Does anybody still shoot slides ?

<p>Chris, I've scanned some Velvia over the years (50 and 100 in 35mm on a Minolta scanner) and it can be tricky stuff. The results seem to be be partly hardware-dependent and certainly depend on the subject photographed: correct exposure (or very slightly under) is a given. The slides always have a very high colour saturation and I suspect that some scanners can find that too demanding. The "best" solution I found was to use a slide viewer and post-process the scan to look as much like the original as possible! Crude and time-consuming, I know. I actually preferred Velvia 100F for scanning - but that's gone now. Provia was <em>much </em>easier to work with - and is currently still available, if you like the look.</p>

<p>To the OP: I've still got a few rolls of Kodak Elitechrome left (probably because I didn't especially like it). These are expired, but I'll be putting them through my A-1 this summer and sending them off to the lab asap. When they're gone, they will be gone. E-6 still did better than my remaining C-41, which has all gone to that electronic auction site in cyberspace. I'm not planning to buy any more colour film stock, only black and white - and even that only now and again.</p>

<p>For me, the current digital offerings have finally beaten analogue colour (and my scanner won't last for ever), although I'm nostalgic for slides - many great memories, stretching into childhood. Recently I projected a few slides to some teenagers and they were "blown away", never having come across them before. My all-time favourites: Velvia 50, Kodachrome 25 and the amazing Agfa Scala. It's a bit like CDs versus LPs: I always hated the clicks and pops, but some purists still go with vinyl. (Different story for radio: FM blows digital broadcasting clean away, but that's a bandwidth issue!)</p>

<p>I still do...<br /> In my country/city there are 2 or 3 places to develop E-6 once a week and the cost is about 12lv which is about 6 euro for 35mm roll<br /> When I started /around 2004/ they developed it on a machine and the cost was half this price<br /> Adding the price of the film the cost is… about 15 euros which is… expensive<br /> But still it's worthy… the image, the colours, the feeling...<br /> After Ektachrome VS is gone /I have only two more/ I think I will use mainly Velvia 50 and sometimes Velvia 100</p>

<p><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=7608463">Bryce Lee</a> - we are all like the last mohikans… </p>

<p><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=8263392">Mark Crown</a> - my personal advice is DON'T sell the MF lenses you have! you could buy one day a FX body and use all of them - like the new Nikon Df - and get great digital results on a full frame… take in mind that Nikon is getting more and more digital FX bodies </p>

Iosif mate, it's twice that price here. And once a week would be nice!

 

Film here is cruelly expensive. Sigh.

<p><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=2346076">Chris Nielsen</a> - they buy the chemistry for E-6 and films /mainly Agfa recently because it's the cheapest slide film/ from the German site macodirect.de <br>

so there is shipping added +profit and they wait for I think 4 films to develop at once<br>

take in mind that our salaries here are… about 4-500 euros average for a month<br>

do they use machine lab somewhere still? before they developed it on a Kodak machine lab here - now they use small bath tube with several dozes… Jobo I think... recently two films were spoiled - the temperature device were out of order… but when they fixed it the quality is amazing</p>

<p>i just got back from yosemite where I shot over 20 rolls of velvia 50 in 120 as well as 14 rolls of B&W to process as slides as well. did the B&W developing yesterday with the color about to get started in a few minutes. For me I love the look but also the process of developing the slides myself. I get the 5L tetenal kit from freestyle that does about 60 rolls, so it works out to about $1.50 US per roll and I get the slides back the same day!</p>

<p>I also have been stocking up on film but I keep saking myself, at what point do I give up. Film costs are very expensive and have no ceiling in site for the near or long term. I have become more selective in terms of what I shoot on slide film and what I use for daily snaps. I have many rolls of astia left, both 35mm and 220 that I'm saving for the right moment. but it seems never to be the right moment, so whats the point? it kind of feeds on itself. </p>

<p>The only way to keep e-6 alive is to buy film new and buy lots of it. show fuji that we still want it produced and are willing to shoot it. besides you may be paying more for film and development (if you aren't doing it yourself), but the hardware (cameras and lenses) are at give away prices. </p>

My main concern is not cost of developing but thd quality, not that the cost is not an issue at all (in fact me too is more selective lately

on what I shot) but if I can be sure of the quality at least I could enjoy it with no fear. Too much screwed up film lately to enjoy the

process.

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/11449232-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="636" /><P>Why I shoot slide film. :-) 120 format Velvia 50 through a 1938 Rolleiflex Automat.</p>

<p>Film is cheap. The 20+ historic / classic bodies and lenses I have plus a few years worth of film and processing (at the rate I shoot) are less expensive than ONE top digital camera.</p>

<p>99% of the film that I shoot is slide film, and that hasn't changed over the past ten years. I love to create positive images that I can hold in my hand, look at through a loupe, or project. <br>

<br />If you are going to shoot slides, make sure that you are using your meter correctly and accurately. Slide film has limited latitude.</p>

I am still shooting only slide film. Provia 100F, Astia, FP100C, Velvia, FP5 are all in the freezer. Will continue with slides

as long as I can. Am moving to Mumbai soon and am worried about processing......

There is nothing like seeing a well exposed 6x7 slide thru a Goetschmann projector!

I was happy enough with slides, though not only did my approx 6000 frames a year cost me about £3 000 (would be

double that now) but every time a stock agency accepted a shot, or I wanted to make a print I had to buy a quality scan ,

so my total costs ran to over £5 000 pa. switching to digital saves all that -I could buy a 5D every year if I needed and still

save a fortune . Plus I don't need to make a couple of thousand low res scans a year to show agencies work.

 

So I have few regrets over making a switch, and fewer about not having to carry a heavy MF body and half a dozen

primes around. Neither do I regret the increasing storage space at home or the time looking for images. I do miss the big

square images and the big MF view, but live view gets me most of that, and I can make a 50 mb square with a bit of

effort. So for me a big decision, which has worked out.

<p>this is right if you shoot small quantity - </p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Film is cheap. The 20+ historic / classic bodies and lenses I have plus a few years worth of film and processing (at the rate I shoot) are less expensive than ONE top digital camera.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

but as <a href="/photodb/user?user_id=17200">David Henderson</a> mention above - for industrial kind of work it's much more expensive and hardworking - true<br>

<br>

but at the end - it's what you want to achieve...</p>

<p>E6 is going the way of the dodo. Toronto Image Works just closed it's E6 line, now you have to send your roll of Velvia 4000 kms to the Left Coast if you want to shoot the stuff. I just started shooting neg again after a 6 year break, and even it's a PITA to get processed professionally. </p>

<p>However with Toronto Image works no longer doing E-6 Blacks camers shop still do so and if you're sending stuff to the Left coast, Dwaynes in Parsons Kansas still does E=6 and places them in cardboard mounts!</p>

<p>I am still shooting slides. Got a fridge full of fuji Velvia and provia that should last me another 2-3 years and I will stock up along the way when deals come up. I shoot a lot of detailed natural scenes in overcast light and slides really brings out the subtlety of all the colors! Some of my friends use top-end Nikon or Canon digital bodies but I haven't seen any body consistently matches the quality of slides in color. </p>

<p>I am also in Toronto and it is sad to see Toronto Image Works stop slide processing. However, there are two local alternatives with quite reasonable pricing, so we don't have to send the film far away. Northern Artists actually has a two-hour turnaround time. you cannot ask much more than that.</p>

<p>http://www.northernartists.com/services_slideprocessing.php<br>

http://www.e6it.ca/</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I still have some E6 film in the fridge, and, last I knew, still two labs left locally (Seattle).</p>

<p>But mostly lately I do B&W for film cameras, and color for dlgital.</p>

 

<p>For my personal work - landscapes, backpacking, and travel, mainly - I still like the look of Velvia 50 (sometimes Velvia 100 and Provia) and still enjoy the process of getting straight-out-of-the-camera results. Sometimes I wonder why, especially when I'm on a tripod trying to photograph wildlife at ISO 50 (or 200, tops), wasting $0.60 frames where the animal blinks, ducks, or moves, while everybody else is happily clicking away for free with handheld DSLRs. Those situations are a minority for me, though, and even though I'm now able to get results I really like with digital (family shots and photos for the entomology lab I work in), I still like having something tangible and 'old-school'.</p>

<p>I'll probably give up slides eventually (and may not have a choice in too many more years), but I'd like to at least make it through 2015 - that would be 25 years of solid slide-shooting for me, and maybe a good opportunity to reconsider how I do things.</p>

<p>One other reason, to be honest - I like the challenge of producing a good slide image. There's a lot less room for error, and the situations transparency film can handle are more limited than a RAW file. But when everything works and you get a sharp, well-exposed slide, it's a lot more satisfying to me, kind of like the difference between hiking up a mountain and driving to the top (even if the view's the same).</p>

<p>I have a FX Nikon but seldom use it. I use it for social events that is about it. I use my DX D70 which is 10yr old for auction stuff. I am kinda thinking that a high end point and shoot might be better for social given the small size. <br /> For my main - landscapes and cityscapes at golden light and twilight Velvia it is. I have a pro-pack of 35mm on order arriving and I have 3x 120 format pro-packs in my freezer and 2 pro-pack of E100G Kodak as well when they canned them. Don't have a medium format camera yet.</p>

<p>I like the process the the perfectly exposed slide. I enjoy the slow steps, waiting for the result, going to the store or order film online etc. Where I am in NZ a roll of 35mm Velvia can cost $32US a roll so I import them from the USA and export for development at Dwaynnes but I can of course get them processed in Japan in person which I read they offer a 2hr turnaround service.</p>

<p>Edit<br>

I don't use C41, unless I want a deliberate look. With a slide what you shot is what you get. My end point is the slide. I am not into post processing a digital file or that scanned C41. You shoot color RAW, there is so much you can do, when does it end. I am more into you arrive to the area waited for the light or you returned when teh light is better and you capture it on the camera. I have gone into B/W self developing but I scanned them. I am still a really a color person. So slides for my own stuff. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>I used to pretty well only shoot slides, but after going digital I have not shot a single roll. I thought I would, but have not picked up the film camera to actually take any shots at all. I still have a quite a few rolls of Astia and Velvia 100F in the freezer. In terms of quality, there is no reason for me to go back to film. The problem for me was that my local labs all closed down and the quality of their processing declined drastically too. These were the last nails in the coffin.</p>

<p>I shoot slide as much as I can - unfrotuantely that means combing eBay rather than buying ffresh most of the time, because slide film is so expensive these days.</p>

<p>If I'm buying fresh, I tend to grab Agfaphoto Precisa 100 (actually Fuji Provia 100) and Kodak Elite Chrome or Ektachrome on eBay.</p>

<p>I actually love the results from expired Agfa RSX - there's a slight redness that's accentuated in it as it expires.I really like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I have returned to slide film after a decade of shooting digital. Part of it is the nostalgia, but the biggest part is the tangible look of film. To me it is still the most beautiful and produces the most saturated colors. I love Fuji Velvia 50 (and usually shoot it with an ISO of 40, which helps considerably on exposure). There are still several great mail-in processors in the US, though Kansas City still has at least one local processor for slide film as well.<br>

I don't look for slide film to go away soon, if ever. It still has a lot of interest and a lot of people who shoot with it. As for expense, it's all relative. The honest look and resolution of film in a digital camera will set you back about $5g, imo. That's a ton of film and processing.</p>

<p>Many love the workflow of digital, and why not the work flow issue is attractive, and once that becomes the priority they don't look back. There's still nothing like the look of slide film, I mean C'mon, please! Cuhuh! </p>

<p>I shot a 100ft can of Velvia this summer and developed it in my kitchen. I still have 3 cans in the freezer!</p>

<p>I do, all the time. My favorite now is Provia 400x with warming filter, which just got discontinued (I was fortunate to squirrel away some before heavy price increases). I will not shoot slides once after my local lab (I live in Saint Louis) stops processing.<br>

I shoot slides primarily because of the "trueness" of the color film rendition when projected. Think about how beautiful it is - when you expose a slide and project it - you can see, glowing in full 5x5 feet glory, that which was in your camera at the moment you pulled the shutter. There is no digital intermediary, like when you have to print a slide, or make a digital C-print on color print film (and I dont have access to a color enlarger). It is a very authentic form of photography that I intend to keep alive as long as labs process E-6.<br>

To me, the straight film look only exists in black and white on photographic paper, and light shining through a positive slide. And I suppose that slides link me to my family heritage - my grandfather, who passed away, shot only slides, and some of my greatest memories (even though I am in my twenties) were sitting on the living room floor and watching his slide shows of his Grand Tours around Europe and the United States. Love it!</p>