Film suggestion

[jp_and_ap_the_glass_eye]

Your suggestions please ??

 

Over the last couple years I?ve shot 35mm Reala, NPH and 400UC,

gotten them commercially processed (no prints except for home and

family type photos) and commercially scanned. That gives me 3-4 meg

JPEGs to manipulate/edit on the computer and print. I?ve been happy

with the results for the most part, but now I?d like to step up to

better quality scans (and cheaper is always nice).

 

Most of my prints are inkjet prints of 8x10 size. I?d like to go

larger. My subjects are landscapes and portraiture. And hot rods.

 

I?d like to try transparency films. 3000 and 4000 dpi scans are

available at less than $1.00. That would be better than the files I

now get.

 

What transparency films would be approximately equivalent at 100 and

400 ISOs? Astia? --Not Velvia, I can always get those Bozo colors

by over saturating the jpg. How about a wedding film type 400 speed

transparency film? For best economy the film should be 135-36.

 

Any suggestions?

[john_shriver]

Commercial scanning (at least with Frontier grade equipment) will generally give better results with C-41 negative film than E-6 transparency film. It's not designed for the high contrast and high densities of slide film.

 

Also, there's NO E-6 film that's as low contrast as the C-41 portrait films. I was talking to Kodak support about another problem, and they noted that Ektachrome Professional 100 (EPN) is their lowest constrast slide film. But it will set you back over $10 a roll.

 

The E-6 way will cost you more: film, processing, processing hassles (harder to make an E-6 line consistent), scanning problems, and exposure issues (narrow latitude).

 

As for professional scanning, they can scan C-41 just as well as E-6, if they are competent. You don't have to use E-6 film to get professional scans. (The contrapositive, however, is true, the most practical way to get prints from E-6 film is to scan it.)

[andrejs_ilicuks]

better and cheaper, huh ? probably you can get better and same price, if in luck.

[edgar_njari]

Sensia and Astia

 

 

provia and velvia are contrasty and saturated (I love it, but this is what you said you don't want) so forget those

 

 

And remember, when it comes to slides, the crappier your scan is, more contrasty your image will be because shadows will be compressed and consumed by the black because of lack of dynamic range, so in order to approach a smooth transperent look of negative film, you have to have a good scan of your chromes. But If you can get a good scan, It is my opinion that the results will be better than with negative film.

 

good luck

 

p.s. If you want more "punchy" look than astia and sensia, but still want natural (not too saturated) colors, try Ektachrome films (exepet E100VS and EBX)

[jp_and_ap_the_glass_eye]

Thanks all. . Any suggestions on a 400 speed slide film?

[r.t. dowling]

The only ISO 400 slide films worth using are Provia 400F and Sensia 400. The ISO 400 slide films from Kodak are excessively grainy, unfortunately.

[robert goldstein]

My vote is for Astia 100f, the finest grained, lowest contrast slide film available. It is definitely more forgiving of exposure errors than other slide films, but not to the same degree as print films. Some users consider Astia to have low saturation, but I disagree. Colors are actually fairly strong, especially with slight underexposure. And if you truly want more saturation, you can easily get it in Photoshop. I don't have a lot of experience with ISO 400 slide film other than Provia 400f, which I like very much.

 

Generally speaking, I find that slide film scans much better than print film. Colors are richer, grain is finer and there is an overall appearance of greater depth. Oh, and if you want really good scans, do them yourself on a high quality desktop scanner, such as the Minolta 5400 I or II or the Nikon 5000. The results should blow away anything you would have done on a minilab machine.

[edgar_njari]

It's not that the grain is finer, it's just that grain contrast is smaller, which makes it barely visible in films like Velvia.

 

The way I see it, both negative film and slide film have the same grain size and strenght (contrast) when viewed side by side ON FILM, but when you print color negative you amplify the whole image, and with that you amplify the grain too, that is why negative film is grainier