Color neg choices and scanning

I'm looking for advice on color print films to supplement my normal

choice of velvia and provia. I'm a landscape shooter who has not

used color negative film in years. I would like to find a print film

to handle higher contrast situations. I do not want a low contrast

film, as I typically would not be shooting in very high contrast

light. I do not need a fast negative film.

 

As I shoot primarily sheet film, my choices seem to be 160/400 NC,

VC and Fuji NPS. By description 160VC sounds like the best choice

(med. contrast and saturated) but the reviews in the archieve are

very polarized (pun intended).

 

I will test these films myself, but I would like feedback from those

with experience in landscape and nature photography.

 

Also, I have no experience scanning negatives. Is there a good

source for learning the details of this process? Thanks.

 

Don

Reala. Best 100 speed print film on the market, and scans wonderfully.

 

NC and VC are primarily studio/wedding films. I'm not sure what you've been reading, but either are my last choice for nature work. While they aren't bad out doors, there is nothing remarkable about them either. UC 400 is a better choice than VC of any speed.

Reala is available in sheet film? Under what name?

Don,

 

The good news is that once you've scanned the neg, you can change characteristics of

the film that can't be done in a darkroom, ie. contrast and color saturation.<p>

 

Here's an example of Kodak Portra 400nc. My point being that even the low contrast

portrait films can work for landscapes after scanning. The huge lattitude of the low-

con films also lets you really reach into bright clouds to bring out the details, or from

dark shadows, as needed<p>

 

<center><a href="http://fujirangefinder.com/files/0441/

palm_tree_island.jpg" ><img

src="http://fujirangefinder.com/files/0441/palm_tree_island.jpg"width=680

border="5"color="#000000"></a> </center>

 

<center><i>Tropical Island Paradise</i>-Portra 400NC</center>

I've liked the NC Portras in 120 and 35 mm. The look is low contrast, but it makes for a good supplement to slides and it handles contrasty scenes better. I haven't shot VC myself, but still haven't been impressed by its usefulness and I'm not likely to use it. I haven't tried the Fuji negs available in sheet film, but I'm probably going to try a pack of NPS and possible NPC.

 

Your first paragraph is a bit unclear: you want "film to handle higher contrast situations", but "film to handle higher contrast situations" as you would "not be shooting in very high contrast light". Do you mean that you want something in-between, ie. lower contrast than slides but not really the lowest contrast?

Oskar said,

 

"Your first paragraph is a bit unclear: you want "film to handle higher contrast situations", but "film to handle higher contrast situations" as you would "not be shooting in very high contrast light". Do you mean that you want something in-between, ie. lower contrast than slides but not really the lowest contrast?"

 

Yes. I would normally not bother to shoot LF in contrasty light, but there are times in good light that slide film blocks up in the shadows. An example of this might be mid morning sun backlighting trees in fall foliage. So I'm looking for a neg film to use outside of "golden hour" and cloudy days. Also, for some kinds of work I'm getting tired of the high contrast magazine-style look of modern slide films. I would like to start experimenting with subtler colors and greater tonality.

 

I'd like two or three more stops than provia. That would be enough. I'm not looking for an all purpose kind of film I can use at noon and get a decent print.

 

Don

I think Fuji NPS or Kodak Portra 400NC are your basic choices.

 

NPS would be my default choice given your parameters, but 400NC is great when you need

a little more speed.

I can see what ou want, I haven't decided on such a film myself, though. Next I'm going to look at Fuji NPS, possibly NPC. But hard to say, tastes differ. Some recent shots I saw at my friend's house on VC were discouraging for my needs. NC is sort of nice, but a bit stronger colors would be desirable.

Thank all for your response.

 

I will try all these films - direct comparisons being easy but somewhat costly with sheet film. Adding 400NC to the list is a good idea - the little extra grain wont matter with large film size and might be useful in wind.

 

I wonder if part of the problem some people have with the Kodak "V" films is over-warming. These films tend to go red, and at least with the slide film one can't be as casual with using warming filters as with fuji. I'm curiuos how VC film work with fall foliage. The classic use of these films I'm familiar with is red-rock southwestern US photography.

 

Rolfe, what are you flying in your self portrait?

 

Also, I would still like to know if any of these films have a good or bad reputation for scanning.

 

Don

Don,

 

The Portra films scan beautifully from my experience. And you should not worry too

much about exact color rendition either. Color negative films provide a lot of

information and the color rendition is decided in the printing and/or scanning

photoshop stage.

 

For tests you may want to shoot 35mm. You can then decide on the color response

that you like and then you'll know what to try out in sheet film.

 

Personally, though I've been shooting Portra NC, I may switch to VC or UC (or just try

it). I think a higher contrast film will be better matched to my scanner ccd light

response and result in better scans. I have used "kodak high definition" 35mm color

neg (the supermarket color neg film) and was really impressed by the quality of the

scans. And this is a high contrast color neg film.

 

Good luck Don, and show us what you learn!

Reala *used* to be available in 4x5. If it's not, NPS has a very similiar tonal response.

Don,

 

That is a Super Decathlon I'm flyng. In fact, the weather today in the northeast was so

good this weekend (counter to what was forecast) that I was out flying it both yesterday

and today. :-).

 

For the benefit of others, here is the picture Don is talking about. It was shot with a Leica

M6, 15mm Voigtlander Heliar on NPH.<div></div>