Velvia vs Provia vs Astia

Good afternoon,

 

What are the main differences between these three films?

 

Were they made for different purposes?

 

Thanks for your anwsers -

 

O.

Velvia is the most saturated, the new 100 is quite nice.... skin tones are much better than previous attempts. The provia seems to be more neutral but still very colorful. As for the Astia, I have never tried. I'm sure fujifilm.com gives a good run down of the characteristics.

Velvia is the original hyper-saturated, high contrast film with beyond-real color.

Provia is a more neutral, normal color version, with more "normal" contrast and color

characteristics, and Astia was introduced to provide better skin tones across the

board for pros who wanted to shoot color chrome, but wanted skin tones that looked

more natural than either Velvia or Provia, without switching to another brand. (Fuji

was the first have really punchy color E6 film (the original Velvia 50, still my favorite),

but the last to come up wth good skin

tones (Astia).<p>As digital imaging, better scanners and

improved grain and color negative films have emerged since these formulations, Fuji

has tried to up the ante in terms of increasing contrast and saturation, and reducing

grain size (that's what the F means in the names of these films that have it- it stands

for fine grain/high accutance) for these films, while also adding speed to the Velvia

line. (And IMO, killed Velvia.) These days, the differences are still there, but if you are

scanning and adjusting

balance and contrast, go with the one that yeilds the lowest contrast (should be

Provia) and you'll get better shadow/highlight detail ratios. If you are projecting, do

some test, figure out the differences in practice, and shoot the emulsions you like for

the subjects you choose.

It should be clarified that I was referring to Velvia 100, not 100F.

Of these three, Astia is the lowest contrast and is considered by many - but not all - to make the best scans.

Astia is the lowest contrast version of the three. I have used Sensia as well which some say is an amateur version of the pro-version Astia. Both Astia and Sensia scan on my Minolta 5400 with Vuescan nicely, and I have a much harder time with Provia. I find I can always add contrast to a flat Sensia negative, but I have been burned with lack of shadow details with Provia, especially on bright sunny summer days. I save Velvia for cloudy days with flat light, when I'm shooting landscapes, as the greens really glow.

I have also had good sucess converting Sensia to B/W in Photoshop, or Lightroom.

Provia 400 is like Color TriX to me (that's a good thing)

You can find all you are looking for, and much more, here:

 

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/professional_films/lineup.html

 

Also, there is a film forum in Photo Net.

 

People should use the search engine in this site. furthermore, google is your friend.

Astia has the finest grains among all the FujiFilm slides. It has less contrast and the pros use it for outdoor portraits. Personally, I find the contrast just fine and the colors are also good but not overly saturated.

 

Here's one scanned example ...

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/4445146&size=lg

I sort of agree with the others. Velvia has very highly saturated colors and has high contrast - wonderfully warm and "the public" often love its pumped color. Provia 100/100F was introduced to be a more accurate (or I think as a less saturated alternative to Velvia), but it is still excellent for landscapes and for high contrast situations. I am not all that fond of it myself, but many like it very much. It has lowish contrast which makes it less good if you actually project slides - but this makes it very nice for scanning. Its skin tones are much better than Velvia.

 

Provia 400F is an excellent fast slide film - low grain and moderate contrast and nice skin tones - but do not expect saturated colors.

 

Astia 100F is a neutral film aimed at obtaining accurate skin tones and it has higher contrast than Provia and good saturation. I prefer its colors to Provia myself.

 

Velvia 100F was/is a film that Fuji introduced to replace Velvia 50. It does not quite work - it resembles Velvia 50's colors, but its skin tones are even worse and it lacks the warmth of the original. I have not tried the new Velvia 100, which is yet another attempt by Fuji to obtain a faster Velvia. I am not actually sure it is possible to do this - but Fuji keep trying.

"Provia 400F is an excellent fast slide film - low grain and moderate contrast and nice skin tones - but do not expect saturated colors.

 

Astia 100F is a neutral film aimed at obtaining accurate skin tones and it has higher contrast than Provia and good saturation. I prefer its colors to Provia myself. "

 

Hmm. I'm pretty sure Provia 100F is more contrasty than Astia (and Sensia) as I'm having a lot more trouble scanning it, and 400F seems to hold less shadow detail than Provia 100F.

 

I personally like and recommend Sensia 100 as a cheap and good alternative to all of the above. It's easy to scan and has great reciprocity characteristics for night shots (and no Provia aqua skies either!)

Seems to me that Sensia is the same emulsion as Provia, but for the amateur market: not refrigerated or aged for optimum color balance.

This was an interesting discussion but why is it in the Leica and Rangefinders forum?

 

I only came across it by accident.

Sensia 100 is excellent too, but it is not the same as Astia 100F. Astia 100F is a little faster (I rate it at 125 vs. 100 for Sensia) and it has finer grain, although its color, contrast and saturation seem to me to be almost exactly the same. Sensia 100 was the amateur version of the original Astia 100, not Astia 100F.