Sheet film emulsions

[don mills]

Do LF color films exist that have thicker emulsion layers than others? I want a film that appears to have the most texture/volume.

Seems like they don't emulsions like they used to...am I nuts?

Thanks.

[Drew Wiley]

Kodachrome had a distinct relief to it, but that was incidental to the complicated
development process. Why on earth do you need something with emulsion versus
base thickness? The specs are generally published. Recently, certain sheet films
seem to have a bit of texture, but this is to facilitate scanning and secondarily helps
minimize Newton rings. But this is something added to the emulsion and not part of it. Technicolor movie film had relief. Carbon prints have relief, and dye transfer
matrix film; but ordinary camera film????

[don mills]

The benefits of thick emulsion films are well known in most b&w circles. Adams swore by it. Wehman may say something about it on his site...more flexible development. I am surprised that not many young photographers know about it.

As for color, I've only used Efke and am curious what others are using.

Kodachrome had a distinct relief to it, but that was incidental to the complicated
development process. Why on earth do you need something with emulsion versus
base thickness? The specs are generally published. Recently, certain sheet films
seem to have a bit of texture, but this is to facilitate scanning and secondarily helps
minimize Newton rings. But this is something added to the emulsion and not part of it. Technicolor movie film had relief. Carbon prints have relief, and dye transfer
matrix film; but ordinary camera film????

[Bruce Watson]

The benefits of thick emulsion films are well known in most b&w circles.

You say benefits, I say detriments. Emulsion thickness, like silver content, is a matter of considerable religious debate.

Thankfully there are all kinds of emulsions out there. The old school thicker emulsions from Efke and others are available for those that want them. And modern films like TMY-2 are available for those that want them.

I'll take TMY-2 any day. But I won't begrudge you any film you want to use. To each his own, and vive la difference.

[Sevo]

You say benefits, I say detriments. Emulsion thickness, like silver content, is a matter of considerable religious debate.

Thankfully there are all kinds of emulsions out there. The old school thicker emulsions from Efke and others

I generally agree. But Efke (at any rate 25 and 100) is not "thicker" - Efke bought the Adox tools and formulas when Dupont dropped consumer film in the seventies, and Adox had introduced new, very modern formulas around 1970. Adox was the thinnest layer film in its class back then, and it is not thick even by current standards.

[Bruce Watson]

Seems like they don't [make] emulsions like they used to.

That's very correct. Current color emulsions are thinner even though they have more layers. The current films are sharper, are considerably less grainy, have better color gamut, exhibit better linearity, and color negative films have considerably better dynamic range and are more color accurate. Current color negative films are even better behaved with mixed lighting than their older counterparts.

They don't make them like they used to, true enough. They make them considerably better than they used to however, and that's a good thing.