I Want More Color!!!

Until the time comes when I can go digital, I've decided to

experiment with films. At the moment I'm shooting 35mm, but I'm

looking for professional-grade color film (negative or slide) with

extrememly vivid color. I've heard Fuji Superia is supposed to have

vivid color, and I'm in the middle of a roll of Kodak E100GX right

now, but I'm looking for a big list of different films to try this

summer. I'll be shooting mostly outdoors, in the mountains, the

woods, and the coast. Please broaden my horizons!

Fuji Velvia 50 is amazingly saturated and delivers amazingly vivid colors. It is

also very fine grained and very sharp. Fuji Velvia 100F is also very saturated,

but not as much as Velvia 50. E100VS also has very vivid colors.

 

I love Velvia 50, and it's great for cloudy days when you want to give colors an

extra "pop". It is horrible in bright sunlight though and it's REALLY bad for

skin tones. I really love Velvia at the golden hours just before sunset and up

to twilght.. the warmness of colors around sunset is rendered beautifully.

 

Velvia, Velvia 100F, E100VS, and E100GX will all destroy the consumer

Superia films (except Reala, which is very nice).

Another vote for Velvia!

UC.

look at my portfolio for examples of films and color. mostly i do cross processing..

Mitsubishi or Konica print film.

If you like Kodak films, E100VS is supposed to be very saturated too. If you are concerned about some of Velvia's problems that were brought up, you might also consider Fuji Provia (comes in 100F or 400F). That might also be nice because its a bit faster than Velvia without sacrificing much in terms of grain. I'd also second the vote for Fuji's Superia-Reala--one of the best print films available. Someone also mentioned Kodak's 400UC (ultra color), as a more highly saturated print film, which I havent tried. Overall, if you're shooting mostly nature/landscape you're best bet is probably the film I use for those type of situations, Fuji Velvia. It will give you truly breathtaking colors.

Try Kodak Bright Sun (used to be Gold 100). It's a cheap grocery store film, but don't let that fool you. It's very saturated, but there's RARELY a problem with colors blocking up. It's also very sharp. Contrast is fairly high, so watch it in midday sun. It's also slightly grainy, but I've gotten good 11x16's out of it.

 

You could also play around with Agfa Ultra 100. Super-saturated and very sharp, and (like Gold 100) also a little grainy for a 100-speed film. Some people like its pallette, some don't. I think it's a fun film.

 

Kodak 400UC has already been mentioned, and it's also a great one. I can't help you with slide films. Have fun!

Velvia 100F, Velvia 50 (in my opinion) makes everything look circusy and fake. Others have different opinions, try them both out and see what you think.

 

--Dominic

OK. The guy asked for extremely vivid color... and so for all of you guys all that means is

more saturation. Hmmm, perhaps I should seek advice for myself elsewhere :)

Just on the side, as you probably already know: a polarizer can help a lot on that side in

many situations.

Velvia is the obvious choice, to saturate the color even more try a small underexposure (1/3 - 2/3). This is effective with any slide film.

Macman, what would you call "extremely vivid color," if not "high saturation." Do these phrases not mean the same thing? To me "more color" means "more saturation." Perhaps you are suggesting that the poster was referring to a wider spectral responce?

Being a lab tech, my recommendations are mostly Fuji color neg films except

x-tra 800, but the Superia films are very nice. I shoot with NPS, NPH for pro

work. I feel it has excellent saturation. The Kodak UC is nice, unfoutunately it

is being discontinued.Kodak gold 100 is also a nice film for shooting

lanscapes, I have printed many rolls of Hawaii at the lab and they are

stunning.

For the most vivid saturation, I strongly suggest Fujichrome Velvia 50, but as someone else already pointed out, it has really bad skin tones and dosen't work well in harsh light.

 

For a nice compromise, you might try Kodachrome. It comes in ISO 64 and 200, though the 64 is far superior to the 200 in terms of graininess. Before Velvia came along, Kodachrome 25 (now discontinued, unfortunately) was the #1 choice for professionals who photograph the subjects you mentioned. Kodachrome 64 is essentially the same film, just a stop and a third faster.

 

It does require special K-14 processing (as opposed to almost all other slide films which are processed E-6), but don't let that hamper you. I suggest using mailers for it, because it will cost about half what you'll pay at a retail shop, and you'll get them back in roughly the same amount of time, with the same quality (retail shops mail the film to NJ for processing anyway, and that's where your mailer goes).

 

Kodachrome delivers lifelike colors (not completely blown out and fake) good skin tones, and because of its special composition, it is an extremely good archival film. Kodachrome slides taken over 60 years ago have been found to look brand new as if they were shot yesterday!

 

It comes in two versions, consumer and professional. The professional is about twice as expensive as the consumer, so I suggest you try them both and decide if you can live with the consumer or not.

Kodachrome was, in its heyday, a paradigm of saturation. Remember Paul Simon's song "Kodachrome"<br><br><i>Give us those nice bright colors, give us the greens of summers; Makes you think all the world's a sunny day... Mama don't take my Kodachrome away</i>