OK, this is not breaking news but, Fuji will soon replace Velvia 50 with new Velvia 100. Their press releases seem to imply that the new film has finer grain and dramatic color than the 50. GREAT, but I feel like I'm losing an f-stop of flexibility in bright sunlight (1/1000 @f4 iso f2.8) so I'm not eagerly awaiting the old Velvia's demise. What are your thoughts?
I wish they'd bring back the original Kodachrome II. I liked the colors much better than K25. Softer, more muted. It is nice to have a really slow film, and it would be nice to have a nice slow long scale B&W film too. I just loved Eastman XT Pan, sort of Kodak's motion picture version of Panatomic-X, but that was discontinued even before they killed off Panatomic-X.
Breaking news of about 6 months ago. At the same time you are losing a stop of bright light flexibility every nature photographer is gaining a stop in the forest at dawn at dusk etc.
Hi, Victor. I've tried the new Velvia 100 - imported from Japan in April. I really like it. Vivid color, the kind i would expect from the older Velvia 50. Not at all like the dull 100F. I'm not sure i understand your concern about 'losing' a stop of flexibility. If you're trying to shoot wide-open in bright sunlight, a rangefinder (or whatever camera with only a top speed of 1/1000) is probably not the best tool. Otherwise, wouldn't f4 almost invariably be sharper than f2.8? What's the rationale here? [By the way - i exposed the new Velvia 100 @ EI 100 with great results, metering with an M7.]
Mark, like I said, "this is not breaking news" and I'm not a nature photographer, but if I was I don't think I'd use iso 50. Derek, my point is iso 50 offers a wider range of exposure possibilities with the camera(s) I use, in bright daylight. And I'm not looking to add any in order to shoot wide open. Soon there will be just one film available at this speed for color transparencies. ISO 100 films are not hard to come by.