Moment of Silence for Velvia 50 - What is next?

Ok, the moment is up.

 

Now that Velvia 50 will soon be RIP...what slide film do you plan to

use for shooting landscapes?

 

--- JDR

I've tried Velvia 100 and think it's superior to the 50. I will use it in the summer, and E100G in the winter.

 

 

Kent in SD

I'm still using up my stock of 50, but from what I've read, the new Velvia 100 is just as good if not better. That the 100 doesn't suffer the reciprocity failure that the 50 does is a big advantage, IMO. I carry Astia for high-contrast scenes; someday I may actually get to use it.

Velvia 100 is very different from 50, and, in my opinion, not all for the better. Color palette is much stronger in the reds and weaker in yellows. Contrast is harsher, giving you less detail in shadows and/or highlights. Silhouetted lines are not quite as sharp, and the grain, though usually tighter or the same as 50, can actually be more obvious in certain situations (for ex., large areas of dark sky). Bluer greens, less reciprocity failure, and faster speed are all advantages over the 50, but in general I prefer the overall look of 50.

 

I've been re-testing Velvia 100F even though I first dismissed it for everything except cases where I needed more speed. It's less saturated than 50, but in a 100/100F comparison I preferred 100F in almost all of about 10 different situations ranging from sunrise/set to cloudy light. With 100, cool colors can go too cold, warm colors too warm, and slides can have a heavy, contrasty look that I find a little sickening in large doses. 100F doesn't have this look and I will probably make it my staple film, reserving 100 for situations where I really want the extra color (soft light, etc. - despite my complaints I have made some really satisfying forest shots on 100). I have stockpiled some 50 for those times where I find its contrast and sharpness superior to either of the 100 versions.

Not sure I see a problem. All publishing and most printing use now comes from scans.

Just tweak the colors from whatever film you're shooting.

 

Now grain? That's a whole other matter. Much harder to fake.

Emily the grain in the 100 is supposed to be finer then the 50 version if I remember the press releases.

Yup. Grain is a lot harder to create in Photoshop, whereas colors are easy to manipulate. I

imitate Velvia 50 when I tweak my RAW files all the time, but if I shoot above 200 ISO the

digital noise is completely unmanagable.

I project my Velvia. So what's on the slide is what I get.

 

 

--- JDR

I like to shoot streams and waterfalls, where I found that Velvia 50 gave me some wierdly unpredictable (and IMO undesireable) color casts (in the waterfalls) due to reciprocity shifts. So, despite the great saturation and luscious greens, it didn't play particularly well. I have a case of E100SW in the freezer, which gives very neutral tones to the white water even at very long exposures, so I'll be using that for a while.

I strongly agree with you Alan I to have been very disappointed in Velvia 50 when trying to use it for waterfall photo's as well anything the combines a lot of green filtered light and shadows. Using it at Silver Creek falls is a joke. Down in the canyon it comes out with a magenta cast that ruins the slides. I much prefer the Elitechrome 100 for this work much more neutral and realsitic colors for the forest.

I made the stock of 50 for more then a year. I like to shoot waterfalls and streams too and I prefer the Velvia 100F in overcast day for this type of shots. The Velvia 100F delivers exceptional red, yellow and green in overcast day even without a warming filter. I agree with Alan that the Velvia 50 sometimes is unpredictable.

 

Many of my pictures are taken during the first hour after sunrise or 1 hr before sunset when the light is very warm and not too harsh. In this situation the new Velvia 100 works very well. The Velvia 100 is not better then 50 but not worse either. It is just deferent.

 

After all the Velvia 50 has been the great film and inspired many photographers including myself. It made the strong impact especially on landscape/nature photography. I guess that we all will never forget the Velvia 50. Yes, moment of silence... .

I'm using RVP100. I started using it since it came out in Japan and I prefer it a lot to RVP50. The saturation is just as good if a little different to 50 but the speed and reciprocity characteristics really decided it for me. It made it a lot more flexible. You can also somewhat get away with people shots with RVP100 without them going bright red. For some landscape situations I'll use RDPIII though. That's a good all round film.

I took the new RVP-100 to Arches NP after a few rolls in town and I am very pleased with the colors and grainlessness. I believe the RMS grain size is smaller the RVP-50. Colors are just as saturated and very clean.

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I think it's a shame RVP50 is going away, since it was always nice to have the option. It

was a unique film and a great inspiration at times, but definitely not right for every

situation. I don't have a big problem with Velvia 100, but wasn't crazy about it when in

first appeared. I agree with those who found it a bit more contrasty, and not quite the

same palette. I don't think grain was ever an issue with either... At this point, I'll just be

thankful if Fuji & Kodak don't abandon film completely, at least in practical terms.

 

So, it's time to go home, light a candle for Velvia 50, project at few favorites, and move

on...