Reversal films for night shots

I'm new to reversal films. I just developed a few rolls and find the

qualtiy of reversal films very nice.

 

I'm planning to take some night shots - city lights. My questions

are:

 

1. Which reversal film good for this topic?

 

2. Reversal films offer so little exposure latitude as compared to

negatives, how could I determine the correct exposure on field?

 

Thanks!

1. Either the one already loaded in your camera or Depends. Check the reciprocity characteristics and whether you'll need to compensate for colour casts. Is this handheld or tripod? Do you want tungsten film or not? Exposures can go from something like 1/60s at f2.8 to 8" at f1.4, depending whether this is Times Square at 9pm or some distant view at 2am. For tripod work, I'd go as slow as I could. Handheld, I'm just starting to have slide film pushed a stop or two.

 

2. Bracket. There's no correct exposure, and often the one your camera doesn't recommend is the one you like best. None of them will come out badly, whereas two stops apart two reversal frames shot in broad daylight will look wrong. These won't.

 

3. Burn film and have fun! This is a hobby, right?

Fuji Provia 100F is the all-time champ of long exposures, with the best reciprocity characteristics and no need for filtration. As for exposure, well, a true spot meter is helpful, but there are some useful rules of thumb out there, e.g., for building with well-lit exteriors, I've gotten good results with 400 speed film exposed 1/30 s at f/2, which would correspond to 1/8 s at f/2 for the Provia 100F. Search the archives, there's some good stuff on this.