Subject: Cyan cast with Velvia 100 - normal, bad roll or bad processing?

[bruce johnson]

I just got back my first roll of Velvia 100 from the developer. With

it I got back 4 rolls of Velvia 50 and one of Provia 100F. The

Velvia 50 and Provia 100F all look as I've come to expect them to.

The roll of Velvia 100 looks a little soft with poor contrast

(compared to the Velvia 50 and Provia 100F) and a bad cyan cast. Two

of the slides actually had a bright cyan blob about 0.2 mm in

diameter in them. I've now got 5 more rolls at the developer and I'm

quite worried.

 

 

I'm having a hard time believing that Velvia 100 could be that poor

without me having heard anything about it yet, so here are my

questions: (1) has anyone else experience this with Velvia 100? (2)

is it at all possible that I could have had a bad roll or that the

developer goofed somehow? I just don't know enough about film and

developing to know if that's possible.

[arnabdas]

By Velvia 100 you mean the 100F right? Velvia 100 (non-F) is rumored to be available only in Japan.

 

Anyway -- my experience with Velvia 100F has been nice overall, I did not notice any color cast. If the "bright cyan blob" is not something that you photographed, then your lab might be doing a sloppy job.

[marshall]

Haven't seen that. Lab problem or single roll problem, maybe?

[les_de_moss1]

Bruce- Ask your lab for information on their process. See if they can tell you if all rolls were run at the same time, the Velvia and Provia. If they were, it indicates a bad roll of film, perhaps heat damaged (not necessarily by you, but perhaps before purchase). That would explain the cyan/low contrast. IF the the film/invoice is twin-checked, and the numbers are consecutive, or very close, it would indicated they may have been run together.

 

The bright cyan dots, however, are not easily explained by a bad roll of film... and pints to a chemical stain or area of uneven development. Nitrogen is used to agitate (stir) the developer during processing. A bubble *can* attached to the film and prevent proper procesing in that area.

 

If you are using a mass-processor/photo-finisher like that from a supermarket, you'd do well to find and use a smaller local lab for your processing.... where you can speak to the technicians when problems like this arise.

 

Good Luck!

 

Les De Moss

 

www.digi-graphics.com

[bruce johnson]

Arnab - yes I mean Velvia 100F

 

Les - I plan to call the lab today, I just posted last night to get some info before calling them so that I'd have a little more insight before talking to them. I unfortunately live in a smaller town and drop my film off at the local photo store (they only process c-41)which then sends the E-6 film to a larger lab in the nearest city. They've developed hundreds of rolls for me in the past and I've only had a couple rolls where I had concerns with the developing, this may be another one. Thanks for some insight on the processing, I'll call them this morning and see what they have to say. My fingers are crossed for the next 5 rolls cause I've got some good shots on there.

[robert_james]

I have tested Velvia 100 (not 100F!) vs the original Velvia 50. In short, Velvia 100 is a disaster. Terrible. That's why Fuji is bringing the Velvia 50 back.

 

Velvia 100 either overexposes the sky or hides shadow detail. An extremely unforgiving slide film. In precise testing, Velvia 50 had 1 stop to 1.5 stops better latitude, had better color, and better sharpness. Velvia 100 makes silver cars look magenta, and forests a boring blue-green, with no variances like in Velvia 50. Basically, I get 85 good slides out of 100 with Velvia 50, and just the reverse with Velvia 100. Velvia 100 makes Velvia 100F look great. Fuji really blew this one.