Best 4x5 film for architecture?

[krk_now]

Hi,

I'm a newbie and have not been shooting film for a couple of years now so...
What's the prefered film to shoot architecture?
Mostly colorwise. To be realistic and publishable.
Are the velvia and provia too greenish/blueish?
Are the kodaks too warm or orange in their tone?

Have a happy day,

Richard.

[Walter Calahan]

Try a color negative film instead, such as Fuji 160 Pro.

[steve simmons]

Who are you doing this for? To what end will the photos be used?

You really can't answer your question w/o knowing the above.

If you want to do this commercially the clients will probably determine the answers for you.

steve simmons

[Kirk Gittings]

I agree with Steve as a starting point. IME, There is no right or wrong film, just films with different characteristics. For residential clients who want chromes, I prefer the saturation and warmth of Velvia. For commercial architecture I prefer more neutrality like Provia or Astia. If I am scanning the film in-house for magazine work, I prefer Fuji 160 Pro color negative film, which I can make mimic pretty much any film I want in the scan.

[anchored]

No disagreement with the previous answers... would also suggest as a newbie to start with Fuji Pro-160, unless if you prefer chromes, then Astia. Pro-160S provides nicely saturated images and better latitude than slide film if shooting in less than ideal lighting conditions. The Astia falls between Provia and Velvia in saturation, and captures subtle pastel tones very well. For architectural night shots consider Kodak 64T (tungsten slides), which provides a bit less of the heavy blue-tones the Fuji tungsten does.

[David Karp]

Yes, if shooting for yourself the negative film is the way to go for me. The Fuji neg films handle a variety of lighting sources best in my experience.

[Alan Davenport]

I prefer Ektachrome for transparencies; very gentle reciprocity characteristics and so predictable over a wide range of exposures.

I haven't tried any of the newer Velvia emulsions, but the original RVP50 had ridiculous reciprocity characteristics (I'll try some new Velvia when my freezer is closer to empty.)

[Kirk Gittings]

For architectural night shots consider Kodak 64T (tungsten slides), which provides a bit less of the heavy blue-tones the Fuji tungsten does.

I am known to some degree for my twilight shots. I do a couple of them on virtually every project. It is a matter of personal style, but I have never used anything but daylight balanced films for twilight shots.

[steve simmons]

I usually used tungsten film with an 81EF filter which took it part way back to daylight. It was a nice split of daylight and tungsten, and nicely balanced the too blue of tungsten and the too warm of daylight film. Not right or wrong, just how my eyes saw things.

steve simmons

[Ed Richards]

> It is a matter of personal style, but I have never used anything but daylight balanced films for twilight shots.

Do you do a gray card or color checker shot to help balance the color after the scan?

[steve simmons]

Do you do a gray card or color checker shot to help balance the color after the scan?

For what purpose. There really is not a right or wrong color in these situations. If you have a calibrated monitor and experience shooting these situations, balance to taste.

Just my 2 cents.

steve simmons

[gregstidham]

My architecture days are behind me but, IMO, daylight balanced Provia has a nice neutral palette that can be adjusted with filters on location. A transparency offers a nice reference for the clients during pre-press work.


>
Do you do a gray card or color checker shot to help balance the color after the scan?
I always use a 5x5 average picker along with the info window. I find a black point in the image and adjust with the color balance shadow option to within 3 points in RGB and then reopen color balance and adjust a white point in the image to the same specs. This may seem rather primitive, but I've used this method for what seems like forever, since PS 3, and press operators have often commented on my files being easy to deal with and color balance very accurate.

[Kirk Gittings]

Steve, Ed

On halogen or tungsten lit twilight shots with daylight film, I do use cooling filters to moderate the warmth primarily when the elevation I am shooting faces away from the set sun, and therefore is primarily lit by my halogens with little or no mixed skylight to cool the elevation down. Does that make sense? I don't use a gray card as I am not looking for accurate color ever on twilight shots, but mood and richness. If I shoot color negative film, I simply adjust the color balance to taste in the scan.

[gregstidham]

Ed,
I misunderstood your question about a gray card shot. nevermind.:rolleyes: