Review of Astia v E100S for scenics

[don_atzberger]

Just got the slides back from a head-to-head comparison of these two films. With this comparison, I shot all scenics -- woods, shorelines, flowers & such -- hence the posting here. All scenes were shot with the same lenses, apertures and shutter speeds.

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Results are as follows:

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The two films have remarkably similar color rendition and both were beautiful. In most scenes, it'd be difficult to tell which one was which. Green foliage was very natural looking -- very close to Kodachrome greens which are the gold standard IMO. Oranges (sunsets) were slightly better on the E100S, but that may be due to a discrepancy in the rated speed of the Astia (see below). There isn't much in the way of fall foliage around here yet, so the foliage reds and golds will have to wait for another day. Early sunset shots with less orange and more yellow were much more similar on the two films.

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Both films had near Kodachrome sharpness. Finely divided lines were crisp and clear even when the contrast between the two areas was minimal. Specifically, a grey sky against the horizon on the lake was very sharp. Boats on the water, swimmers, etc, stood out beautifully.

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The Astia had a propensity to be a hair underexposed. In quite a few of the slides, it looked about 1/3 stop under. Astia might do better shot at EI-80 in the situations I was shooting. Most notably, sunset scenes with a lot of sky looked slightly dark. Despite this, the Astia had better contrast latitude than the E100S. In scenes where the highlights looked about the same, there was noticeably more shadow detail than with the E100S. Even in scenes where the Astia's highlights were not as bright, the shadows were as good or better than the E100S. In scenes where the shadow areas looked similar, the E100S had a slight bit more tendency to blow out the highlights.

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Subjectively, I liked the E100S better, but that may be due to variance in the rated film speed. By all accounts, the Kodak E-films are dead-on at ISO-100; I'm not sure this is true of Astia. I plan to shoot some Astia at EI-80 against E100S fo level the playing field a bit more and report the results. This will likely occur as the fall colors emerge in the next several weeks. The Cleveland Air Show is coming up and I might shoot some Astia there as well.

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Unfortunately, I didn't get any animals on this outing. I'll try to do this as the autumn progresses.

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Stay Tuned...

[bill_meyer]

Don, I would be interested in your results when you shoot Astia at EI 80 against E100S. Thanks for your info.

[gx680lugger]

I have been shooting E100S and SW since they became available here in the red rock national parks of Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon etc. I grabbed some Astia and gave it a try a month ago, and like it very much. I agree with Don Atzberger on their similarities. I think that my overall favorite would have to be E100SW as it tends to warm up the blues in the shadows in my early and late light shots which account for 90% of my landscapes (without having to play with filters).

 

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I venture forth anymore without some Velvia, Astia, E100S and E100SW in my cooler, as all four have their place.

[murray_bycroft]

Your comments were interesting but you did not say you used the same CAMERA. Obviously that would be critical in any comparison of film speeds.

[don_atzberger]

Re: Murray's comment.

 

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The cameras' shutters have been tested and are accurate. I used one camera to meter the scene and set the other to exactly the same shutter speed and aperture.

[paul_di_biase]

Don, if you completed your testing of Astia and its proper film speed

can you share the results with us? Thanks.