What E6 4x5 to push?

[Steve Bell]

Sometimes I feel I need film faster than ISO 50 or 100. What 4x5 film behaves best when pushed one stop? I have Fuji Provia and Velvia 100F available. I haven't any of the new Velvia 100 yet as the fridge and freezer are still well stocked with Velvia 50.

[Jan Nieuwenhuysen]

I have excellent results with pushing Provia. I regularly push it one or two stops. One stop is no problem at all in my opinion. I never use Velvia (can't stand the color rendition of the stuff, but I am not sure I dare to say that out loud around here :-)), but I'm sure others here will inform you about it's characteristics.
You can push Provia more than 2 stops, but you should test to find out what to use it for (if at all). More grain, more contrast, the usual.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Provia 100F pushed one stop is great in flat light.

[Eric Leppanen]

Another vote for Provia 100F. While I haven't tried Velvia 100 or Velvia 100F, I assume both of these films are more contrasty than Provia, in which case Provia is a more versatile candidate for pushing. Pushing raises highlights and increases contrast, so you'll retain more dynamic range if you start out with a lower contrast film. As David mentioned, pushed Provia works great in flat light, as well as in shade (when in shade I may use a warming filter to avoid a blue color cast); the push gives the photograph more "punch".

I have also used pushed Provia in broad daylight to compensate for a lens with reduced contrast.

In several photographs of mine, pushed Provia seemed to produce a warmer result (or seemed more sensitive to warm colors) than when not pushed. I'm not sure if this is true in general, though.

[CP Goerz]

How about the possibility of shooting 400 or so tungsten with the proper filter for daylight? As I mentioned I really don't shoot colour often and have a freezer full of unused stuff!

CP Goerz.

[Dan Baumbach]

I've pushed Astia 100F up to two stops. With a 1 stop push it is more contrasty and saturated, more like Velvia. It's still usable with a 2 stop push but it's quite grainy.

- Dan.

[Rob Vinnedge]

Velvia 100F pushes beautifully. I regularly push it one full stop for routine tabletop work in the studio. It does gain in contrast slightly and maintains the rich saturation so evident in both Velvias (50 and 100F), but the two stops of speed over Velvia 50 make it ideal for extra depth of field requirements and for electronic flash.

I recently tested Velvia 50 and 100F outside on an overcast day using dense greenery as a subject. I made normal exposures with both films and developed them normally. I also underexposed the 100F 1 stop and pushed the development 1 stop. On the final exposure, I overexposed 100F 1/2 stop and pulled the development 1/2 stop. The most obvious difference was in the contrast between the pushed exposure and the normal exposure of the 100F. There was a slight loss of shadow detail in the pushed exposure. Also, there was a noticeable loss of contrast and saturation in the pulled exposure compared to the others. Velvia 50 and 100F seem almost identical in every respect, save the speed, on the normally exposed and developed sheets.

I think that both Velvias are beautiful and versatile. With a little experimentation with exposure and development, they can be used for many applications.