High contrast transparency film recommendation needed

Can someone recommend a transparency film that has higher contrast than

Provia 100F or Astia 100F and suitable for skin tones?

Kodak E100GX, E100VS

High contrast <em>and</em> suitable for skin tones? Sounds like an oxymoron...

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E100G/GX doesn't have significantly higher contrast than Provia 100F, if at all.

If your subjects are of darker skin color (some Asians are),

Velvia 50 works well. I have seen some nice Japanese weddings

shot with Velvia.

 

The newer Velvia 100F might be good as well, but I haven't seen

any extensive examples of that with skin tone.

Just push the Provia. Two stops (to 320) in even lighting. One

stop ( to 160) in bright or already contrasty conditions.

I'm not sure it's possible to get high contrast and good skin tone reproduction.... increasing contrast generally takes away the smoothness of color/lightness transitions on skin and makes it look blotchy. Can you describe the deficiency in your photos that makes you want increased contrast?

 

Regarding the earlier recommendation of E100VS -- certainly has the contrast, but also enhances/exaggerates colors, particularly reds and yellows. I would not recommend it for skin tones, nor any other high saturation reversal film (i.e., Velvia).

 

Don't know how critical grain or black density is to you, but you might consider push-processing a low-color reversal film so that you get the contrast increase without blowing out the colors and ruining skin reproduction. Try E200 rated at EI320 (push 1) or EI640 (push 2). Alternatively, try Kodachrome 64.... this has unusual push increments because of the specialized machine processing (something like push 1 1/3, push 2 1/3??)... Kodak web site might give you some information here.

 

Ektachrome 64 and 100 are older professional emulsions still produced that many people still like for skin tones, although I wouldn't classify these as "high" contrast. The 64 film has somewhat higher contrast and color.

Thanks all.

 

Thomas,its the deficiency in my Seagull's lens. For example, Reala works well on it but not NPS, although rating NPS at 100 gives an adequate rendition. That's my experience with print films. Definitely, my Fuji chromes from the Seagull look flat compared to chromes from my RB. I don't much desire to lug my RB outdoors, that's the problem.

 

How about under exposing Astia 100F? Will it give acceptable images for portraiture?

I think Kodachrome 64 is the only slide film ever made with high contrast and good skin tones..

H-Choong, I don't have personal experience shooting Astia, but know that this is Fuji's best chrome film for skin tones. However, if you underexpose it, you will need to also push process your film. Otherwise, your images will be too dark.

 

Problem with push-processing is that this results in a decrease in shadow density along with increased highlight and mid-tone contrast. Skin tones will tend to fall in this region, plus many chrome films also tend to show increased color saturation when underexposed and pushed. So, you will definitely be hunting for a sweet-spot in which the overall contrast has increased without adversely affecting skin tone reproduction.... not easy. I'm afraid the decision as to what is acceptable is one of personal taste, and that you will need to experiment a bit.

 

One other trick I have heard to improve skin-tone reproduction with high contrast films is to use fill-flash and overexpose the face by 1/4 to 1/2 stop. Helps flatten the skin contrast and also reduces the color saturation due to overexposure.

 

I'm no optics expert, but it sounds like your problem relates to lens flare reducing the mid and upper-scale contrast of your images. Use of a hood or some sort of shield might help improve this; don't know if a polarizer or some other filter would help??

 

Good luck.

The newer Velvia 100f is less saturated, and handles skin tones much better than Velvia 50. Ektachrome 100vs does not handle skin tones well. Elite Chrome Extra Color is , again, great for landscapes, but bad skin tones. I do love Kodachrome 64 for skin tones, it is very accurate..I have a friend that has an olive complexion, and it captured and portrayed that beautifully!