Aoresteen Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 Thanks to all who responed to my previous posts. I'm trying to decide on a film for my wife to use when we travel. She likes to shoot landscapes & buildings & floweres etc. She uses a 35mm SLR so film size is 35mm. For each trip she wants to produce an album of about 50 8x10's and then some 11x14's to mount and hang on the wall. Maybe a 16x20 for an exceptional shot. Last year she took a lot of Provira slide fim and likes the way it looks. But printing in the darkroom is a pain now that R3 materials are gone. I have a color enlarger and would make the prints myself. So, what color negative film would serve her best? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbq Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 If you want to enlarge to 16x20, get something slow. ISO 100 or slower. I like The Fuji Superia range (easy to work on a scanner), I've used them in 200-400-800 speeds. Maybe you want to experiment with a bit for Konica Impresa first to see if that would be acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 I would definitely try Konika Impressa 50. Reviews I read indicated that it was the print analogue of Velvia, though in my experience it is too blue when shooting in very cool light (though a polarizer would take care of that, I didn't have one with me when I used this.) On the few occasions where I have used print film while travelling I have had great success with Kodak's Portra 160VC: great grain, great color, and nicely warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Luttmann Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 I've had my best results with Fuji Reala 100 in both 35mm & MF 6x7. The grain is incredibly fine, the color is vibrant but natural and accurate. 16x20 from 35mm is always a stretch, but Reala can certainly handle it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.t. dowling Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 If you try Impresa 50, beware that you may actually need to shoot it at 40 or even 32. This was the advice given to me by various photo.net experts. Personally, I'd probably go with Reala and perhaps Portra 400UC in case I needed the extra speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emaxxman Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 My everyday film is Fuji Superia-Reala 100 (CS100). It is fairly nuetral but has very strong colors, fine grained, and is great in harsh light or overcast light with some fill flash. I've only gone as high as 11x14. I'm not sure if you can get really nice 16x20 shots without first scanning. It seems to be a subject of great debate as to how large you print 35mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_frank Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 If you are printing yourself in a color darkroom, for this sort of thing it is near impossible to beat konica impresa. At least that is my opinion; I shoot and print color negatives and have tried everything fuji has to offer but konica beats them all for fine grain and saturation. This film gets mangled by 1 hour labs but is capable of amazing results when printed by hand by a knowledgeable printer. It is capable from 35mm of producing remarkably good 16x20s, although a very good negative is needed. I shoot it mainly in 6x7 and it can be stunning for landscapes. It does well in both soft and hard light. I would not recommend it for portraits. If you anticipate including people in your shots, carry another film as well. oh yeah - I print it on Crystal Archive type CDII, although it's also nice on type P for higher contrast images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_tuthill Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 Tom Emerson, do you have any sample scans showing off Portra 160VC? I didn't see any in your portfolios, and I'm still trying to understand why photographers like this film. I'd call it muddy (especially under overcast skies) rather than warm. Vuk uses it in fashion photography to enhance colors of clothing while keeping skin-tones unobtrusive. Just a note on Portra 400UC for landscapes: I have never seen a film retain blue in overexposed clear skies so well. It looks fine in overcast weather although perhaps there's too much contrast for midday sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 Bill T, I will go through my negatives and see what I can find that was taken with 160VC. If I find anything I'll scan and upload for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oliver_tan1 Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 If you want really weird colors, try Agfa Ultra 100 @ EI1600 and developed 5 stops over. Just make sure you don't have people in your picture or you'll be sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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