reduced acutance with color, positive or negative. Personally, I would use the term, "mushy" in comparison.

In addition, you will now require a thousand-dollar Minolta color meter so you can constantly fool with color balance. A tungsten lamp in a fluorescent-lit room with an outdoor window presents frustrations and challanges unknown to a b&w photographer. You will get to know camera cc filters and Roscoe gels very well.

Finally, forget about all those wonderful fiber papers you have come to know and love. Color prints on plastic instead. Much like personalized credit cards images.

So, is it too late to interest you in Marshall's oils? Honestly, they are not nearly so difficult as one might think. And you, not the film, will always be in complete control. You can buy a lot of Q-Tips and cotton balls for that thousand dollars.

Just a thought...

[steve_782]

One of the problems with scanning negative film is the orange mask which is adjusted in color for the dyes used in the film. For example, look at the mask color difference between a Fuji film and Kodak film, or even between an older color negative film and a newer color negative film.

Unless the scanner is calibrated for the exact film, the colors can be distorted because the scanner doesn't read the colors correctly.

I just downloaded the latest driver for my Imacon, and was glad to see that they had updated the color negative film list to encompass more film types. However, I had to scan some images shot on some Kodak 400MC, and as that film is not in the list, I could only use a generic "color negative film" scanner setting.

Correcting the colors in PS took quite a bit of work - you don't have those types of problems with transparency film.

[GPS]

If you really care about making "the best possible color print for my own personal purposes" - then why don't you want to use a (good) commercial lab? And if you want to have something cheaper, simpler etc. etc. why do you want to know some reasons you should not use slides? Please, tell me - if I don't want to use these ways to go there why should I use this way to go there? What a silly question.

[Barry Trabitz]

Would someone help with a very basic question? I would like to use color negative film. I have a Umax PowerLook III scanner and photoshop 7.0. Is there a workflow someone can suggest to scan the negatives and eliminate the orange cast so that I can work on them in Photoshop. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[CP Goerz]

You can always reduce the contrast when using chrome by overexposing and pulling it in the development just like B+W.

CP Goerz

[Leonard Evens]

About the orange mask.

This is basically a non-issue. It is put there to compensate for deficiencies in the dyes used in color emulsions. Reversal film was originally intended to be viewed directly by transmitted light or when projected in relative darkness on a screen. In any case, because of the viewing conditions, the eye would compensate for these deficiencies. However, when making prints, one might as well use a color negative process for the same reason one uses negatives in bw. And you could compensate for the deficiencies. Similar reasoning applies when scanning. The dye is a constant, so it can easily be compensated for when scanning or editing. The scanning software should have a setting for color negative film, and the best software has explicit settings for different brands. But even if you use a generic setting, it works reasonably well, and it doesn't require much additional effort to get the color balance right. The orange dye is not a reason to choose reversal film over color negative film.

[chris_4622]

wow, with all this talk about transparencies only Rob mentions the beauty of cibachromes as a reason to try reversal film. I have never seen a scanned transparency, digital output print (one done by one of you proficient artists) in person so I can't compare, but when I shoot color it is transparencies because I love the look of cibachromes. I'm surprised more people on this forum don't use them.

[Bill_1856]

NOBODY has used Cibachromes for 10-15 years. (Unless they've got a freezer full of it, like me. Mixed in with the boxes of Ektaflex stuff.)

[Kirk Gittings]

Personally I never liked Cibachromes, but they were all that was readily available for awhile around here. For my upcoming show I explored pulling some of my Cibachromes from the museum collection, but they were dismal compared to what I am doing now with Epson UC inkjet from my early chromes and current NPS negatives.