35mm vs. slide film for portraits

[amy_c1]

hello everyone,

 

pardon me if this is a very basic question, but i am wondering about

the advantages/disadvantages of using slide film versus 35mm film

for portraits. i shoot mainly b&w and some color in natural light,

mostly children, using a Nikon N80 and 50mm/85mm lens.

 

thanks so much!

amy

[anupam]

35mm film indicates the size - so slide film can be 35mm. What you mean is slide versus print film or negative film. do a search on those.

[kimberly_smith___anchorage]

Hi Amy!<BR><BR>

 

Here's my answer...my amateur answer anyhow. I found that slide film can be very unforgiving with exposures, so for me, I prefer film for shooting people, especially fast moving people!<BR>

One disadvantage of slide film is the printing process. If you are wanting them to be printed, look into the cost and method of printing slide film. One or two frames are no problem, but printing out 100 proofs of slides can be expensive or very time consuming, compared to film.<BR>

Also, I found that slide film makes people's skin look unnatural...but that could have been a problem on my end, not the slide's!<BR>

Why don't you shoot a small variety and see for yourself? Everyone has different opinions on the matter. Some people love grain in black and white, even processing it so it is exaggerated. Others, like myself, loath grain. Some photographers like the psycadelic look for portraits, some don't.<BR><BR>

Have fun finding your answer!<BR>

Kimberly

[bill c.]

Amy-- As was stated, 35mm refers to the size of the film, not the type. I shoot 35mm slide film all the time.

 

Slide film is like a race car-- very exacting, but very unforgiving. However, like a race car, it can (sometimes) do things for you that a regular car (print film, perhaps) can't.

 

First of all, Kimberly may be getting strange colors off her slide film because slide film (or more properly, transparency film-- "slide" actually refers to the cardboard or plastic holder that the film is mounted in) will do EXACTLY what the light tells it to do. Throw in some light that is not precisely the right color temperature (tungsten light, florescent light, cloudy day light, anything other than 5500 degrees Kelvin IF you are using daylight-balanced film) and your colors will skew (non-UV corrected flashes can also cause problems).

 

When you shoot common print (negative) film, you have to keep in mind what process it will be going through to give you your prints. First, the negative is developed, and then it is put through an enlarger (though sometimes it is scanned digitally, that's not too common yet for the printing phase) which projects it onto light-sensitive paper (which, after it gets processedk ends up as the print). Note that the automatics of the enlarger will try to guess the proper overall color balance of the shot, and a lot of times with faces in a studio situation they won't come anywhere close. The physical aspects of the lens and how well the enlarger is in adjustment can also have effects, including a lack of critical sharpness.

 

If, however, you shoot with a decent strobe kit with UV protected flash tubes and umbrellas and softboxes that haven't been turned slightly green from the ozone that the flashes produce (been there, made that mistake), AND you watch your light ratio carefully, slide film can give you results with far more "pop" than print film can. That's why most professional studio and fashion photographers used to use it, and many of them still do.

 

I recently opted for transparency film instead of digital on some architectural and macro work, and the results were worth the extra time and effort.

 

The bottom line is that it takes excellent technique to use transparency film, but it can in many circumstances produce a better product. It does have less latitude than print film, but the images "pop" more.

 

Oh, and NEVER test your equipment using print film, always use slide film for that. You don't want the enlarger interpreting your images for you, you always want to look at the unmodified film.

 

Happy shooting. -BC-

[glen_evans1]

Yes, yes, yes, do it. I just got some prints made from slides and they are the bomb. I was shooting an experiment, my daughter, outside in evening bright sun, Fuji Astia 100F slide film, slides developed and cut into strips for scanning. The developed slide film was scanned and printed on a Noritsu mini-lab, outstanding. Skin tones were absolutely perfect and the detail was unreal. Use a good prime to get the best color rendition. The girl who posed with my daughter will use a couple of the slide prints in her modeling portfolio. Try it, what could happen? Glen

[amy_c1]

thanks so much for the info and suggestions so far! they are very helpful.

 

it seems that i should do some experimenting and see what happens! it seems like most people discussed color film and prints, what do you think about using slide film for black & white? any more color or black & white films to recommend for natural light portraits?

 

keep 'em coming, thanks!

amy

[anupam]

almost all BW films are negative films - I say almost because there was Agfa Scala and also you could technically process BW films to produce positives - but that involves some pretty exotic stuff. For most practical purposes you can say slide films are color films.

[glen_evans1]

Amy C, If you want to use slide film for BW, go to dr5.com; they process slide film into BW transparencies (slides), the whole process is mostly vodoo but it sure looks interesting. The best BW negative film I have ever used for portraits is Ilford FP4, this film is incredible. I send my best BW stuff to mylab.com in Tucson, professional, reasonable, and fast. BW-yes, film-yes, go get 'em, Glen