dwmitchell Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>Stephen, I'm happy to hear that Fuji has been increasing film production this year. The lab I frequent in Toronto mentioned that they've been doing "tons" of E6 and have no intention of dropping it anytime soon (although the prices have been raised slightly).<br> John-Paul - I find all of the images you've posted pleasing to the eye, even if the first one doesn't match the scene as you saw it. Personally I find that the beauty of Velvia is that it generally enhances a scene.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>Stephen, I agree the textures are beyond belief. Here are some more tiny crops from the images above:</p> <div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>And even so, my work in TMAX (under the microscope) gets even much finer than Velvia 50.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>John, I am not sure I can tell whether your if picture looks unrealistic without being at the scene. Velvia has its own tonal signature that's for sure. What scanner did you use?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>If all films looked the same we would only have 1 type of film I figure so every film has a place.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielleetaylor Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p><em>Daniel, you are confused.</em></p> <p>No, you just can't take an honest critique.</p> <p><em>These are 100MP RGB uninterpolated color scans. You could stitch 10 DSLR shots but good luck catching the geyser burst ha ha.</em></p> <p>I don't care if they're 1 GP scans, the color balance/contrast complaints still stand. Your detail crops don't blow me away as being better than well shot full frame digital, particularly the branches which look worse than I would expect from 6x7. But regardless of the detail you think you have, who cares if the color and contrast are all wrong?</p> <p><em>You should use the film as you envision, not as you read on a book.</em></p> <p>I didn't read that in a book, I learned it from experience. It probably is in a book because I would imagine it's a pretty common experience. When I shot film I stopped shooting Velvia, any slide film in fact, under harsh light because it just doesn't look good. The contrast goes way over the top leading to blocked shadows, harsh colors, and yet the entire time you look at the image you feel like you're wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. Velvia under full mid day sun just never looks right.</p> <p><em>Funny you don't even know what Velvia looks like. There is no post processing (zero cooking). It is Velvia 50 with a polarized straight of the scanner. You should try to understand Velvia.</em></p> <p>Yes, I understand there's no Photoshop involved. And I understand that you assume the shot is gold because you didn't use Photoshop and you think this makes it a "real" photograph. Never the less, the image is way over the top and unnatural. You cooked it by shooting a high contrast film with a polarizer under harsh light. You don't need Photoshop to cook a scene.</p> <p>I understand Velvia quite well and that's why I would have never thought to shoot Velvia under that light. And if I only had Velvia in the bag with that light I certainly would not have added a polarizer, and then shot at that angle to the sun. The sky is practically black in the top right corner. Where on Earth do you see dark blue fade to black sky under mid day sun? That shot is unnatural in a way which detracts from the image. It screams "manipulation." Again, you don't need Photoshop to manipulate a scene.</p> <p>But if you want to shoot harsh, blue green photos at mid day you can do so with a DSLR. Just shove the contrast and saturation to the max, and manually throw off the color balance. Velvia duplicated. Thing is you wouldn't want to duplicate Velvia for the mid day scenes.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>Don't take the bait.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>Larry, I saw your comment and went back and deleted my response. Thank you.</p> <p>I love Velvia.</p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottferris Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>wow. those crops Mauro keeps doing are AMAZING! I haven't found any shops locally that sell the Velvia but the next time I take a road trip I am picking it up by the CASE! John-Paul, that second Jockey Hollow image is awesome. You guys have deffinatly sold me on some Velvia.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>Life is grand.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>It sure is.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willscarlett Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 <p>Glad we could sell some people on Velvia! I don't just have complaints with Velvia tho, I also have my issues with Kodak reversal film. I shot a roll of EPN back in March that had a very blue/neutral/cold tint to it. I've also shot EPP and Kodachrome that had a blue hue, especially if the scene wasn't in direct sunlight, but also Kodachrome, EPP and EPR that came out with no color tints at all. Perhaps it's because of the lower dynamic range? These are just some things I've noticed about reversal film that I've not so much noticed with print film.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottferris Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Real quick, just to make sure I'm on the same page lingo wise, reversal film is negative, print film is a slide? Is Velvia a negative or slide film?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willscarlett Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Scott, it's the other way around - reversal film is slide film and print film is negative film. Velvia is slide film. Slide films have better color saturation compared to negative films, but negative films have a greater dynamic range and are much more forgiving if your shots are over or underexposed.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen_asprey2 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Look at Ken's galleries.....he sells these for $2500 a print. Velvia at its best in my opinion. Saturated colours, infinite depth and grainless texture. But hey...being slide film, there is no latitude for error and little scope for changes in post. Most are printed to order, hence the price.</p> <p>www.kenduncan.com</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan_arva_toth Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Some great images there Mauro. Velvia is a film I revisit time and again. Here is one of my favourites taken on 35mm Velvia (the old 50 speed Velvia that reads just RVP on the perforated edge, not the new Velvia 50 that reads RVP 50):</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_reagan Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Hi gents - nice to be reading posts from folks NOT being defensive about the glories of film. I find the digerati to be pretty much made up of the same bunch that think MP3 files sound just as good as analog, and that typing sentence fragments devoid of vowels with their thumbs on tiny keyboards is an acceptable form of communication. Whatever is the most convenient for must therefore be the best...<br> cheers<br> bernard</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Luttmann Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Daniel,</p> <p>Maybe I could be enlightened if you produced some equivalent crops comparing your DSLR to 6x7 120 film scanned well. Please post some!</p> <p>Regards,</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick j dempsey Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>These images are absolutely inspiring.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshall Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>"Please don't let this beautiful thread degrade into Digital vs Film."<br> To be fair, the thread was started with the comment "(Thank G I left my DSLR home....)". </p> <p>I'm not getting into the points about whether Velvia is good, whether digital is somehow "bad" or even just "worse", and I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone that 6x7 film gets you a lot of detail. But I also don't think anyone should be surprised if a thread started with that parenthetical generates *some* reaction about digital. That is especially true given Mauro's obvious enthusiasm for stating his preferences. <br> People should use the tools that help them get the pictures they want. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randyhargraves Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Mauro (and other Velvia guys here):<br> I've always had trouble with Velvia images coming out very cool or blueish. I switched to Provia and it seems to match the scene a little better usually. I'd like to get my Velvia shots to look as good but it just hasn't happened. Are you using a warming filter in these images and if so, which one? Thanks.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>No warming filters. Just a polarizer occasionally.<br> What camera and scanner do you use? The only time I had bluish results from Velvia was when I was using an old TLR with a first generation coating on the lens.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Here is an example:</p> <p> </p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willscarlett Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>Mauro, I have a Nikon CS 9000 for all my scanning. Also, in terms of comparing Velvia to Provia, I find Provia to have much more of a bluish tint to it.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauro_franic Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 <p>That is true in my experience too John. Provia is definitely bluer than Velvia.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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