400 Speed Slide Film for Wildlife / Landscape

Please let me know what you think is the best 400 Slide film for

Action / Low Light wildlife and Landscape Photography.

Cheer

Warren

Fuji Provia 400F (<em>not</em> Provia 400!) wins hand down. Still I wouldn't use it for landscape photography (landscape usually doesn't run away).

Warren - a cheaper and excellent alternative to 400F is to use 100F, shoot at 320 and request push 2 stops for developing. Find someplace that doesnt charge extra for pushing (like London Drugs here in canada). I think you'll find the results pretty similar to 400F without the cost.

few people seem to realize what a breathrough 400F is. It has a similar grain structure to the original RDP. 400 speed film with (almost) 100 speed grain....what a deal....

 

http://georgestocking.com

The trouble with Provia 400F is still the price, around $10/36ex. I know that you have to pay for quality and that film is often a minor expense compared to equipment and travel cost, but still $10/roll hurts a little!

 

Has anyone tried the new Sensia II 400? As usual with any new film it's supposed to be much better than the old film, but I'll believe that when I see it. Next time I order film I'll probably get a roll to test, but if anyone has evaluated it already I'd be interested to hear their opinion.

 

I wouldn't use any 400 speed film for landscape work. What's the point?

I'd also much prefer not to use 400 ISO for landscapes- but sometimes I need great depth of field and the ability to stop trees and grasses moving at the same time. Then I have to compromise. I haven't tried Provia 400F, though I have used 100F rated normally and pushed one and two stops. My experience with the two stop push is good in low contrast conditions but poor when contrast is high. A one-stop push to 200 ISO works pretty much all the time.

BTW, the newest Sensia 400 is without the "II". And _it_ should be better than the old Sensia II 400. Also the ISO 200 has a new emulsion. The Sensia II 100 and Sensia 100 are the same, I believe.

For wildlife: Provia 400F. Hands down the winner. Great look. Great grain structure. The price sucks, however. The new Sensia 400 is supposed to be the amateur version with the same benefits but because Fuji changed the old Sensia 400 designation, I find it difficult to tell if the films being advertised are the new emulsion or the older one. They should have called it Sensia "III" and be done with it. I would definitely be interested in hearing from anyone who has tested the new Sensia 400 against Provia 400F.

 

For landscapes: stick to the slower films. There's a lot of them which are excellent for the purpose: Velvia, Provia 100F, Sensia 100 and all of the Kodak Ektachrome 100 family. I also like Kodak's Elitechrome 100 Extra Color. Using a 400 film for a landscape is like using a Farrari to pull a bass boat--it's not built for that purpose.

I for one would use 400F for landscapes....if they made it in 4X5 sheets. As it is I always carry some of it in 120, for those situations when the shot is there as well as the wind....I agree with ya'll on 35mm tho...

 

http://georgestocking.com

<i>I wouldn't use any 400 speed film for landscape work. What's the point?</i><p>I did, but just as a test. I shot the same scene with Provia 100F and Provia 400F. I used a landscape instead of a sheet of newspaper only because I'd rather be outside hiking than inside photographing newspapers. I compared the slides under a 10X loupe.<p>The Provia 400F was amazingly good, far better IMHO than any other ISO 400 film and far better than Provia 100F pushed. However, it's lacking much of the fine detail visible in the Provia 100F (rated @ 100) shots. Just where that detail went is a bit mysterious... The 400F slides LOOK very sharp, with amazingly unobtrusive grain, but the very fine detail just isn't there.<p>I won't use Provia 400F for landscapes (too bad, because wind is almost always a problem in Hawaii) but I think I'll try it for wildlife in low light.<p>Karl Lehmann <a href="http://www.lostworldarts.com/new_page_3.htm">Lost World Arts</a>

Peter Burian tested 400F and Sensia 400 and subjectively couldn't tell the difference. August Shutterbug. Not much difference from pushed 100F either, but I don't know anybody who pushes for free. A&I is a good deal at $1 per stop of push. His conclusion seems to be to keep a few rolls in the bag for when you just gotta have it, but don't expect it to look like ISO 100.

 

Unless I need an original slide, I'll stick with cheap 400 negative film when I feel the need for speed. It scans and prints virtually grainfree and contrast is not an issue.

 

Landscapes do move (e.g., fields of wildflowers in the wind), but that's what TS-E lenses are for. For a long time I wondered about investing in this expensive specialty lens, but I did and it is now my most used landscape lens...unless the landscape is *truly* not moving.

I I know it's not "professional" film, but I sure like Elitechrome

400 for nature photos. I also notice a lot of professionals using

it. The price is right and quality looks good to me. Give it a try!

Gary, TS-E lenses? tilt/shift? how does that help in the wind?

 

dave

Gary, do answer. I have seen a demonstration of the T/S and it gives an extra stop or so to give you a faster shutter speed and better depth of field. So explain to me how to do this.

Thanks,

Tilting the front of the lens (or, with a view camera, the entire

lens) forward changes the plane of focus from being parallel to the

film plane (i.e., a vertical "wall" a ways out in front of the camera,

a wall of increasing thickness as you stop down) to laying down that

plane of focus over the subject (e.g., a meadow of flowers). By

aligning the plane of focus with, say, all of the blossoms, you can

put in focus all of the flowers from an arm's reach out to the horizon

with f8 or f11 instead of f22, and thus use a faster shutter speed.

 

Tilt is an essential feature in tabletop photography, where objects

from a few inches to a few feet in front of the camera must all be in

focus, and it's a given in large-format photography, where 150mm

lenses (the limited d.o.f. of which is known to 35mm users) are

considered "standard."

 

The large-format sites have volumes of information on tilt; for

example, see www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf or

http://www.toyoview.com/LargeFrmtTech/lgformat.html

Simpler: A "tilting" lens tilts the plane of focus closer to the plane of the landscape being focused on thereby bringing more of the image within the zone of focus. This gain in relative DOF allows use of larger apertures for faster shutter speeds.

 

Now, if someone could explain what the "shift" part of tilt & shift is, I would appreciate it.

 

...By the way, since these specialized lenses cost so much, and are not zooms, which focal lenth (if you had to chose one), would be the most useful???

 

Are we still on topic? !!! :)

The 'shift' moves the front or rear standard from side to side. This way you can photograph a door 'straight on' on film while standing a bit to the side so your reflection does not show in the glass.

As for photographing a landscape with 400 speed film, in 35mm I don't think it makes sense but with the 8x10 it sure is nice.

"<i>...By the way, since these specialized lenses cost so much, and are not zooms, which focal lenth (if you had to chose one), would be the most useful???

</i>"<p>24mm. But that's just my opinion.<p>BTW, these lenses aren't magic. Tilting only helps if everything you want sharp falls (roughly) into one plane. It won't help sharpen the background at all in a shot like this (unless you want the tops of the poppies out of focus).<p>Karl Lehmann <a href="http://www.lostworldarts.com/new_page_3.htm">Lost World Arts</a><div></div>

Hi Mark.

 

The 90mm T/S lens is what Darrell Gulin used at the workshop I took on the southern Oregon coast. I have since seen reference to a number of other pros using the 90 for flower fields and landscapes. The 24 is good for close up & table top work

I would think use of a 24mm T&S lens for 'close up and tabletop' work would be limited. The subject matter would be so close to the lens if you are trying to fill the frame that the camera & lens would most likely block light on the subject. One usually uses longer lenses for tabletop work. In 4x5 the 210 is pretty much a standard studio & tabletop lens. In 35mm I would think the 90 would find more use.

Anybody want to sell me their 90mm tilt & shift?

The Painted Stock was shot with Fuji 400F. Would you beleive if I say this was shot with stacking a 2X and 1.4X convertors!

 

Equipment used:

EOS 3, EF500/f4.5, EF 2X II & EF 1.4X.<div></div>

Mmmm - poppies :-)

 

*lol*. I know I've read the theory on how these t/s lenses work but I'de luv to get my hands on one just to play around with it and see what it really is capable of... anyone? :-)