New to color sheet film - which should I choose for my trip?

[Ted R]

Hi Fred L and thankyou for your prompt response, we have two years of planning but we are lying here with laptops open already entranced by the amazing scenery. It looks like it could be a motorhome start at Vancouver to whistler then on to Banff and then train it to Ontario for Niagara falls.
I have no idea what the difference is between negative and reversal, sorry. I wanted a challenge when I started on LF so I used xray as it is cheap and have not ventured to use anything else.

Forgive me if you know this already but the difference is rather important. Color negative film produces negatives that are then turned into color prints either by scanning and digital printing, or by optical printing (darkroom). Reversal is another word for transparency film, positive film or color slides, the image is a positive and can be held up to the light and seen directly. Prints are made from slide film either by scanning and digital printing, or by optical printing. Slide film (positive film) has less exposure latitude than negative films, it is very unforgiving of exposure errors, it is easy to get results with empty black shadows and empty blown out highlights, whereas a color negative of the same scene is able to hold more of the highlight detail and shadow detail which are recovered in the print by image manipulation (dodging and burning or photoshop).

Before you stock up on color film give some thought to how you want to view the results (slide projection, small hardcopy prints, large hard copy prints, online etc) and how you are going to achieve these steps. Also give consideration to the matter of exposure latitude and the choice of slide (poor) or negative (better) film for your camera.

[Tim Meisburger]

I don't shoot much color, but when I do, I prefer Velvia.

[xkaes]

Let's not confuse things.

POSITIVE FILM = SLIDE FILM = TRANSPARENCY FILM

NEGATIVE FILM = REVERSAL FILM

[Ted R]

Yes let's NOT confuse things.................

No less an authority than the Kodak catalog uses the term REVERSAL to describe positive "transparency" films. This is a confusing use of language, nevertheless it is common. That is why I used multiple words in my post to make sure the difference is clear, slide film = transparency = reversal film = positive image.

I believe the reason for the use of the term "reversal" originates from the use a of a processing stage that reverses the density of the primary silver image from "negative" to "positive".

[Oren Grad]

Let's not confuse things....

Slide film is reversal film - "reversal" refers to the processing needed to get a positive rather than a negative from the film that was exposed in the camera. Search the web for "reversal processing" if you are not familiar with this.

Andrew, if you've never used slide film before, I very strongly recommend sticking to negative film. It's *much* more forgiving in exposure - that is, so long as you err on the side of giving more exposure, you're much more likely to come away with a usable negative even if your metering isn't exactly right. Slide film has far narrower exposure latitude and is much easier to mess up.

[Thalmees]

I'm not panicking yet, but we are planning an amazing trip from Australia to Canada to capture some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. I have only ever used xray film for large format photography, and love the stuff, but for this trip I am going to have to enter uncharted waters and use colour film to capture some of those amazing colours of summer and autumn.
Does anyone have any advice on what make of 4x5 sheet film would be most suitable?
I will be using a Shen Hao with a super angulon 90mm f8, a topcor 210mm f5.6 and a Nikon nikkor 150mm f5.6, all proven to be excellent performers for xray. I will of course be taking nd, polarizing and uv filters with me.
Thankyou in advance for any advice on film choice

Hello andrewch59,
Kodak and FujiFilm agreed some time ago with each other to redistribute color sheet film market between them, to own part of it for each alone, and to avoid competition. Of course it looks as it was a non-declared agreement(NDA). Color negative for Kodak, and color reversal for FujiFilm.
Ferrania Film will enter the marker hopefully soon. Wish they will consider also sheet film. Hope other manufacturers in the market consider at least 4X5 reversals.
Options available now in color 4X5, are not much, as far as I know:
1. Fuji Velvia 100, RVP100. Color Reversal/positive slide film. E6 chemistry.
2. Fuji Provia, RDP100. Color Reversal/positive slide film. E6 chemistry.
3. Kodak Ektar 100. Color Negative film. C41 chemistry.
4. Kodak Portra 160. Color Negative film. C41 chemistry.
5. Kodak Portra 400. Color Negative film. C41 chemistry.
In Japanese market,
6. Velvia 50 is still available in 4X5, as far as I know.
All are at roughly the same price per sheet of film, though available in 10 or 20 sheets per box. Color negatives are not cheaper.
My opinion, if you may consider, go B&W, ILFORD FP4+, and do every thing your self in "reality" at less than half price, plus building experience. This film has much praise as one of the best in the market in all format, but IMHO, its 4X5 format deserve much much more praise and attention.
If you insist on color, go reversal films(positives/slide. Direct results after development). Provia first option, and Velvia 50 second option.
Marvelous resolution and color quality. No digital ever can comes even near in overall quality.
Velvia50 saturated colors are very praised among photographers, but, Provia may tolerate variety of development better than the moody Velvia50, and its one stop faster with wider latitude.
With negative color films, you will not get the results directly after development.
For both, the most accessible service, is to scan then digital printing.
Hope this useful.

[Pere Casals]

I'm not panicking yet, but we are planning an amazing trip from Australia to Canada to capture some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. I have only ever used xray film for large format photography, and love the stuff, but for this trip I am going to have to enter uncharted waters and use colour film to capture some of those amazing colours of summer and autumn.
Does anyone have any advice on what make of 4x5 sheet film would be most suitable?
I will be using a Shen Hao with a super angulon 90mm f8, a topcor 210mm f5.6 and a Nikon nikkor 150mm f5.6, all proven to be excellent performers for xray. I will of course be taking nd, polarizing and uv filters with me.
Thankyou in advance for any advice on film choice

Let me say my 2 cents.


Portra, Fuji 160(if still available):

> Do not underexpose it, you can overexpose it a fair ammount, +2 areas can be recovered very well.

> Low Saturation, spectral response ideal for skin tones, to shot interesting people you find in your way, and when you want low saturation.


Ektar

> More saturated colors, people still look ok but spectral response is not the ideal one for skin, good for landscape.

> Do not underexpose it. It cannot be overexposed as much as Portra.




With al Slides: do not overexpose it. Very deep shadows can be recovered with a good scanner, if the case (deep shadows) a drum is the (expensive) choice.


Provia

>> Great color fidelity.

>> Good for people and general subjects


Velvia 100

>> More saturated colors than Provia and more contrasty, very nice, ideal colors for landscape, Velvia is GREAT !!! bad for people: they look as if they were backed 2 hours in a microwave owen.




Velvia 100F

Note the "F". Buy Velvia 100, not 100F. I really don't understand what 100F is useful for, cheaper, but I don't know if it's useful for anything, Simply worse, IMHO.

It looks to me it's a worse Velvia than can show people like if they had been 30min only in the microwave owen.



Velvia 50

Same than Velvia 100 but it has a creative color shift: yellow and orange are shifted a bit to red, delivering an awesome selective warming for yellow. This is ideal for low sun illumination. VELVIA 50 IS GREAT, GREAT, GREAT !!!

Also bad for people: they look as if they were backed in a microwave owen during 8 hours.



Tip:

I'd strongly recommend to use the 4x5 with black and white only and shot color with a MF camera. Use only 4x5 color film if you want to make tilt/shift or want the defocus nature of 4x5.

Regarding image quality, if you want just all in focus, MF is the best choice today for film color photography. A 6x7 Velvia/Provia Slide has some native 200Mpix (perceptual), you can extract some 80MPix very easy, and this may be much more you'll ever need.

If you have a budget, think that color sheets are crazy expensive, with 2x the price per surface than 120 film, then you need to develop and scan, a 4x5 drum scan is also very expensive. So sheets vs MF have near no advantage if you are not to print 3m high and view it at reading distance.

Regarding film price with the cost of 1 a 4x5" sheet you can shot some 5 6x7 frames. You will bring home 5x more Velvia shots, because cost and because camera transport and setup.

For Velvia 50 MF a light Monopod is way enough for most situations, so less amazing Velvia photographs will be lost. Then you will be able to project easily 6x7 powerful slides for personal joy, while a 4x5 projector is a rarer device. So you'll enjoy Velvia projected purity, instead sRGB trash or low DR prints.

I just say what I would do, I hope it helps.

Regards

[xkaes]

Yes let's NOT confuse things.................

No less an authority than the Kodak catalog uses the term REVERSAL to describe positive "transparency" films. This is a confusing use of language, nevertheless it is common. That is why I used multiple words in my post to make sure the difference is clear, slide film = transparency = reversal film = positive image.

I believe the reason for the use of the term "reversal" originates from the use a of a processing stage that reverses the density of the primary silver image from "negative" to "positive".

It's no wonder people want to digital. Now we have:

POSITIVE FILM = REVERSAL FILM

NEGATIVE FILM = REVERSAL FILM

That clears up the muddy waters. That's like your doctor telling you that your cancer biopsy came back NEGATIVE -- which is really POSITIVE.

[Ted R]

.......except that film isn't life threatening and you don't need to be an MD to read film manufacturer's information, online forums and Wikipedia. You made up negative = reversal, don't blame the world for your ignorance.

[Leszek Vogt]

Andrew, try preventing any surprises ? Whatever film you do choose, I'd test it before departure.

Les