Shooting Velvia

[Harley Goldman]

Does one really expect to get accurate color with Velvia? I recently used some 100f as my first Velvia experience. Interesting film. Got some great fall colors, but felt the overall effect was a little garish.

But these days, it all depends on how it scans. Akin to the original question posed in this thread, I'd be curious to know what others have experienced in scanning this film.

I am a long time Velvia shooter, but I really don't like 100F. I found it has some color casts. I like 50 the best, despite its slower speed and reciprocity issues. Don't consider 100F or 100 the full Velvia test. They are all different beasts. You should try them all and compare.

[Joanna Carter]

Does one really expect to get accurate color with Velvia? I recently used some 100f as my first Velvia experience. Interesting film. Got some great fall colors, but felt the overall effect was a little garish.

But these days, it all depends on how it scans. Akin to the original question posed in this thread, I'd be curious to know what others have experienced in scanning this film.

My experience with Velvia 100 is that it has a very neutral colour balance when compared with Velvia 50. Velvia 50 is just too saturated with a slight overwarmth for my taste.

If you look at my website, on the page marked France 2007, the image entitled "Épave, Toul an Héry" was taken on Velvia 100, and yet, is not at all saturated; the colours are extremely natural.

This picture was made on a day when the sky was mostly overcast but with the odd break in cover which gave a really soft, gentle light. Most of the other images on the same page were also taken with Velvia 100 and you should see that they appear to be much stronger colour but still very neutral. I do not tend to alter the saturation when scanning, most of my images are fairly much, as shot, in that regard.

One of the best tricks to use when shooting all the Velvias is to use a 2C UV filter when shooting, especially, coastal or high altitude scenes, anything where there is a high UV content to the light. With Velvia 100, he 2C helps avoid garish primary blues and reds and seems to give that very pleasing, strong but neutral, feeling to an image.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Why go thru all the filtering and effort when you can just use Astia?

[Joanna Carter]

Why go thru all the filtering and effort when you can just use Astia?

Because, on a dull day, I want more contrast and the tonal range of the scene is less than 4 stops.

OTOH, I can use Astia to give me 6 stops range, for high contrast subjects; but, in that case, I would also use a polariser to increase the contrast.

It all depends on the final result that I want, and I have an ethic that dictates that I do as little as possible between camera and print.

[roteague]

My experience with Velvia 100 is that it has a very neutral colour balance when compared with Velvia 50. Velvia 50 is just too saturated with a slight overwarmth for my taste.

I don't find it overly saturated at all, although I do find it slightly warm (which I like).

I do agree about the UV filter, although I haven't found much use for them where I live, they do come in handy when shooting in the high country.

Why go thru all the filtering and effort when you can just use Astia?

Because some of us find Astia quite bland.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Because, on a dull day, I want more contrast and the tonal range of the scene is less than 4 stops.

OTOH, I can use Astia to give me 6 stops range, for high contrast subjects; but, in that case, I would also use a polariser to increase the contrast.

It all depends on the final result that I want, and I have an ethic that dictates that I do as little as possible between camera and print.

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Well put, Joanna.