Slide film recommendation for colorful, sunny India

[dietmar_detering]

Hi! I am going to India (north and south) in late December/early

January (it will by sunny and dry) and plan to take plenty of slides,

mostly outdoors. I expect lots of colors, including many browns and

gold. I plan to take only 100 ASA film (makes it easier as I might

have only one EOS body), but what should I expect from my film?

Should it be extra-colorful or could it be that the color-enhancing

films make the already-colorful scenes too colorful? Which film in

particular would you recommend? Thank you!

[r.t. dowling]

All of today's ISO 100 color slide films are really, really good. It's almost impossible to make a wrong choice.

 

If you want to accentuate the warmth of the browns and golds, you might want to try Kodak E100GX.

[marshall]

What do you usually use? What films do you like? Start there.

 

Read the forums here, too. There is a lot of discussion of different films. I'd probably take Velvia, V100F, and perhaps some E100G for a more neutral palette. But start with what you know, and then fortunately you've got time to play with some other films. Good luck and happy travels.

[daniel_taylor]

In sunny conditions I would use Astia 100F or Provia 100F. Back when I used to shoot a lot of 35mm slide I generally reserved Velvia 50 for overcast conditions.

[andrew_pike1]

I'd bring some Velvia 50, Provia 100F, and Kodachrome 64. You might want to drop the Velvia, as it is a bit too punchy, especially if you'll have people in your pictures. In that case, take Provia, as it has great colors and fine grain. Kodachrome 64 is nice, too, even though it's 2/3 stop slower than an ASA 100 film. That shouldn't present much of a problem, though. Or, there's always Kodachrome 200, but it is a bit too grainy for my tastes.

 

If you want to record the colors you saw, then in my mind there is no substitute for Kodachrome. Nothing is as life-like (or lasts as long after processig, for that matter). You'll get good colors from it, and I highly reccomend it.

 

Have fun!

[ranj]

Hi ,

 

I doubt it will be sunny in northern India in Dec Jan at all. Expect fog till like 9 to 10 Am in the morning, and yes extremely cold. Last year when I was there , the fog got so bad we had to wait till 11 Am to drive on the highways. Southern India should be perfect.

 

cheers,

 

Ranjan.

[incitatus_rex]

You should also take Provia 400F, in my opinion. The quality of light can be most pleasing when it's not at it's greatest intensity.

[scott_eaton]

Why not just grab every single slide film Fuji makes along with Kodak E200 and E100VS and a partridge in a pear tree. This guy needs more film to take.

 

I guess taking a straight up high quality and easy film to shoot like Astia 100F or E100G and enjoying your vacation is too much to ask.

[randall_pukalo]

I agree that Kodachrome is very accurate, what you saw is basically what you get on the slide. But such neutrality is not always the best, sometimes you want to accentuate the beautiful colors. Plus, I assume Dietmar is from Germany/Europe, and K is very expensive there - I think it was about 20 Euro (with mailer) for a roll of K200 in February. Plus, the good stuff, K64, is very slow. So, I wouldnt recommend it.

I would take along a bunch of Sensia or Elite chrome 100. They are both great, so I'd buy which ever is less expensive for you. Plus, some Velvia 100, and a roll or two of Kodaks new Extra Color 100 - should be great for the colorful outfits you will see.

And why limit youself to 100 speed - some Elite Chrome 200 or Sensia 200 definitely comes in handy, along with a roll or two of Sensia 400 (or Provia, but Not Elite Chrome - they have not updated it yet, too grainy).

India is a once in a lifetime trip, so stock up on a large variety of good films (and not just 100 speed), is my advice.

[arnabdas]

The new Sensia 100 will be your best bet.

[patrick_p]

Well I might as well give my 2 cents.

 

When I was travelling in Asia I took 3 types of film, Provia 100, Velvia 100F and Provia 400.

 

-Provia 100 is perfect in most situations I shoot. It has very fine grain, saturated colors and good contrast. It is the best all around film I've used. The only other film I'd say comes close is Kodak 100VS.

-I also took a few rolls of Velvia 100 for situations when I wanted more color and contrast like in landscape or sunset shots. As someone else in this thread said avoid portraits with this film.

-I took a few rolls of Provia 400 for overcast days or indoors.

 

It all comes down to what you like. Astia is a great film but I don't find it to be punchy enough for everyday shooting. It's color pallet leans towards the browns which makes it fantastic for portraits but landscapes can look muddy. Velvia is a great landscape film its color pallet leans towards reds and greens. Some people don't like the Velvia colors claiming they look unreal. What do you like to shoot? What kind of colors do you want to achieve?

 

Another question is how much practice do you have with slide film? If you don't have much you should practice before you leave. Slide film is more tricky than negative. It has a smaller exposure range which means less margin for error. If you don't shoot much slide you may want to stay with Consumer film like Sensia which is a little more forgiving.

 

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

[steve_muntz]

I'd probably bring some E100VS - which handles bright sunlight better than Velvia in my experience, and also some Provia 400F for low light shooting. Provia 400F looks very good at ISO800 and pushed a stop too, and I hear it works at 1600 with a two stop push. Might want to ask for a hand inspection at the airport if you do this though. Steve McCurry, who photographs a lot in India, uses E100VS often.

[kenneth_beatty]

MY .02

 

Stick with (relatively) easy to use slide films. What I have gathered from what you wrote is that you want to K.I.S.S. your trip and only carry iso 100. With that in mind I recommend Sensia 100, Elite Chrome 100, Astia 100, or if you are comfortable with tighter chromes Agfa RSX 100. Take a 82 color correcting filter for indoor stuff and you will be fine.

 

Now if you are really comfortable in your ablilties with your camera I would take a roll or two of E100VS/G/GX or Velvia 50/100f.

 

Now if you really want to have some fun: take some echtachrome 320T or fujichrome 64T. I would only take 1 or 2 rolls of these but you will get some very interesting shots that will be different enough from what everybody else is doing that you just might like those shots the best.

 

If you really want to be different: Agfa Scala and forget every thing else.

 

In the end there is still the question that you haven't answered here and maybe you haven't asked yourself yet. "What look do I want to acheive?" Answer that question and film choice will be much simpler. There is no such thing as the perfect everyday/every situation film. Just as when you are composing your your shots you have to decide what you want to be the focus so must you do the same with your film choice.

[kenneth_beatty]

That was the long way of saying what Scott said. Take an easy film and enjoy your trip.

[robert goldstein]

Why burden yourself with a multitude of films when you are travelling? If you plan to shoot slides exclusively, take Astia 100f for bright light and Provia 400f for clouds or low light. If you are willing to deal with print film, (and why not if you are going to scan your photos anyway) you might consider a few rolls of NPZ for even lower light. It pushes one stop fairly well if needed.

[martin_ranger]

I faced the same problem before going to Rajasthan this August: extra colourful versus not so extra colourful. In the end I picked the Astia since I was most interested in taking portraits. Briefly thought about taking some 400 film, but ended up pushing a couple of Astias by two stops. Results are good and colourful enough for me.

[dietmar_detering]

You guys are awesome! I never expected that much highly qualified advice so quickly! My fault I didn't check earlier - I expected to be notified of replies, but must have confused this site with a different one. Anyway, some posters clearly understood what I have on my mind: Not to burden myself :)

 

I am taking "only" two camera bodies and have made disappointing experiences with mixing two or three different films on past trips. I like slide shows, and the difference between two films can be pretty bad when mixing slides in a show. Hence, I will stick (again) to just an ASA100 film - as I did before. Lacking tripod on this trip, I will just have to improvise a little more. I also prefer the two bodies to be available saving me the time to change lenses when some unique moment comes up - all too often missed the perfect moment when changing lenses and filters. Sure, changing films is still possible, but I just might to lazy for that ;)

 

Yes, I am originally from Germany, now living in the US, but intend to buy the film in Germany (works out that way for me about $5 a roll including development without framing). I have narrowed it down to either the Fuji Sensia 100, Kodak Elite 100 or Kodak Elite 100 Extra Color, tending to the latter. I just wasn't sure whether Kodak updated the Extra Color one along with the standard one, which they apparently improved a lot last year. I have send an email to Kodak to that regard and still wait for an answer, but one poster suggested that they had improved the Extra Color one, too.

 

I have to say that one of the reasons I am not too much into the Sensia is that I have had (a) Fuji Film before (in 1997) and the colors appeared fairly cold to me. However, I am reading that the Sensia is not perceived that way. What is correct?

[dietmar_detering]

I have just gotten a response from Kodak regarding their Extra Color version of the Elite 100 :(

 

"KODAK ELITE Chrome 100 Film was improved in 2003 to feature the latest

advancements in Kodak's Color Amplifying Technology and KODAK T-GRAIN?

Emulsion Technology to deliver exceptionally fine grain (RMS granularity

of 8), and beautiful, lifelike color. The ELITE CHROME Extra Color 100,

however, has not been updated at this time. That film remains the same

since 1998 and currently has an RMS granularity value of 11."

 

Bummer.

 

So, if this is so, I might actually go with the Sensia or the (Ektachrome) Elite 100 standard then. The board seems to favor the Sensia, and it has gotten very good reviews, though I just hope that the colors will not disappoint me...

[l_a_k_h_i_n_d_e_r]

Indian winter is, as mentioned, typically Sunny and Dry. The contrast between shadows and highlights can be quite high. I tend to shoot 100 ASA color negative film there. Slides have some use too. But please do not under-estimate the contrast problem. I consider one camera, and one wide to normal zoom as the simplest of choices, and mostly quite adequate. YMMV.