Need a film with high DR - another what film thread

[stompyq]

First up my apolagies if this topic has been beaten to death. I have a specific problem and any advice is much appreciated. Her'es the background and the question

I've been hitting the local glens of late in anticipation of moving away from the rochester/fingerlakes region (my degrees nearly complete). I've covered this area farily thourghly but have run in to a recurirng problem of high DR forcing me to sacrifice either highlights or shadows. Now with digital i can do HDR (which i don't like) and have done semi HDR with my 4x5 gear. Basically taking 2 different exposures and labouriously blending them in PS. However i've been wondering if i'am going about this all wrong and should try to get a film with better DR. I've been shooting exclusivly with velvia 100F and have been toying with the idea of going b/w. Just so everybodys clear i get all my developing done via praus photo and their rate for b/w is higher than E6/C41. This and the fact that i won't have any color (obviously!!) and the problems associated with shooting two different types of film has discouraged me in going b/w. Theirs no way for me to do any of my own developing (not even a community darkroom). However i feel i can't neglect this any longer.

From my readings on the web it's also not clear to me if color negative emulsions have caught up with b/w in terms of DR. So i guess the question is what film (either b/w or color) would be best suited for my specific case. I would appreciate specific names.

PS: on average i've spot metered and figured that the DR of most of the pics that i'am trying to make far exceeds that of any film. But i'am just trying to erk out as much as i can without going in to the unnatural HDR look (which i personally hate)

Thanks in advance.

[bbjorkum]

You could try to make a pre exposure of your film. Have a look in Ansel Adam's bible The Negative. It applies to colour film as well, both neg and chromes, and should give you that extra lift of your shadows. Another solution would be to use the Ektachrome 64T. It can cope with more contrast than any other chrome film. Just use a blue filter to compensate for daylight. You can even give this film a pre exposure.

[Ron Marshall]

What subject brightness range do you anticipate for your project.

With a film having a long straight-line curve, TMY, and semi-stand development, you can record a SBR of 12 stops or more.

[Capocheny]

Hi Stompyq,

Personally speaking, I'm not so sure that I would be using a film like Velvia in contrasty situations in the first place. I would use Velvia on cloudy, overcast days where the contrast is fairly low.

Try Provia instead.

Just my $.02 worth.

Cheers

[Oren Grad]

In general, color negative films can record a substantially greater brightness range than color transparency films. I'd suggest trying a 10-sheet box of either Portra 160NC or Portra 400NC under the sorts of conditions that are giving you trouble before concluding that you have to give up on color.

[Bjorn Nilsson]

I just have to chime in with Oren. The easiest way to cope with color shots even a normal sunny day is to use negative films. While nothing really beats a nicely exposed chrome, there is a very small audience who enjoys leaning over a light table with a loupe. I really love Velvia, but it's very fuzzy about exposure (as most chrome film) and if your end product is some kind of print the workflow with negative film is more straight-forward.
Also, developing negative color film is easier and you can find more labs doing it.

//Björn

[David Luttmann]

For transparencies, Astia 100F

For color neg, Fuji Pro 160S.

Those two film have the highest DR of any color materials.

[sgelb]

In general, color negative films can record a substantially greater brightness range than color transparency films. I'd suggest trying a 10-sheet box of either Portra 160NC or Portra 400NC under the sorts of conditions that are giving you trouble before concluding that you have to give up on color.

I will second this reccomendation.. I have been shooting this more and more. make sure u get new film too.. expired doesnt hold up (even 1 yr old or so). I shot a box of 400NC recently and was amazed. no to very low grain. 160 is great stuff. its naturally very high dynamic range and very neutral color balance. VC is ok, but it has more contrast than I like and makes things a little more difficult in post.

I will also advise that you steer clear from fuji. it has a nasty red magenta/green crossover cast that is hard to fix in the post. kodak emulsions (both neg and chrome) are WAY better balanced. (i know there will be some haters on this) provia is total junk imo, the blues always have a magenta cast which u cannot fix. velvia is much better but then u run into a lot of issues with scanning and exposure. Portra not only has a super high DR but it also scans incredibly well.

portras only downfall is it does not hold up on long exposures.

[stompyq]

Thanks guys. This is all very helpful especially the recomendations on the color neg film. I forgot to mention that my workflow is scanning the film once i get it from the lab. Based on this i've often wondered why i would be still using velvia (old habit i guess but i love it on a lighttable).

Bjarte i'am a little confused about the pre-exposure you mentioned. I thought this was done in the darkroom and not unexposed film? I read the negative a while back and can't remember. Anychance you can elaborate? (a link would be very helpful)

[Drew Wiley]

It's not quite so simple. Color neg films, especially the ones with a longer scale,
have quite a different hue palette than chromes. Most of these films were engineered with fleshtones (portraiture) in mind, so may give relatively unnatural
colors of nature. I find the reproduction of greens and yellow especially disappointing. You will be able to correct some of these problems in Photoshop but
not all. Slightly higher contrast films like Porta 160VS are somewhat better, and
then you shift into the least contrast of the chrome films, Astia, which is realistically
only going to give you about 2/3 stop more range than Velvia. Nothing in color is
going to provide you with the range of certain black and white films, unless of course you have a three-shot color camera, which uses three sheets of black and white film behind color separation filters - not exactly a point-and-shoot that fits in your pocket however!