Velvia 100 Magenta Cast

[rickbehl]

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I just got back from a trip to Bali where I tried to get out at sunrise a few times to shoot the volcanoes and rice terraces. I shot a mixture of Velvia 50 and Velvia 100 in both 120 (on a Pentax 67) and 35mm (on a Nikon F6). As I was often shooting with a sky that was much lighter than the landscape I was using my Lee Graduated ND filters a fair bit as well as sometimes a warming and/or Circular Polariser.</p>

<p>After getting back the slides from the lab I noticed that the Velvia 100 slides seem to have a distinct Magenta cast which is especially visible in clouds when I have used a 2 or 3 stop GND filter. I am using Lee filters so quality should be fine with these. In fact I have very similar if not exactly the same shots on the Velvia 50 and I don't see any magenta.</p>

<p>Has anyone else experienced this magenta cast problem? Could it be the lab? Or is there a known issue with using the Lee ND's with Velvia 100?</p>

<p>Any help would be appreciated as I'm planning my next trip so I want to make sure I get my film choice correct.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance,<br>

Rick</p>

 

[david_henderson]

<p>All the Velvia variants have a tendency to exaggerate the traces of colour you find in low light early or late in the day. The difference between them is, in my experience, that its Velvia 50 that tends to give a blue or magenta cast to early shots and that Velvia 100 tends to overcall the red side of the spectrum. These casts are particularly noticeable before the sun lights up the landscape in the morning and after the sun has sunk below the horizon at night. In short Velvias are not particularly faithful or easily controllable films in these conditions and personally I tend to use Provia in these conditions, maybe with a warming filter if the light looks blueish in the shadows. </p>

<p>I have seen Lee filters with definite colour casts causing pink clouds ; equally I've seen Hitechs with blue and purple/brown casts and also Cokins. But the fact that you've got shots in the same conditions with another film seems to rule out a major filter issue here, and of course you may have been using the grads for a long period? That said I think that if the film is producing colour casts at all then the act of reducing the light via the grad will tend to increase that problem- though whether thats an interrelation with the grad or simply a response to a longer exposure I can't tell. If there's no colour cast visible when you place the grads on a Lightbox or on white paper/paintwork , then this is something you'll need to live with as you will certainly need to use grads in these conditions. </p>

<p>I think you need to take on board that its very difficult indeed to produce faithful colour on slide film before sunrise and after sunset, and that the precise "fault mode" will vary according to the nuances of colour in the light as well as with the choice of film. So its not easily predictable, and even arming yourself with two or three backs with different emulsions in each does not guarantee perfect results. I would be inclined to give Provia, or some other film more resolutely neutral in low light, a try- but expect mitigation not elimination.</p>

<p> </p>

[francisco_disilvestro]

<p>I have had the same experience with Velvia 100. bracketing at 1/3 stop, will show a magenta cast in the less exposed frames (no filters used). </p>

<p>Using graduated ND filters the effect is more pronounced, especially if the filter is not perfectly neutral. I use singh-ray "Galen Rowel" graduated ND filters, and this cast does not show when using other films.</p>

 

[stephen_schoof1]

<p>I have had the same experience using Singh-Ray grads. It is a characteristic of V100 and one reason I don't like it as much as 50. Of course the 50 also gives 'non-neutral' results in many situations, but I find the color shifts pleasing rather than objectionable. If you need heavy filtration at twilight and don't want to use 50 (because of color shifts, speed, or reciprocity failure) you might also try Velvia 100F. (I do recommend it somewhat reluctantly as I have had both good and ghastly results from it in dusky light - it can be a difficult film to predict.)</p>

[nick_davis]

<p>This has happened to me several times with Velvia 100, 100F, and Provia 400. All three times it was do to expired film. Do you know what the date on the film box was? Mine were from between 2001 and 2003 and they were bad even though they had been frozen ever since I bought them.</p>

[rickbehl]

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

<p>So it seems that the magenta cast could be a common problem... That's a shame as I was looking for a film that had the Velvia look but the extra stop. I suppose I could always push Velvia 50 by one stop (rated at ISO 100) which I believe gives reasonable results too. Although my lab does charge an extra 50% for processing anything rated other than it's specified speed. I think I could experiment with Velvia 100F too as I have used it in 35mm before and don't believe I experienced any strange colour shifts. I know some people don't like the 'F' version too much but I didn't find it too offensive... Or I could just choose to only use the velvia 100 where I know I will not be shooting with ND's or any open skies where the problem is most evident.</p>

<p>The film I was using was all bought new in the last couple of months so I don't believe there should be any issue caused by aging film, etc...</p>

[asimrazakhan]

<p>i've shot extensively with velvia 50 and 100. i can't stand 100F. i've found that the 100 has the magenta cast on mostly grey colored subjects, though it can be found elsewhere. velvia 50 is great but i've searched extensively for a 100 iso replacement. i basically went out and bought one roll of all the variety of fuji and kodak rolls, shot 36 of the same images with each roll and went out and got them developed at the same lab. this all took place in korea so prices were very good. </p>

<p>i eventually found that velvia 50 is in a category of its own. i didn't even find kodak VS100 to be similar. the kodak was more yellow and seemed a bit blotchy with bright subjects in harsh lighting. </p>

<p>velvia 100 is fine but i don't like the reds. additionally, earthy colors such as dirt, trees, rocks, skin etc don't ever seem as nice as velvia 50. they seem too 'cartoon' like. i don't know how else to describe it. velvia 50 keeps earthy colors looking natural and bright colors looking saturated.</p>

<p>eventually i found that the most promising replacement for velvia 50 is provia 100F. it doesn't get too saturated but it does punch up bright colors. additionally, like velvia 50, it keeps earthy colors looking natural. </p>

<p>if films were body builders; velvia 50 would be on steroids, provia would be all natural, and astia would never have gone to the gym. velvia 100 would come somewhere between provia and velvia 50.<br>

try provia 100F. you should like it. if you want more of a warmth to the colors, then i would recom<br>

mend using an 81A warming filter and for a polaraizer use a 'warming polarizer.'</p>

<p>hope this helps</p>

 

[rickbehl]

<p>Thanks Asim. Seems like you have already gone through the extensive testing process. I have used Provia 100F but found that while colours do are rendered pretty accurately they just lack a little of the 'X-Factor' that landscape/nature photography usually benefits from. Maybe I will try the warming/polarizer combination to see if that helps with it's body-building abilities... I know not all folk agree with the Velvia look but I'm pretty sure a high percentage of published landscape photographs from the last number of years were shot on the emulsion and I happen to like the look.</p>

<p>For those who are interested here is a very interesting article on the comparison between Velvia, Provia and a few others:<br>

http://www.timparkin.co.uk/blog/velvia_astia_provia_pro160_digital</p>

<p>Also some other pretty interesting articles for the landscape photographer on there.</p>

<p>Cheers, Rick</p>

 

[dan_south]

<blockquote>

<p>I was using my Lee Graduated ND filters</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Lee Graduated ND filters are not entirely color-neutral. Try photographing a white sky through them sometime and you'll see some color that you didn't expect to be there. It's kind of an orange or copper color, and sometimes it enhances the look of the sky, but it's not completely neutral.</p>

<p>That said, Lee filters don't add magenta, so that's probably from the film. I found that the original Velvia 50 added magenta to dusk shots of 20 seconds or longer. I don't use the new Velvia 50 enough to know if it's still a problem. Velvia 100 seems to hold its color more predictably in long exposures, but it probably has its limits as well.</p>

<p> </p>

[shaun_burrage]

Velvia 100 definitely gives a magenta cast. I experimented with it after years of using velvia 50. Couldn't stand the magenta cast. Canned

it...