My experience parallels Dean's. I find VS does better in terms of saturation in the red-yellow part of the spectrum and Velvia does better in the green part. Take a look at Kerry Thalmann's article in View Camera this issue for some more information. Cheers, DJ
Hi Ross, when the film came out, a friend at Kodak gave me a box and some some r olls to try. I have shot for a while using both VS and Velvia, to have a base for comparison. I did hope that I would be able to tell my friend that the film was great, but instead have come to the conclusion that VS was a bad caricature of Velvia, but in some situations could yell interesting effects. Rather than carry the two kinds, I kept within t he 3 Fuji and never felt I missed the VS.
VS produces more accentuated images, which can be useful when the details need t o be enhanced, such as in the desert at dusk as mentioned earlier, but you can produce a similar effect by pus hing Velvia one stop, or in post production with Photoshop. The VS blue is too strong, too cyan and has little mo dulation, and the yellow is flattering, but far from truth. I have not found that the shadows were richer than with Velv ia, which would have made it interesting. As mentioned, saturation can be easily corrected. The Fujichromes a re very good in this regard, for their colors are balanced, and Astia is simply a desaturate, less contrasty Velvia. Both films suit certain lighting and color saturation and are very smooth. In comparison, the gamma of VS looks like it has been made to accentuate the sha dows and produce eye pleasing results *on the light box* which has little to do with end results and can be ra ther annoying at print time. In closing, I would say again that I tested a first batch of VS, and it is possible that the film got fine tuned since and that it's quality is now better. If the results please you on the long term, why not give it a chance?
"but in some situations could yell" *read yeld*, but it is true that the colors yell sometimes! ;-)
It is worth notingthat Dykinga only must have switched to E100VS fairly recently. velvia is the film he made his reputation with. My experiences with E100VS have not been happy, in particular it very harsh looking if you have to push it more than 1/3rd of a stop. Velvia pushes quite well up to 1.5 stops, but that really works best when the light is not very contrasty or in other words on gray days, otherwise you run a high risk of blowing out your high light values through compression at the top of the scale
Shooting with JD this past July he was using Velvia quickloads. He did say he has used Kodak 100VS or Provia in harsh light as they give better detail in the shadows.
Thanks to everyone for the interesting comments and observations. I realize that many of you do not care for super-saturated films like Velvia/VS and I respect the fact that we all have our own tastes and opinions, but for the color landscape work I do Velvia has been a vital ingredient over the years, both to please my own eye and more recently to compete in submissions to publsihing clients. I have run my own personal tests on Astia, Provia F, E100S/SW, EPP and a few others, but every time it was Velvia that, for me, captured more of the heart and soul of the landscape I experienced. Apparently it has done so for other shooters as well, as Velvia is the film of choice for fine art master Christopher Burkett and for numerous other pros making their living from both fine art prints and publsihing clients (such as Dykinga).
Then along came the seductive Kodak E100VS...in my direct comparisons with my beloved Velvia, the VS was singing louder in the warm colors yet with bright greens that were also pleasing, and yes the blues were out of ths world. In a direct comparison shot of wild Rhododendrons in a forest, the brighter colors of VS stole the show and actually made Velvia look a bit dull! Other compositions produced similar results and I was soon enticed into using E100VS exclusively and enjoying the excitement of seeing the results after every shoot, much as I did years ago when Velvia first shocked and delighted the world.
But now that the honeymoon is over I have been hearing talk of VS having lots of grain, less color depth than Velvia, less effective rendering of subtle tones, an unrealistic blue, and a tendency to block up in saturated color. So I am re-examining all my comparison shots again and gathering observations from all of you, to see if there are indeed serious faults lying beneath the surface of this seductive film.
Thanks again for sharing from your experience.
Kerry Thalman just published an excellent article on this very topic in View Camera Magazine. Take a look. But which is best? Depends on what your parameters are. What color pallet is best for you. Do you need the extra stop of speed. Which is easiest to get. And many more. As with all subjective questions, the answer lies in what your preferrences are. James
Lots of good answers, and as the diversity of opinions expressed indicates, such preferences are a highly personal matter.
As Ted and others have mentioned, I have an article on just this subject in the current issue of View Camera. Even though I've written an article on the subjec t, I don't consider my opinions the be-all and end-all on this topic. It is hig hly subjective with no rtight and no wrong - just different preferences, differe nt applications and therefore, different opinions. I have used Velvia ever sinc e it first came out, and E100VS extensively over the past year, so I'll add a fe w additional comments here.
First, some people love highly saturated films, some people hate them. If you h ate the Velvia "look", you'll probably hate E100VS. On the otherhand, if you li ke the bold satutated colors of Velvia, for some subjects, you may like E100VS e ven better (or perhaps not).
Personally, I like E100VS for reds and oranges. My first experience with is fil m was in Southern Utah/Northern Arizona a year ago (Dykinga territory - in fact, the very first day I shot with E100VS, I ran into Jeff Foott at the trailhead w aiting for Jack to arrive to hike into the same area the next morning). I was s hooting snow covered sandstone formations, under mostly overcast skies (the sun did pop out briefly near the end of the day). Under these conditions, I found t hat E100VS brought out the red and orange tones in the sandstone quite nicely an d had very clean whites (better than Velvia on both counts - I shot side-by-side comparisons with both films). That initial experience convinced me to do some more extensive testing with E100VS (which lead to my article in View Camera). S omeone else mentioned that they found less separation in the reds/oranges with E 100VS than with Velvia. My personal experience is exactly opposite (more on tha t below).
WRT to greens, as has been mentioned, this is one area where Velvia excels. I p ersonally agree with this statement - and continue to use Velvia when shooting i n the Columbia River Gorge and the rain forests of Olympic NP (two very lush, gr een areas). Based on side-by-side tests of E100VS and Velvia, I don't think it' s so much that E100VS has weak greens. It does not. It comes very close to Vel via in saturation. I think the real difference is that E100VS is more saturated in the red/orange/brown end of the spectrum than Velvia. What this means is th at any brown tones (tree trunks/branches, dirt, rocks, etc.) tend to stand out a lot more on E100VS than on Velvia. To me, this competes with and detracts from the over all lush greenness I am trying to capture on film (nobody visits a rai n forest and says "Wow! look at those browns"). Velvia has the additional bonus (in this case) of a pronounced green shift for long exposures. To compensate f or this green shift, Fuji recommends magenta cc filters for exposures of 4 secon ds or longer. Since I also often use a polarizer to elminate glare on the wet f oliage, and I'm shooting under heavy, dim overcast lighting, I often end up with exposures of 20 seconds or longer (considerably longer in some cases) when shoo ting the rain forests - even at mid-day. By 20 seconds, the Velvia green shift is pretty strong. Not a problem, IMHO, if you're shooting a predominantly green subject. In fact, I think these subjects benefit from this green shift, and I do not use a magenta filter to compensate. In this case, the brown tree branche s/trunks, rocks in dirt that stood out so much with E100VS, blend in much better with the lush green of the ferns, mosses and leaves of the rain forest environm ent when shot on Velvia.
I continued to shoot both films (and Provia100F, Astia and E100S) through last s ummer and fall. My final tests were done at the Japanese Gardens in Portland, O R at the end of October. This was sort of the natural equilvalent of the MacBet h ColorChecker. Even at the peak of fall color (red, orange and yellow), the Ja panese Gardens and still very lush and green. In fact, the only colors not well represented were the blues and purples. Given the specific differences noted a bove, I was actually surprised how close the Velvia and E100VS results were for this test with a wide variety of colors. I was quite pleased with the results w ith both films (the E100VS had slightly more saturated reds, but even side-by-si de on the light table, the two were difficult to tell apart). However, during t his final testing, the one big advantage of E100VS really came through. In addi tion to being over a full stop faster (I generally shoot Velvia at ISO 40), E100 VS has much better reciprocity characteristics. Many of my exposures on E100VS were 8 seconds (no compensation required). Equivalent exposures on Velvia requ ired 25 seconds. If I stopped down for more depth of field, E100VS worked great at 15 seconds, but Velvia required over a minure of exposure. Even ignoring th e Velvia green shift (quite strong at 1 minute), I found E100VS a lot easier to use for this situation. Although it was relatively calm, the slightest breeze w ould cause motion in the foliage I was shooting. Plus, being a public garden, p eople were milling about, in and out of my photos. So, 8 sec - 15 sec was much more manageable than 25 - 60+ sec. Reciprocity characteristics (both color shif t and exposure compensation) is one area where Velvia is starting to realy lag b ehind the newer films. In addition to E100VS, E100S, especially Provia100F and even Astia are all much better than Velvia in this regard.
It has been mentioned that E100VS doesn't respond as well to push processing as Velvia. Given that it's over a full stop faster, and has much better reciprocit y characterstics, I found the need to push this film much less frequently (almos t never) than Velvia. So, it may not push process as well, but push processing isn't generally needed (at least not for the subjects and conditions I normally shoot - YMMV).
As has been mentioned, there is also the consideration of what exactly is your f inal output. Although I print some of my images (both digitally and traditional ly), the primary output of my photograpy is stock sales to magazine, calendar, b ook, etc. publishers. In this case, the transparancy is the final product that is presented to potential buyers. Sales depend on how well that transparency lo oks on the lightbox. In this market, highly saturated colors grab the attendtio n of the buyers and lead to more sales. If your goal is prints, whether they be traditional or digital, your choice in films might be different. Final intende d output goes beyond just personal taste and includes things like ease of use an d presentation. For me, the transparencies on the lightbox have to make the buy ers say "Wow!". I don't get the chance to pump up the colors, contrast and satu ration in Photoshop (nor to I usually have to struggle with difficult hard to pr int high contrast transparencies in the darkroom). So, for me, if I want vivid colors, I need to shoot with highly saturated films like Velvia and E100VS.
Finally, like any new film, there is a learning curve involved. I've been using Velvia for so long, I just intuitively know when to open up or stop down from m y meter's readings based on the subject and lighting conditions. It took my a w hile to learn how to get proper exposures with E100VS. Like Velvia, for best re sults E100VS requires VERY accurate exposures - and it's sensitivity to differen t lighting conditions is much different than Velvia. A difference of even 1/3 s top can make or break exposures with this film (just like Velvia). I found that if underexposed, E100VS had a tendency to go too red. Slight over exposure ten ded to make blue skies look very unnatural (bright cyan). Although the shadows don't go completely black (like Velvia) when underexposed, in some ways, E100VS is even "pickier" about proper exposure than Velvia (depends on subject and ligh ting conditions). If your used to shooting Velvia, consistant proper exposure w ith E100VS is a little more involved than just "meter for Velvia and open up one stop".
Finally, both of these films are sensitive to minor processing variations. A li ttle difference in the strength of the chemistry, development time or temperatur e can make a noticeable difference in the look of the processed film. My local pro lab runs two dip and dunk E-6 processing lines. Even though the equipment i s identical (same brand, same model purchased at the same time) and the chemistr y is mixed identically and the times and temps computer controlled, there are sl ight differences in the processed transparancies. The differences are subtle en ough, that most people wouldn't even notice them side-by-side on the lightbox, b ut they are there and can be seen if you know what to look for. And this is a v ery competent pro lab with computer controlled equipment that is officially bles sed by both Fuji and Kodak. Greater variations in processing will no doubt lead to even greater differences in the processed transparencies.
I think the above to points - exposure sensitivity and processing variations - w hen combined with personal preference can explain a lot of the differences of op inion that have been expressed here (I think processing and perhaps exposure can explain how one poster thought E100VS did a poor job of separating red and oran ge tones, and I found the exact opposite to be true). It also helps emphasize t hat no matter what I, or anyone else says here, you really need to test these fi lms yourself to see which works better for your needs, your subjects, your light ing conditions, your processing, your personal taste, your intended application. etc. There is no right (or wrong) answer. Personally I was a one film (Velvia ) photographer for over a decade. If nothing else, my film testing has opened u p the possibility of matching different films to different subjects and lighting conditions. I now carry both E100VS and Velvia most of the time, plus sometime s Provia100F. It's nice to have choices. After testing these films for several months, I now feel like I know them well enough to choose the right film to mat ch the subject and lighting and yield the results I desire based on my personal preferences and goals. Your mileage can (and will) vary.
Kerry
E100VS is a dreadful film compared to velvia. I have seen it used extensively for innumerable subjects and find there are much better films available for all purposes. The VS was introduced to compete with velvia but has no comparison, notably when push or pull processing. Grain is bad, and although lower in contrast Velvia can be controlled better by pull processing. Provia is excellent too. I have worked in a pro lab and have seen the mess this film can make.Although some may like it, to most technicians it is a cheap film, unreliable to process and ugly. Colour shifts are very unreliable too. In general, Fuji make more colour saturated film, and Kodak usually hold the lead with skin tone...generally!
Hi Ross,
Well I can tell you that after viewing your transparencies on your portable light table I was certainly impressed, enough so that I grabbed a box of VS and tried it out for myself, I have been using it ever since our meeting along with E100s. As it has been stated more than once in this thread it all boils down to personal taste and to be honest I use both Fujichromes and Ektachromes it really depends on what mood I am in. All the films work well in certain light, I just use the film that I think will work the best in the conditions I'm faced with.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work!
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