Film Suggestions for Landscape

I'm taking a little rode trip in October to photograph some our little canyons here in West Texas. One of the cameras I will be using is the Fuji GW690 III. I plan on taking Ektar 100 and Provia 100F. I'm also considering a couple of my old Velvia 50. Of course I'll have some Tri-X with me too, but not sure I'll use it. Considering the terrain is mostly desert and brush, what other color film should I consider for my trip? Anything weird or different I should look at? All suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

HC

Will you be going to both Palo Duro and Caprock Canyons?

 

The past few years I have stayed with a group of folks in the Pole Canyon Ranch guest house (less than 30 minute drive to Caprock) for a few days at the end of October.

 

Great landscape opportunities. I have only gone with digital cameras but have started shooting my film Leicas again and if I were going now would be taking M6 and M4 cameras, a few lenses, some Portra 160 and definitely Ektar 100, which should work really well with the colors in the canyons.

 

Ektar 100 is one of my favorites, but E100 might be worth some consideration.

 

If you're not familiar with

 

Marguilis, Dan

2006 Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum...Peachpit Press.

 

you might find it interesting if you are scanning in your images.

Will you be going to both Palo Duro and Caprock Canyons?

 

The past few years I have stayed with a group of folks in the Pole Canyon Ranch guest house (less than 30 minute drive to Caprock) for a few days at the end of October.

 

Great landscape opportunities. I have only gone with digital cameras but have started shooting my film Leicas again and if I were going now would be taking M6 and M4 cameras, a few lenses, some Portra 160 and definitely Ektar 100, which should work really well with the colors in the canyons.

 

 

We are staying a little further north on the Palo Duro canyon rim, but we plan a day trip to Caprock. The place you mentioned doesn't allow pets inside, so we couldn't stay there. We are taking our first pet friendly trip and have planned things we can do out doors with them. I hadn't thought of Portra 160, that's a good idea. Thanks!

Ektar 100 is one of my favorites, but E100 might be worth some consideration.

 

If you're not familiar with

 

Marguilis, Dan

2006 Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum...Peachpit Press.

 

you might find it interesting if you are scanning in your images.

I forgot about E100, that is another very excellent suggestion. I had not heard of Dan Marguilis, I'll have to look him up. I stop using Photoshop and have switched to Capture One, but it may still be worth a read. Thanks for the suggestions.

Color films are a personal choice but if you are going to shoot any B&W I don’t think Tri-X would be my first choice unless developed in pyro. I would stick with a slower, finer grained, film.

I shoot Velvia 50 and Tmax100 with my RB67 medium format 6x7. They scan well for me. Portra seems bland colorwise. I use a tripod for all shots. What do you intend to do with pictures? Good luck and have fun.

Color films are a personal choice but if you are going to shoot any B&W I don’t think Tri-X would be my first choice unless developed in pyro. I would stick with a slower, finer grained, film.

 

Doesn't it depend on the type of landscape ? For an industrial landscape, my choice would be Tri-x, but for a more bucolic view, FP4 or even Pan-F.

Doesn't it depend on the type of landscape ? For an industrial landscape, my choice would be Tri-x, but for a more bucolic view, FP4 or even Pan-F.

 

Since the OP specifically talked about his trip to photograph canyons in West Texas AND bevause i don't feel the need to always point out that there are always exceptions to any suggestion AND because I don’t consider “industrial landscapes” to be “landscapes”, no, I don’t think that it matters worth mentioning.

Since you mention canyons, exposure latitude can be an important consideration if parts of the canyon and surroundings are in bright sunlight and some canyon walls are in shade. On one river trip through the Grand Canyon I used both Kodachrome (RIP) and color and black and white negative films. I had better results with the negative films because of the high contrast between sunlit walls and deep shadows in the canyon interior.

I recently finished 8 days in Banff and Yoho National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, quite stunning places. The color film used exclusively was Velvia 100, and TMax 100 for some (all of the 35mm) of the black and white film work. The rest of the B&W and all of the color was 6x6 in a Bronica S. Though no longer made in 120/220, I used TXP 320 of which I have a sizable stash, but comes up for sale on eBay from time to time, it’s still great for MF landscapes as long as it’s dated after 2004 or so.

 

I’m still working on processing and it will soon be forthcoming here. ;)

Since the OP specifically talked about his trip to photograph canyons in West Texas AND bevause i don't feel the need to always point out that there are always exceptions to any suggestion AND because I don’t consider “industrial landscapes” to be “landscapes”, no, I don’t think that it matters worth mentioning.

 

Thanks for your comments - mine were intended as general suggestions, not necessarily responses to the OP, and represented my own views on the matter. If you do not consider Industrial Landscapes to be landscapes, that is up to you - again, merely my own viewpoint. I have no desire to enter into a 'flame war' with you (or anyone else) - let us just agree to differ.

 

Tony

Color films are a personal choice but if you are going to shoot any B&W I don’t think Tri-X would be my first choice unless developed in pyro. I would stick with a slower, finer grained, film.

That's a good point, but I don't think I'll be photographing in B&W for this trip. I always carry Tri-X with me, but I doubt I will use it on this trip.

I shoot Velvia 50 and Tmax100 with my RB67 medium format 6x7. They scan well for me. Portra seems bland colorwise. I use a tripod for all shots. What do you intend to do with pictures? Good luck and have fun.

The photographs are for me and family. I hope to get a wall hanger, as it were, but mostly I look forward to actually photographing. I'll be using my Fuji GW690 for the medium stuff and my M6 for 35mm. I'll also have a Lumix GX8 I may take. I have a Kodak Stereo camera I am thinking about using, but I scared. ;-) I am still considering it for slides to be used with a viewer later. Thanks.

Fuji 400H is anther color film to consider. It's fine grain and similar to Portra but with slightly more saturated color. I've used some and don't mind it however Velvia 100 is what I'll be trying next mainly because I've seen a lot of images exposed on it and they look good to me plus I bought plenty of it, none of which I've used yet.

for color I use 3 film. velvia 50, provia 100 and ektar, with the occasional provia 400x thrown in. All look great in the fuji, I have the same camera and love the results. which I use depends on the light. huge range and I'll shoot ektar then provia. lower contrast, velvia 50. I prefer slide film as it is much eaiser for me to scan than ektar. im not a photoshop expert, so removing the cyan color cast in ektar can be troublesome. using the proper lens filter helps as well.