Tips on shooting Velvia 100F

[Rick A]

I finally bought some Velvia 100F, anybody have some helpful insight and tips for shooting? I would like to know best times of day, lighting conditions, etc. I normally only shoot B&W, and I haven't shot any transparency film in years, so the info will be greatly appreciated. I plan on processing myself, I have a Jobo CPE-2 and an older Kodak E-6 kit that I'm hoping is still good. I plan on shooting more if this works out.

Thank you in advance for helping me.

[I Am Luna]

Contrast is toned down a bit from the original Velvia 100.
Try some portraits.
Meter well and you will be rewarded.

[Ed Kelsey]

Shade works best. Or end of day light. Meter the brightest highlight and open up 1.5 stops. Any more and you'll blow out the highlights. Of course you can alleviate this somewhat using ND grad filters.

[Daniel Stone]

Personally,

I like overcast, even lighting for shooting transparencies. But that doesn't happen all that often, and now that we're getting into summer, look out for contrast!

100F is nice, a little toned down in contrast vs the regular Velvia 100, and IMO, the palette color-wise is a little more muted as well. Not a bad thing though by any means. Contrast is needed to have separation, but too much contrast can lead to blocked up shadows, and potentially blocked up hightlights w/o detail.

-Dan

[Heroique]

Shade works best.


I like overcast, even lighting for shooting transparencies.

Here’s what late-spring shade looks like where I live – morning, noon, and dusk.

Velvia 100F works great every time.

:)

[Preston]

I shoot V-100 mostly and some Astia 100f. I've shot V-100f, as well, and concur with the suggestions given above.

Transparency films are very unforgiving in the high values. Even a 1/2 stop overexposure will blow them out, so placing your most significant high values at 1.5 stops above your meter reading is quite safe. IIRC, V-100f will give you about 4 stops of dynamic range, so you'll have to carefully evaluate the dynamic range of your scene. A spot meter is very handy!

Another consideration is reciprocity. I don't recall what the corrections are for V-100f, but it's something you might want to check if you'll be doing longer exposures.

--P

[Rick A]

So what I get from this is, meter on bright subject and open up 1.5 stops. What about incident vs. spot metering, as I only have an incident meter.

[Heroique]

So what I get from this is, meter on bright subject and open up 1.5 stops.
What about incident vs. spot metering, as I only have an incident meter.

Hi Rick,

Sounds like you’ve mastered spot metering to your satisfaction. ;)

For incident – if it’s even, flat lighting, just go ahead and “shoot the light.”

If the lighting is more complicated, consider whether shadows/highlights are your important part, choose some light to meter, think about what’s inside and outside the film’s general tolerance, adjust your exposure if necessary, and shoot.

As you plan & take the shot, keep in mind how you might vary your e-6 home processing to get the final results you want.

And back home, evaluate the results of your film type/exposure choice/home-processing method on your light table – in the context of the field notes you’ve taken; learn what might be done differently next time; head back into the field as soon as possible; keep shooting; let us know the results.

The rest of us who hang out here can learn from your experience.

[Rick A]

Thanks all, I appreciate the help. Now to stop being so tentative and shoot a couple sheets. I have half a dozen sheets loaded up ready to go and a small project in mind. I'm hoping for some fog in the morning, I'm heading up to the cemetary where most of my family is interred, have some Efke 25 loaded as well.