Results with long expired transparency film + America's 60th national park

[Sal Santamaura]

What do you think was the reason of their lowering the price (and so drastically)?

Insufficient market demand. The public's taste ran to crayon-primary-oversaturated velveeta color rather than beautifully accurate subtlety. Sad.

[Pere Casals]

That's the most succinct, perceptive appreciation of Astia I've seen. As in many aspects of life, there was no Fuji E-6 justice. Velveeta should have long ago disappeared, while Astia ought still be around. Alas, in a year or two all Fuji E-6 will be history. Those who shoot transparencies need to cross their fingers, knock on wood, etc. that Kodak brings its new Ektachrome to market.

Yes... it may happen like with Acros: roll film still there but LF film R.I.P. With Acros, sheets' high price led to low sales, and that to discontinuation, a different policy was there for rolls.

I see the same coming for slides, I find MF Velvia/Provia cost encouraging to me, while with sheets I'm only able to use it in special situations. Sure I'm not alone.

When Velvia/Provia sheets will be killed a kind of photography will be lost, it will be very painful, as you say, we should prepare for the worst situation, this is learnig how cold storage works for sheets, and learning to be happy with MF slides. My guess that slides roll film will remain comes from the perception that they look after that market, but I can be mistaken, of course.

We discussed that too much in the past, but it was worthless, the outcome will be the same.

[Bernice Loui]

Consider the reasons why color transparency films were originally made and images produced with color transparency films were used.. mostly in the color printing industry.

Before modern times of digital imaging device (camera) to print or similar media distribution color film transparency images were the highly preferred means to input color images into the printing system. This was the primary market for color transparency films. A much smaller market of prints made from color transparencies via Ciba & Fuji popped up due to market demand. Both had is technical difficulties and visual advantages.

For working commercial photographers back then the absolutely preferred film format size for studio ad and similar work was 4x5 due to camera perspective control combined with highly controlled lighting allowed creation of images that were simply not possible by any other means at that time. 4x5 was a good trade off size due to cost of film, processing, optics, lighting power, focus control within the images made. There are many memories of visits to New Lab in San Francisco where a busy working commercial studio photographer would bring several hundred sheets of 4x5 E6 film to be processed or a photographer and art-ad director sitting together at the long rows of light tables discussing their work. This was the daily occurrence at New Lab back in those days. This was when purchasing color transparency film was a simple walk into Adolf Gasser, Sammy's camera and a host of other photo stores. Make images in camera, drop off at New Lab and about two hours later your E6 film was ready to view. New Lab processed Kodachrome before the demand dropped and cost involved became excessive.

Secondary market for color transparency films was 35mm & 120 roll. 35mm was primarily used for projected images, 120 roll was mixed trade off of printed work and projected work.

With this once large market demand for color transparency film gone, it has affected the availability of color transparency films.

Now ask, where does color transparency film fit today? Most if not all color printed and electronic media is digital. Color prints from color transparency films via Ciba or Fuji is essentially gone and forced into obsolesce due to the vast majority of color prints coming from digital image files and digital color printers or images transmitted, stored and viewed in the digital domain.


As for Astia or Velvia, is says much about image makers and their visual aesthetic choices. Astia had a bent towards rendering and producing color images as it would have been seen in the natural world. Velvia produces images that are high contrast with "enhanced" color rendition and in many ways not the way it was originally view-rendered in the natural world. Essentially Velvia produces a visual fantasy tugging at the image makers idealization of what an image could be rather than what the image really is.

Astia died long ago while Velvia continues on IMO due to the human need for projected fantasy of what they would like to see rather than seeing the world as it really is.

Question is, what does one do with images made on color transparency film today?



Bernice

[Sal Santamaura]

...As for Astia or Velvia, is says much about image makers and their visual aesthetic choices. Astia had a bent towards rendering and producing color images as it would have been seen in the natural world. Velvia produces images that are high contrast with "enhanced" color rendition and in many ways not the way it was originally view-rendered in the natural world. Essentially Velvia produces a visual fantasy tugging at the image makers idealization of what an image could be rather than what the image really is.

Astia died long ago while Velvia continues on IMO due to the human need for projected fantasy of what they would like to see rather than seeing the world as it really is...

Yes, that's why I posted:

...Sad.

As for your question:

...what does one do with images made on color transparency film today?...

Project them. There's no other real purpose. For color prints, shooting high-end digital provides far better results than scanning transparencies. In my opinion.

[Pere Casals]

Question is, what does one do with images made on color transparency film today?
Bernice

I can tell my case. I project my velvia for me and to show it to other people, or I view it with an slide viewer. No other commercial imaging system comes close to that, by far.

Of course once velvia is scanned and displayed in a monitor you cannot see the same, simply because monitors have a boring color triangle, a low cd/m2 output and second class static contrast.

Today we have Provia, Velvia 100, Velvia 100F and Velvia 50. Velvia 50 has "a design pitfall" that makes yellows more reddish, this is not like a simple Photoshop adjustment, this has an spectral nature that it's difficult to be imitated with Photoshop. The V 100F has been overlooked, but's also an incredible film.

Fuji slides are extreme beauty sold in cans, single problem is that this beauty cannot travel througt TCP networks.

There are people understanding this, and they buy slides.

For the Pro market... a Nikon D5 does all.