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

[Pere Casals]

BTW, an earlier poster referenced Velvia 100F. Ignore that reference-Fuji mercifully killed that terrible crap. Regular Velvia 100 is not bad, but I still much prefer 50.

Not killed, Japan market (and ebay) has Velvia 100F fresh sheets supply, for example in Amazon.co.jp, 8x10 and 4x5. I was mentioning it because recently I near made the mistake of buying the F version in a japanese web store.

Velvia 100F is more color accurate and you can shot people, but lacks the "not F" spectacularity.

[Punker]

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.

Blowing my mind! I never thought of it that way before. You've actually just changed my whole perception on color 4x5.

[ben_hutcherson]

Blowing my mind! I never thought of it that way before. You've actually just changed my whole perception on color 4x5.

Some folks here have been on a crusade lately telling us that we shouldn't buy Kodak or Fuji sheet film due to their mark-up.

BTW, as to "no advantage" to color 4x5, for me both MF and 4x5 get scanned on an Epson V700. I get better film flatness with the standard dry mount 4x5 holders vs 35mm, and it can certainly be printed a lot larger than a medium format scan. Drum scans aren't an absolute necessity.

[biedron]

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.

If I interpret this correctly, your trip will not start for two more years? If so, you have plenty of time to learn how to shoot both color transparency and color negative film, and have fun in the process! It's not rocket science. My personal preference for landscapes is transparency film, and specifically Velvia 50, but you've got time to decide for yourself. Properly exposed Velvia 50 on a light table is a real joy. For transparency film, you'll need a spot meter, and ideally set of neutral density grad filters.

Someone else suggested you don't go on the trip without knowing how to use your film and equipment, and that is extremely sound advice.

Bob

[Punker]

Some folks here have been on a crusade lately telling us that we shouldn't buy Kodak or Fuji sheet film due to their mark-up.

BTW, as to "no advantage" to color 4x5, for me both MF and 4x5 get scanned on an Epson V700. I get better film flatness with the standard dry mount 4x5 holders vs 35mm, and it can certainly be printed a lot larger than a medium format scan. Drum scans aren't an absolute necessity.

That's true too.

And I do love my v700 for the same reasons. 35mm goes through my Pakon.


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[ben_hutcherson]

That's true too.

And I do love my v700 for the same reasons. 35mm goes through my Pakon.


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I meant to say better film flatness with 4x5 than medium format. Honestly, the MF holders are one big disappointment for me on the Epson-I felt like my old, cheap Canon 2400f held MF flatter. That's part of the reason why I increasingly have been wet scanning my MF.

I've actually never used the 35mm strip holders in my Epson, as I can't point to a reason as to where the Epson is better for film strips than my Nikon Coolscan V with the strip feeder. The Nikon not only gives better scans, but is faster to load and scans faster. Plus, I tend to think(perhaps incorrectly) that the single frame aperture on the strip feeder is able to hold the film flatter than the long "troughs" of the Epson. I can make an argument for scanning mounted slides on the Epson since I can batch scan them, but I tend to be selective about the slides I scan and want to pull the best out of them. Thus, my only real uses are when someone brings me a Carousel tray and asks me to scan it-since the desire there is generally for Powerpoint quality, I can toss in 12 slides and batch scan them at 1200x1200. I bought my scanner used and it came with 3 slide holders, so I can load up a full roll of film or nearly half a Carousel tray and only have to stop scanning long enough to swap holders in the scanner. If I were going to do a LOT of that sort of work(and get paid for it, which I generally don't), I'd look into one of the scanners that can feed directly from a Carousel.

BTW, I still occasionally do real slide shows. Amazingly enough, our main lecture hall in my department still has both a 16mm projector and an Ektagraphic set up in it. I have a lot of topic-relevant slides(boring chemistry stuff) but can wake up an 8:00AM class with a good Velvia slide. I do of course generally make up the Carousels at home and preview them to make sure I don't have a flipped slide or something like that, but have also been known to use my 20-slide stack feeder since it's a lot easier than loading trays.

[angusparker]

My two cents:

Velvia 50/100 are wonderful but saturated, awful for portraits, can blow highlights (positive film), and has terrible reciprocity issues (like anything over 1 second). Shadows tend to be very cool / blue and may need a warming filter. The upside is if you get it right this is the easiest film to scan since the colors are the colors - no "interpretation" of a color negative which drives me crazy. So, practice, practice if you are going this route and bring some Portra for portraits.

Ektar is similar to Velvia 50, slow, vibrant, awful for portraits of caucasian people, needs to be well exposed (like B&W film) but has great dynamic range, fine grained, again reciprocity issues but not as bad. So you are less likely to mess it up as long as you expose for the shadows. But the downside is the scanning - unless you have someone else do that for you.

So my suggestion is bring either Velvia 50/100 or Ektar, and some Portra along as well. Porta can step in for when Velvia just won't work.

[andrewch59]

You have all given me food for thought, the process has already begun, I have both provia and velvia (both "F") in my fridge and have just ordered some Ektar 100 120. Fortunately I am also a camera collector so I have a range of cameras including a Mamiya c33 with a selection of lenses at my disposal. Well done for that bit of advice, would never have thought of taking one! I have the Horseman rollfilm back which fits the shen hao and also a calumet c2 which can slide underneath the gg. Shooting will commence shortly and fortunately we have a lab in Melbourne that can develop colour negs for under $5 a roll, I can then scan the negs myself. I think some may underestimate the beauty of an xray produced print. I have a gallery exhibition in my town at present and one of the pics was presented to the governor general of Australia.
I am indebted to you all and will return to this thread many times to re-read the advice given. I have a trip to the coast planned after my exhibition finishes and will hone my skills with colour 120 film.

[Punker]

I meant to say better film flatness with 4x5 than medium format. Honestly, the MF holders are one big disappointment for me on the Epson-I felt like my old, cheap Canon 2400f held MF flatter. That's part of the reason why I increasingly have been wet scanning my MF.

I definitely have to agree about the medium format holders. They are quite a nightmare in all actuality. My Canoscan 8800f had a little lip at the top that would hold one end of the film down and make it a cinch.

Thanks for sharing all that in the rest of your post. Really interesting stuff


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[Pere Casals]

My two cents:

Velvia 50/100 ... has terrible reciprocity issues (like anything over 1 second).

What you say is wrong for Velvia 100:


For velvia 100:

Page 2 : http://www.fujifilm.com/products/pro..._datasheet.pdf


6. LONG AND MULTIPLE EXPOSURE
COMPENSATION

No exposure correction or color balance compensation
is required for exposures within a shutter speed range of
1/4000 second to 1 minute



For Velvia 50 you are right, still very usable.

1s to 4s +1/3 stop. Not much a concern. From 4s need M correction filter...