Scala 200x- What's it like?

[andrew_pike1]

I know that it's the only remaining B&W reversal film in the world,

so it's very unique. But how does it stack up against other ASA 200

B&W negative films? Is there anything special about the images it

produces that makes it worth buying? I've read (here, acutally) that

it is very soft and is excellent for portraits.

 

Also, about how long is the turnaround time for the Agfa mailers used

to process it?

 

Thanks.

[scott_eaton]

A better question is how does it stack up against color transparency films that are desaturated.

 

The answer is, not good, in the case of longer density range materials like E100G. Scala looks pretty on a light table, but you'll have a hard time translating this via a film scan and produce better results vs shooting color slide film and simply desaturating.

[bueh]

Yes, Andrew, it is an excellent portrait film. Very soft indeed, nice tonality and good sharpness. Also great for projection (you won't get B/W slides from desaturated color film).<br>

Turnaround was always very fast for me, less than one week from sending it to receiving the transparencies back.<p>

For an example take a look at my last recent picture.

[gus1]

I must disagree with Scott Eaton. Scott have you actually every used Scala? I have used Scala and it has a wonderful tone and is very sharp. Most importantly is has a much better range than color transparency film. Because of the limited range of color slide film, you will not get the same tones when converting color to black and white in Photoshop (however, if converting digital that is a different story, but digitial is also limited tonally). Andrew, If you have concerns about the turn-around time for processing Scala, send it to DR5 (http://www.dr5.com). They have an alternative process for Scala (and other black and white film) and their turn around time is often faster. If you are seriously interested in creating monochrome slides review DR5 web site and try some different films to see what you like the best. One big advantage of black and white transparencies is that they scan very well.

[silent1]

<i>I know that it's the only remaining B&W reversal film in the world, so it's very unique.</i><p>

 

Umm...<p>

 

<a href="http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=11">Fomapan R100</a><p>

 

And it's about half the price of Scala (okay, it's ISO 100, but it should work equally well in DR5).

[bueh]

You might want to take a look at this <b><a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009huj">thread</a></b>.

[gary_watson]

Scott's never seen 6x6 or 6x7 Scala properly projected. 35mm ain't bad, either. Live a little, Eaton.

[aymeric_peyret]

I think you can just say Scott does not like Agfa, and everytime someone finds great an agfa product, Scott always gives a personal drawback... The fact is that desaturating a color film is surely not a solution if you want to project your slide.

If digital desaturation were a solution to eveything, then why also keep manufacturing black and white negative films ?