What Color Film are you using?

[johnmarkpainter]

I am getting ready to go through a color photography phase.....

 

I will likely be scanning for the most part.

 

It has been a while since I have shot color, but I generally used Fuji Color

Film....Reala, Fujipress, Superia etc.

 

I like nice Vivid color, but not Fake looking hyped color.

 

For slides, I have used Velvia before (great of course).

 

What is a good fast Slide Film? Provia?

What should I try?

 

My main Lens is a "Summicron Rigid" 50 I have only shot one roll of color on

it to test it right when I bought it and it looked good.

 

Thanks for the insight.

 

jmp

[charles barcellona www.bl]

Portra-UC, with a ND8 filter in daylight.

[jerry_freeman1]

I'm in B/W mode these days, but when I shot print film it was Superia, and Provia

slide. Tried Porta NC, didn't like it as much. Unedited Superia scan from 2002...jf<div></div>

[john_collier2]

Ektachrome E100G and Portra 400NC

[EricM]

Velvia 50, Provia 100F

[wgpinc]

I shoot slide film mostly but occasionally shoot 400 Superia for people or portraits. The slide films I use are Kodak Elite VS EBX which is pretty saturated, rich colors and handles underexposure well or Sensia 100 which is the amateur version of Astia and gives very rich natural colors and great skin tones. I was going to go back to use Velvia again but when I called up Adorama I ended up buying the Elite Chrome again because it is 100 ISO and seems to handle contrasty situations better than Velvia. I may get back to Velvia again. It is a beautiful, rich fine grained film if exposed properly. But the other two I'm using seem more versatile to me right now and fortunately they are inexpensive. Good luck.

[andrew n.bra hrefhttp]

Unless you need to project images, think of using colour C41 negative film instead of

slide. Much greater dynamic range (ie. detail in highlights and shadows) and much

easier to cope with different colour temperatures. If you do your own scans then you

also have complete control over the final colour, whereas with E6 you are pretty much

stuck with what's on the trannie.

 

I currently use two C41 films: Kodak Supra 200 for outdoors/daylight; Fuji Press 800

(or NPZ 800) for indoors/night/artificial light.

[furcafe]

Kodak Gold 100, Supra 400, & Portra 400 UC. Fuji Superia

Reala & NPZ.

[mike_elek]

I really like Portra 160NC.

 

Slides: I've gotten to like Sensia 200 plus my old favorites Ektachrome 200 and Kodachrome 64 (which is increasingly becoming more difficult/nearly impossible at times to find a shop that will handle it).

[mr._kenny]

as much as i really like kodak b+w and hope they stay around, i prefer fuji color neg films. i really really like reala 100 -- very lifelike color. also prints conventionally extremely well and prints on a frontier system are fantastic. home scans are a bit hit-and-miss though.<br />

for high speed/low light i like npz shot at 640 (true speed) to 1600 -- but no more, it falls through the floor with a 2-stop push, quite dramatically. and it's sharper than nph(400) to boot!<br />

if you're scanning films, you're better off with most scanners going with a slide film ihmo. i print color in my own darkroom optically, so i almost never buy slide, can't help you there.

[tom h.]

Kodak Elite chrome II (100 and 200 asa), and kodachome 64/

200 when you want less saturation. I'm way over Velvia (too

cold).

 

Tom

[Jeffrey L.T. von Glück]

Agfra Ultracolor 100 for prints, Velvia for slides; for extra speed with a negative film, Kodak Portra 400UC.

[Rob F.]

Superia, mostly in 400 and 800. I tried Reala, and thought the color was great; but I wish they made a faster version. Mostly I shoot slides. Vevia 50, Velvia 100, Provia 100 and 400. Kodachrome 200. Ektachrome EPP100 when I want to bring out the color of blue water and green foliage in the woods. I've been carrying a roll of Ektachrome 1600 around, but haven't run it through the camera yet.

[matt_m__toronto_]

today: kodak portra nc because the lab ran out of fuji npc. i've used it before, but can't remember if i like. if i do, well, the film is cheaper than the fuji equivelant, so a change could be in order.

[ras1500]

I don't scan negatives, but for conventional processing it's hard to beat Fuji Reala for 100 speed film. I also like Kodak Portra400UC when a 400 speed film is required.

[Robin Smith]

Velvia 50 and 100F, Astia 100F, Sensia 100 and 200, K64 and K200. Pretty well zeroing in on Velvia 100F and Astia 100F/Sensia 100 these days. For Color print NPH/NHGII (still have plenty) and Portra 400UC.

[gary_pinkerton1]

Kodachrome 64 and 200, Agfa Vista 100 and 200.

[Robin Smith]

"whereas with E6 you are pretty much stuck with what's on the trannie. "

 

That is what I like about scanning slides! I have to say I still prefer to scan a slide anyday over a negative film as it is so much easier and using Vuescan there are scarcely ever color balance issues for me with slides. This is not to say you cannot get nice results with neg film, but it is always more tricky I think.

[patricks]

Fuji Reala. Prints really well, can't seem to scan it very well on my Minolta Scan Dual III though...

[erik_den_hartigh]

In the past years I did only B+W. But befor that I used a lot of Agfa RS(X) professional slide film. The 50 and 100 asa had very neutral colors. Unlike most people I don't like the vivid and saturated colors most current films will give you. It's a matter of taste of course. The Agfa 200 asa has a distinct 'pastel-like' color rendition. I think it's the only slide film that has this. In the past Agfa even used to make a 1000 asa slide film. I only once used one and it was so incredibly beautiful with very soft colors and very visible grain.

 

I don't know so much about scanning film, but I remember from enlarging in the darkroom that color negative film is much more difficult to calibrate than slide film. With color negative film it's very difficult to filter out tricky color casts. I suspect, but correct me if I'm wrong, that you will encounter the same problems with color negative in the digital darkroom.

[stephen_w.]

100 Reala for days, 400UC for night.

[hil3]

I have used chromes for years and finally bought a scanner this summer, a Nikon Coolscan IV ED. I have been having a very difficult time scanning E6 films, both Kodak and Fuji. Cannot get sufficient detail in shadow areas, even with Vuescan. I either print dark or get significant posterization effects. With a lot of futzing, I got good prints out of Kodachrome.

 

Last week, I decided to try print film to see how it would scan. I bought a roll of plain ol' Kodak MAX 400 and, like an idiot, exposed it at 1600 ISO (forgot to change the setting on the dial). Figuring that neg film has a greater exposure range than chromes, I had it developed with a one-stop push.

 

To my surprise, the film scanned beautifully! The negs looked a little thin but the scanner dug everything out at Vuescan default settings. Printed 9x7 virtually grainlessly on my Epson 780, with vivid but not overly saturated colors,natural skin tones, and lots of fine detail. Gonna try it again this weekend, but at 400 and 800 ISO, both with normal development.

 

I may be wrong, but I figure since I am doing my own scanning, Photoshop processing, and printing, what's the point of using expensive pro films? I'll tweak the saturation and tone to where I like it anyways.

[jay_.]

Portra 160VC. I don't know about the scanning, it's the last thing I want to waste my time doing, I let my lab guy sit in some musty room tearing his hair out. I just go out and shoot.

[ofey_kalakar]

For color print film, Reala

For color slide film, Provia 100 or 400

[bruno_menilli]

John

 

I second Erik's view of Agfa film's beautiful and neutral colours.

 

Regards

 

Bruno