Film for interiors and artficial light

<p>Hi.I am looking for a film to use mainly in articial(Tungsten) light.When travelling I use Fuji Provia or Astia for almost everything.I love low light and have a few very fast manual lenses (1.4 or 1.2).Many many times I am in a restaurant or some other interiors(churches,stores,museums).The colors just don't come out right.<br>

I was wandering if you can help me find a good film for that or maybe just put a color filter is the solution.It can be slide or print film as well.Usually I use slow film(50-200).<br>

Best regards,<br>

Mihail</p>

 

<p>If you want to project slides for viewing that you have taken in tungsten light you have to use a tungsten-balanced film like Fujifilm Fujichrome T64 Tungsten Balanced, Color Slide Film, ISO 64, 35mm (or the 120 film, if that's what you're shooting). Alternatively you can use appropriate blue filters, but you lose a lot of speed in that direction.<br>

I'm just curious why the slow speed films? These days there are lots of really very nice high speed color films.<br>

If you're scanning in the slides, of course, just color correct in post processing.</p>

<p>Most color negative films tend to be corrected in the automatic printing procedures, and can similarly be color corrected easily in post-processing.</p>

<p>Fluorescent lights are a whole other set of problems. Mixed light, even more so.</p>

<p>Tungsten film is usually balanced for 3200K to 3400K, which is the kind of light you get from hot, short-lived bulbs designed for photography and cinematography. Incandescent room light, is usually much colder (in black body terms), ranging from 2400K to 2800K. Ordinary tungsten film will look much more natural (i.e., less orange) than daylight film, but definitely on the orange side of the scale. If you want slides to come out better, you will need to use color balancing filters, and probably a color balance meter as a guide. The cinema industry makes this into a fine art, with filter sets containing dozens (or hundreds) of choices, so that scenes can be matched.</p>

<p>This art has largely migrated to the DI (Digital Intermediate) world for cinema. A similar thing has occured for still photography, where film is scanned and adjusted digitally for display or printing. If you're going to do that, it makes sense to also change to negative film, which has much more dynamic range and tolerance to subsequent adjustments.</p>

<p>There is no general solution for fluorescent light, because that light does not have a continuous spectrum, and is usually heavy on the yellow and green bands and shy on blues and reds. Sometimes you get lucky, but even with digital and color chart profiling, I sometimes throw up my hands and convert the results to black-and-white.</p>

<p>Color filters are the way to go. There are only two tungsten films left (Kodak and Fuji ISO 64 slide films) and they might already be discontinued. </p>

<p>An 80A might not be an exact match for all lighting, but unless you need 100% color accuracy, I think it will work for you almost all of the time. You do lose a lot of light through it though. I think 1 stop? I could be wrong on that.</p>

<p>I've had decent success correcting Portra 400NC shot in tungsten light in Photoshop. No filter on the lens was used. Fluorescent lights can be a lot more problematic.</p>

<p>As far as I know in cinema, they do indeed use filters in front of the lens. A lot of times you just shoot with tungsten balanced film, since thats where you need the speed, then you just filter the daylight shots down. There's only so much you can do in post - getting it right on camera is a lot easier and more effective. </p>

<p> I used to struggle with shots like that but found that with the blue filter and some photoshop I could realize an ok picture. I used 800 speed film and an 80A blue filter. I then would adjust white balance in photoshop using the color balance selection. Of course B/W is also a very good solution. </p>

<p>Fuji Pro800Z and Pro400H do miraculously well under both incandescent and fluorescent lighting.</p>

<p>The Porta 100T was a good tungsten balanced print film. I had two rolls left and offered both on ebay- no bids even though I started at 99 cents. One ebayer even asked if I'd relist it. Sold them both locally instead. Didn't keep them because too much of my interior shots involve fluorescent for which tungsten film is no help. I think Randall's recommendation for the Fuji films is the best recommendation. If you need finer grain, the Reala does well with fluorescent, but at ISO 100 you'll need a tripod. Give color a try. You can always convert the image to black and white if you can't get the color balance that you want.</p>