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View Full Version : Stupid Velvia 50 question - worth developing?



Nguss
22-Oct-2011, 06:07
I am an absolute idiot. I took a few photos today at sunrise in the 16-30 second range using Velvia 50, but did not account for reciprocity failure having not done longer exposures with 50 before (I usually would use Provia). Does anyone have experience of these sorts of situations and if so do you think the colour casts / shift mean that the images will be a write off or may they be salvageable by post processing? I don't want to bother paying for development if they are likely to be write offs.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

polyglot
22-Oct-2011, 06:28
I would develop it, maybe ask the lab for a 1-stop push. If developing yourself, try just souping the first few frames then deciding if you want to push.

At 30s it will have gone green but that could work for sunrise.

Nguss
22-Oct-2011, 06:54
Great thanks for the advice. I will have them developed and see what happens, I supose that I am only going to leard from making mistakes. It's just a pain taking them to the lab to drop off and collect them a ew days later to look at them on the light table and realise they are all screwed!

Daniel Stone
22-Oct-2011, 09:18
IF you took duplicate shots, then have your lab develop one of each shot, then you can determine how to develop the other sheets.

Reciprocity failure affects the film in general, well, more importantly, especially with COLOR film, not all color layers react at the same speed, so you might have some crossover. Maybe not. I've personally exposed Ektachrome 100(EPN), which is generally NOT supposed to be exposed longer than 1/2 sec, without adding time for reciprocity. I've exposed it up to 90s or so, and it looks fine to me w/o any addititional exposure. Maybe I was lucky, IDK.

I love Provia and its generous(almost NO) reciprocity characteristics. Its my #1 film, with Velvia 50 after it(but not for long exposures).

But if possible, separate your film out so you can determine if you need to push your film to raise the highlight values or not.

best of luck!

-Dan

Nguss
22-Oct-2011, 09:37
Cheers for the response, I think I will do just that. I am tempted to head back to the same place with my Provia tomorow, but will most likely get the ones I took developed, see what went wrong and head back with it next week.

Mark Woods
22-Oct-2011, 09:54
If you get a color shift, you can use the complimentary color CC filter to compensate for the shift.

Nguss
23-Oct-2011, 05:36
Thanks for the help, I will put them in tomorrow and see what happens. I did take a few at different exposures, and so may be able to composite them as a last resort if I get anything at all out of them.

Nguss
27-Oct-2011, 11:47
Thnks to everyone who answered. I had it developed (no push) and this is what came out, I am quite happy with it. Again thanks as I was tempted just to bin the negative so I am glad that I didn't in the end.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/6286380499_6e2fe22eea.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nguss/6286380499/)
A rock and a hard place Dunstanburgh Velvia 50 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nguss/6286380499/) by NGUSS (http://www.flickr.com/people/nguss/), on Flickr

polyglot
27-Oct-2011, 18:29
Looks pretty decent to me!

Rust Never Sleeps
27-Oct-2011, 21:39
I am an absolute idiot. I took a few photos today at sunrise in the 16-30 second range using Velvia 50, but did not account for reciprocity failure having not done longer exposures with 50 before (I usually would use Provia). Does anyone have experience of these sorts of situations and if so do you think the colour casts / shift mean that the images will be a write off or may they be salvageable by post processing? I don't want to bother paying for development if they are likely to be write offs.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

I find that Velvia 50 works fine in the 4-5 sec before doing crazy color shifts. When I shoot Dawn and Dusk shots in the mountains I always use a KR3 filter and will also use a KR6 when I get one. Dusk and Dawn are really the only times I get into the need to use multi second exposures. Maybe under dark cloud cover or in deep shadows somewhere will I need a long exposure with Velvia 50.

Sometimes Velvia 50 shots in the 15-30 second range look ok but I usually switch over to Astia 100F for anything over 5 sec with Velvia 50. I like the look of Astia 100F at Dawn and Dusk and the extra stop helps a lot and long exposures. 15 sec is better than about the minute exposure Velvia 50 would need if the meter called for 30 sec.
The wind could start blowing trees in the scene or vibrate the camera. The shorter the exposure the better, especially in the mountains were the wind is present in some way almost all the time.

[Edit] The color cast I was getting with Velvia 50 with long 8-60+ sec exposures was a magenta one. Everything in the scene went crazy magenta.

Mark Woods
27-Oct-2011, 22:18
Nicely done!

Nguss
28-Oct-2011, 10:57
Thanks for the comments and tips, I was so close to binning all the negatives, but the replies stopped me from doing that. At the end of the day it's only money (?) isn't it. The one I linked to was about 30 seconds and nothing done other than a scan and a little additional contrast. I dont know if there was a colour shift as I am slightly colourblind.

I understand it probably should have been exposed for around 1 minute. I am grateful for the comments on alternative film (though for some reason Astia is not easily available in the Uk) as it was a bit windy and it was bad enough standing in front of the camera with my coat held open like a flasher for 30 seconds, never mind a minute!

polyglot
3-Nov-2011, 20:13
Actually I suspect my green issues are due to artificial lighting interacting badly with the Velvia sensitisation dyes, in a way that doesn't occur with RDP. Still, the reciprocity failure (in terms of loss of sensitivity if not colour shift) is evident after 4s.

Gary Tarbert
7-Nov-2011, 02:29
Thnks to everyone who answered. I had it developed (no push) and this is what came out, I am quite happy with it. Again thanks as I was tempted just to bin the negative so I am glad that I didn't in the end.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/6286380499_6e2fe22eea.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nguss/6286380499/)
A rock and a hard place Dunstanburgh Velvia 50 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nguss/6286380499/) by NGUSS (http://www.flickr.com/people/nguss/), on FlickrGlad you didn't bin them you have some sweet light on those rocks . Cheers Gary