Anyone using slides nowadays?

[1936ContaxII]

Is anyone shooting slides nowadays?

Yes . Nothing but slides. I fell in love with slides back in the 80s already and I still prefer them.

• Kodachrome 25 😍 has always been my favourite colour film. Ektachrome 400 HC was beautiful also. And I also liked Ektachrome 800/P1600 a lot.
• Today I use Velvia 50 under a cloudy sky and in the rain, on sunny days I have begun to get comfortable with Ektachrome 100D and I think I will like it a lot - using 81A, B or C filters mostly.
• I have not yet found a good high-speed colour film. I tried Provia 100F pushed to ISO 400 / 27°: it was ok but I am going to check out Ektachrome E100 that way also.
• For black-and-white slides I have been using Agfa Scala back in the 90s, developed by a professional laboratory: beautiful.
• For some years I have been using Fomapan R100 with nice results - not yet as beautiful as Scala, but that might have something to do with the fact that I still have tp practice the DIY developing process (still based on Tetenal Dokumol, in future on Ilford PQ Universal).
• As a black-and-white high speed film I tested Fomapan 400 with good results. Maybe sometime I will give it a try at ISO 800 / 30° also. I also made some pictures on Ilford Delta 3200 with ISO 3200 / 36°. I got wrinkled grain - but my process did not yet work properly with this film. (However, I never heard about anyone trying to reverse Delta 3200 🤣 )
• Rollei Infrared with 720 nm filter for black-and-white infrared slides. I love them.

And of course if you have any pictures please post them...

My one and only favourite colour film: Kodachrome 25 (from 1985, underexposed at a half step, Hanimex wide angle lens 28 mm, Exakta Varex VX) :



Ektachrome 100D (strong Skylight filter, Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 35-135 mm at 135mm, wide open, Contax RTS II)



Rollei Infrared (720 nm filter, Zeiss Planar T* 85 mm f/1.4, Yashica FR I)



Fomapan R100 (1947 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 85 mm f/2, wide open, Contax IIIa)



Ektachrome 800/P1600, in the early 90s (ISO 1600 / 33°, Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 mm f/2.8 from late 60s, Contax RTS II) - wish I could get this film nowadays



Velvia 50 (strong Skylight filter, 1952 Zeiss Opton Sonnar 135 mm f/4, wide open, Contax IIa)



Did I already mention that I adore slides ? 😆

any camera recommendations for it etc.. etc..

You mean medium format cameras - or 35 mm cameras also?
Almost any 35 mm camera can be useful I'd think. But be careful when you try to find out the correct exposure values: Slides should not be overexposed - so make sure to learn about in which way the meter of your camera works.

Filters can be very useful. Check out their effects both on your colour and black-and-white films. I myself love strong skylight filters up to 81 A, B, and C on colour film and yellow/green, orange and strong red filters on black-and-white films.

There are just slight differences (as it seems to me) between several kinds of lens systems. As far as I could see...

• Zeiss T* lenses seem to produce high contrasts and sharpness.
• Sometimes their images are almost a bit too sharp for me... in such situations I prefer old Zeiss Sonnars from the 50s or even uncoated Sonnars from the 30s. This was a 1937 f/2 standard lens, wide open, Contax IIIa (blurred, sorry, I had no tripod) :

• But on most of my slides I also got good results with Canon FD lenses, old Zeiss Jena Biotars and Tessars etc.
• I have just started to check out slide films in a Leicaflex SL with Leitz 2-cam lenses: have not yet developed the films but I suppose they will produce first-class results.

Yes, colour slide films are expensive today. But back in my school days, for me, a Kodachrome 25 was even more difficult to afford and I bought it though. Glad I did.
Black-and-white slides are much cheaper: I use to buy 30.5 meters of Fomapan and Rollei-Infrared. The Dokumol- or PQ-based process is very cheap. So on Fomapan R100 one slide costs about 0.15 €. On Fomapan 400 about 0.10 €. That's pretty cheap, isn't it? 😋

 

[armadsen]

I've been on the "stock alert" waiting list for Fuji films, with both companies, for months. I've never received an in-stock notification. Maybe you were able to purchase 35mm? I've been waiting for 120.

I just looked up my order confirmation email. I purchased 5 rolls of Velvia in 120 and 5 rolls of Provia in 35mm from B&H on December 12.

I also bought a box of 4x5 Provia from Adorama on October 15.

I’ve actually mostly purchased both films from my local camera store for the past few years. I was there last weekend and they had 120 Velvia in stock. I think I last got Provia in both 120 and 35mm from them in October.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

I just looked up my order confirmation email. I purchased 5 rolls of Velvia in 120 and 5 rolls of Provia in 35mm from B&H on December 12.

I also bought a box of 4x5 Provia from Adorama on October 15.

I’ve actually mostly purchased both films from my local camera store for the past few years. I was there last weekend and they had 120 Velvia in stock. I think I last got Provia in both 120 and 35mm from them in October.

I think I need to move to your neighborhood, and patronize your local camera store!

 

[armadsen]

I think I need to move to your neighborhood, and patronize your local camera store!

Salt Lake City has a remarkably good film photography scene for its size. We have 4 film labs, two of which do E-6 (plus another couple 50 miles south in Provo). Essential Photo Supply, the aforementioned source of my Fuji slide film, is simply my favorite camera store anywhere.

I’m happy to buy a few rolls of Velvia for you if they still have some when I go this weekend.

 

[Alpsman]

In the past, in the valley of my youth,
I almost exclusively shot slide film.
Developing took 3 days and the prices for slide film were still bearable.
Slide film was my best teacher.
But today,
apart from the price,
it takes up to four (4) weeks for the film to come back from the lab.
That's no fun anymore.
That's why I switched to "black and white only" and develop and scan myself.
And still have fun ;-)

 

[Richard G]

2009 in Christchurch. I can’t remember what slide film. EDIT: It was Velvia. I’d shot my first roll of Velvia only four months before.


Christ's College by Richard, on Flickr

 

[Mos6502]

No, unfortunately. When I sold off my darkroom equipment I shot nothing but slides for almost a decade. When Kodak killed Ektachrome, I switched to Agfa Precisa, then when Agfa Precisa (rebranded Fuji) was axed c. 2018 I pretty much stopped. At about the same time, the last local lab to process E6 in-house decided it wasn't worth it anymore, so that was the final straw for me. I've gone back to B&W and printing it myself.

cabriolet by Berang Berang, on Flickr

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Salt Lake City has a remarkably good film photography scene for its size. We have 4 film labs, two of which do E-6 (plus another couple 50 miles south in Provo). Essential Photo Supply, the aforementioned source of my Fuji slide film, is simply my favorite camera store anywhere.

I’m happy to buy a few rolls of Velvia for you if they still have some when I go this weekend.

Thanks for that offer! But in reality, I've pretty much standardized on Ektachrome, and have learned its nuances. And the problem with Velvia 50 is that it's just too slow for hand-held shooting in lower light, particularly with the subjects I choose. Even ISO 100 barely makes it.
You're very fortunate to have those stores and labs available. I'm envious!

 

[Richard G]

@armadsen The great Barnwulf here was long in Salt Lake City, until his last few years. The light and the brains there must have lifted all of you a bit, with photography a natural pursuit to take up.

 

[bjolester]

How long can slide film be stored in a freezer?

I purchased two 5-packs of 120 Fujichrome Provia 400x new in 2014, and placed them in the freezer before expiry date. My plan was to do some northern lights photography with these films, but I have not gotten around to using them (I have used my DSLR for northern lights instead).

 

[valdas]

Yes, I develop at home and have both 35mm and MF projectors.

 

[yossi]

I still have two rolls of Fuji ASTIA slide films in my fridge. Because of that, I bought this E6 development kit from China.
But now I have a problem. This stuff don’t come with any instructions. I need to figure out how to use them. 🥶

 

[FotohuisR]

Concerning the E-6 film prices (> Eur. 25) and possibility of development I have stopped all slides. Even the cheapest C-41 films are around Eur. 8-9 now. I am just going to try the NC500 OrWo C-41 film, I can also still print analogue RA-4. For the rest B&W in split grade via the Heiland controller. I still have some old frozen stock Agfa APX (Leverkusen) and Efke 25 (Fotokemika) resp. from 2004 and 2012.

 

[Leon C]

When I was doing Music stuff in the 90s all I pretty much used was Ektachrome and all of the rolls in the 1st picture are from then, uneveloped, in the 2nd picture that's what I have in the fridge.

The E4 Ektachrome were given to me a few years ago as the person had no idea where to get them developed as it had stopped by then, they were forgotten until recently but there was a Lab in London that could sort of do them but found out recently it's now closed!!! So this year it's on my hit list to try and see what's possible.

Around here it's a £10 note for E6 [DSCL in Didsbury, UK] which I don't think is that bad, it wasn't that much less when I used a pro lab in the 90s for work! [C41 Dev is only a £5 @DSCL] But it's finding the film cheap enough which is the challenge! I do miss Ektachrome.

 

[Freakscene]

I still have two rolls of Fuji ASTIA slide films in my fridge. Because of that, I bought this E6 development kit from China. View attachment 4854917
But now I have a problem. This stuff don’t come with any instructions. I need to figure out how to use them. 🥶

Google translate through your phone is your friend.

Have you done E6 yourself before? It could be challenging to decipher the label and learn the process at the same time.

 

[yossi]

Google translate through your phone is your friend.

Have you done E6 yourself before? It could be challenging to decipher the label and learn the process at the same time.

I can decipher the labels myself. That is not a problem. I believe this kit is based on the standard 6 bath process (hence the name E6).
But, I still need to the the developing time for each bath.

I have not done any E6 before, only done B&W processing at 20°C. Just realized for E6, it has to be done at 38°C, but that should not be a big difficulty.

Found this thru my friend Google. Knowing that this Chinese product is based on Kodak E6 formula, the timings indicated there might just work.


I will also seek help from the seller or those other customers who had bought the same kit before. Not about to give up so easily. 🙂

 

[Freakscene]

The E-6 process should be the same. The Kodak process manual is here: https://125px.com/docs/chemicals/kodak/j83-2005_11.pdf
Thanks to @Tim Gray

 

[yossi]

The E-6 process should be the same. The Kodak process manual is here: https://125px.com/docs/chemicals/kodak/j83-2005_11.pdf
Thanks to @Tim Gray

That's useful information. Thank you.

 

[Freakscene]

That's useful information. Thank you.

No problem. There are others, e.g. https://www.mr-alvandi.com/downloads/film-and-processing/e6-process-manual.pdf