Fast colour neg film in street at night. No flash.

[terry_rory]

So you are out with your f1.4 , f1.2 or even f1 (lucky dog!) among

the city lights and in the bars and cafe's shooting wide open and in

colour.

 

You eschew (bless you!) filters like 80a but still want as little

colour cast as possible. You want a fast film and the tripod WILL

stay at home cos its not exactly cool to use one here at night in the

bad streets. (You may not even be using the viewfinder for some shots

so you need some latitude.)

 

Whats the film you want with you? 400? 800? 1600? 1000? Which brand?

 

You want the colour of the street life at night in all its glory cos

you did the black and white last week. Thats done. Today its colour.

You are not a natural/neutral colour sort of guy so you want the

colours to shout just like the city does.

 

(Please dont tell me its Velvia with ND grad and a tripod and a cable

release cos I will laugh in your face.)

 

If I dont get any better advice I will use the new Portra 400 UC. But

I know there a lots of you out there who can suggest something

better. What is it please?

[andy_piper2]

Actually, Trevor, I'm experimenting with the Portra 400 UC right now as a documentary film, and so far it looks pretty good - although like all color neg film it DOES NOT LIKE underexposure - lots o' grain and muddy color if you go under. It seems to be a pretty true 400, but don't let the bright city lights bias your metering!</p>

</p>

It seems to have a little higher image quality than the 'press'-type 400's I've used (Kodak Supra 400 - Fuji Superia 400). The color is not excessive, but clearly a notch up in saturation from the other Portra films, and scans into my Nikon scanner's defaults pretty much right on for color balance.</p>

</p>

See attached. Also be aware I've only expereinceed 2 rolls so far.</p><div></div>

[terry_rory]

Looks a bit fishy to me :-)

 

Seriously though, I have tried 2 courtesy rolls of Portra 400 UC sent

to me by Kodak 3 weeks ago but only in broad daylight. The results were good but night-time is a different kettle of fish. (Groan)

 

I tend to err on the side of overexposure and would probably crank any film up +1/2 a stop for safety.

 

I hear you when you advise about metering for some lower level of lighting than the brightest lights and would probably meter from my hand (reflecting the lights) to ensure peoples faces come out OK.

 

Thanks

[henk]

Fuji Superia 800 'Press' is great, the 400 has a little less saturation IMO, nothing really bad though, grain is about the same.

 

Greetings,

[john_amiet3]

I support henke's comments. Depending on your country, what it is called (I think). Here in Melbourne australia I use FujiPress 800. I think it is the same as henke uses. I use heaps of it. Important to get good processing AND good printing. When handled properly (process) it is quite a remarkable film. I process my own which is an advantage, especially with printing. Handles mixed lighting very well. I suggest grain will not show in what you are proposing as natural contrast will probably be high. Don't try to push it. Not worth it. Give it a go. Good luck.

[furcafe]

Try the new(er) 800 emulsions like Fuji's NPZ or Press 800 (I

also like Kodak's Supra 800).

[anupun_sra_ium]

Fuji Press 800 can handle mixed lighting very well especially if you rate it at E.I. 640. It still yields acceptable result when rated at E.I. 2000 and pushed 2 stops.

 

It is so good that I switched medium speed films (ISO 100, 160) from Kodak to Fuji just to match the colour rendition of Press 800.

[kevin_hundsnurscher]

Fuji Superia 800, NHG II and Fuji Superia 1600 work great at night at 1/60th.

Here's a couple of images taken at night with these films at 1/60th (Varied f-stops of course):<br>

<a href="http://elaisted.com/1015/shaneevil.jpg">Fuji Superia 800</a><br>

<a href="http://elaisted.com/heather/mediumformat/heather-crouching-hips.jpg">Fuji NHG-II 800</a><br>

<a href="http://elaisted.com/invasion/noelscream.jpg">Fuji Superia 1600</a>

[scott_eaton]

<I>If I dont get any better advice I will use the new Portra 400 UC.</i><P>Why should we bother? You know the answer to this question is NPZ followed by Superia/Press 800, but of course NPZ is just too expensive so you won't use it. Not our problem.<P>Oh, and in case you missed it, my answer was NPZ followed by Superia/Press 800.<P>

English Version: NPZ followed by Superia/Press 800<P>Now don't use NPZ or Superia/Press 800 and use a 400 speed film.

[terry_rory]

Scott, quit the attitude. I am not asking YOU to personally bother. I think people get wary about asking you anything unless its to say... "Scott how can I be as magic as you?"

 

Prices of film here in the UK is astronomical compared to the USA.

 

The last roll of NPH 400 I purchased last week was £5.25 UK (High street retail). What is it there? $3?

 

Everyone else, thanks for the friendly advice and I will try out Fuji Press 800 as that seems to be the consensus here.

 

It appears I regularly commit the cardinal sin of trying (even liking!) other films than Fuji Professional products and this really irks Scott. I lost respect for his every utterance when he revealed in a different thread that he was happy to pass off out of date / sub-standard paper on non-professionals in his lab, for a laugh, describing them as 'losers' (or customers to you and me.). Nice one mate.

[andrew1]

Ugh. You bring up a sore point. My favorite film for this kind of

stuff- Konica SRG 3200 Color Neg- was discontinued a few

years ago. I still have about ten rolls in the freezer. If you can

find any of this that has been well stored (it doesn't take well to

temperature changes) shoot it at 2000-2500 and be delighted.

I've heard that Konica is going to/has released a new 1600

Centurion film- anyone tried that? I haven't seen it, but am eager

to find some since the demise of SRG. I've read that their new

Centurion films are all very good, with nice skin tones and good

saturation.

 

Otherwise, most of the new 800 speed films are pretty good- I've

had great results from the (cheap!) Fuji 800 CZ; Fuji NHG-II is my

favorite 800 speed color neg film; Kodak's 800 Portra is very

good too, though a bit more dosh.

[terry_rory]

I have checked and yes Konica Centuria 1600 is available here at £5.90 UK for 36. I was'nt aware of it before. Thanks for another idea.

[roger_michel]

i am not trying to be mean-spirited in any way, but i do think film is an odd place to economize. surely the realtively small differences in cost must be swamped by processing costs and the amortized cost of the equipment. and then there's the value of your time . . . . it's not as though you are using the really cheap stuff to begin with. what kind of price differences are we talking about?? npz is such a lovely emulsion.

[david b]

Perhaps the implied suggestion of rudeness towards anyone who suggests something you don't think is sensible advice - or what you've made up your mind you don't want to hear - will put people off?

[peterg]

I, too, recommend the Fuji 400 or 800 ASA print film, though I set the ASA dial to whatever the next lower ASA setting below what's marked on the box on my M6 for best color saturation. I like the color rendition and in 4x6 prints, the grain is nearly invisible, unless shots are underexposed.

[pphaneuf]

Fuji NPZ exposed at 640 (or maybe even 400-500, if the lighting is really off balance). It will take a 1 stop push quite nicely (just had one of these developed, one stop push and exposed at 1250, came out very nice), and a 2 stop push is probably not out of the question either.

[Rob F.]

No recommendations for Kodak Max 800? Hmm, I'd better try that Fuji Superia myself before I recommend anything.

[john_locher]

Fujicolor Press 800 is the high speed film that I've used at almost every paper I've worked at (that shoots film). It's great film with good grain (for 800) and handles different lighting situations well.

 

john

[watts]

Trevor, <a href="http://www.7dayshop.com">7dayshop</a> sell

NPZ for under 2.70GBP a roll. They are one of the Channel

Islands based outfits that exploit a VAT loophole. They are a

reliable supplier to deal with - though they are a little slow. It

takes about a week or so to recieve an order (I guess they are

not called 7day shop for nothing!)

[i want my photo.net histor]

Trevor try www.7dayshop.com for film. There prices are really good. They are also reliable but slow. Make sure you order a week or two in advance of when you need the film.

 

Hope that helps.

[Richard Williams]

You might also try www.speedgraphic.co.uk or Mathers (advert in AP) for bulk film purchase. Maybe not as cheap as 7dayshop or MX2, but with reputations for quick and reliable delivery.

[hoyin_lee1]

I've tried Fujicolor NPZ 800 and like the result. The 120 format version was my first (and only, so far) experience with this film. It was used to test a 6x4.5 camera custom-rigged with a Super-Angulon 47mm lens. The setting was a dimly lit street at 3 am in the morning. Speed was 1/8 or 1/15 second with the lens wide open at f5.6. The only support I had was by leaning against a lamppost or a wall.

 

</p>Looking at the contact sheet, the film seems to perform well under both incandescent and flourescent lighting. Images taken under a sodium street lamp don't show as strong a yellow cast than expected, and skin colour appears fairly natural under flourescent lighting. Grain is surprisingly good--not a single grainy shot, not even the under-exposed ones (then again, I was shooting medium format).

 

</p>That's only my amateur's assessment of the film; others in this forum may have more professional opinions, which I would very much like to hear.

[jason_eitelbach2]

Fuji 800, Fuji 800, Fuji 800!!! Either NPZ or fujipress depending on your preference for color sat. / contrast. You also might look at adding an 82C filter to your lens. It's a light blue filter that will get you a little closer to daylight balance, without losing to much light and interesting color.