Color Film for my BIG Trip???

[PlantedTao]

I got my cameras ready: a Xpan and Bessa r2
The r2 will be loaded with B&W
The Xpan with color film...
but what film??? I have never shot color slide film and haven't done any color film in two years since seriously picking up a RF and making this my hobby.

This is a big trip for me, my first out of the country 😱 My girlfriend and I are headed to Belize for 10 days at the end of the month for some serious RR...I want some great sunsets, tropical beach photos and local color shots.
What film do I use??? I don't want to be disappointed after getting back.

Thanks.
Jason

 

[dermo]

Velvia 50 is great for strong, saturated colours. But it's very slow and sometimes its high contrast is too much! Here's a Velvia 50 shot i took in Belize last year -

 

[rovnguy]

Kodachrome for transparencies and Reala for negatives.

 

[Catto]

I've been shooting Velvia in my Xpan for a few weeks (it's new), and just got my first roll of Fuji NPC 160 print film back - and I'm pretty impressed, actually.

Seems to me like I'd be better off shooting that and adding what contrast I want later in Photoshop (which I'm sure will seem sacreligious to many).

That's what a lot of motion picture DOPs do - shoot flat lighting and add contrast at the digital intermediate stage, so you've got maximum data in the capture (so to speak), and can then tweak the results to suit. If you shoot high-contrast in the first place, you can't go back and reinstate detail that isn't there...
R

 

[mbisc]

Unless you are planning to take "people pictures" with your XPAN, I would suggest Ektachrome E100VS -- nice vibrant colors (even in the middle of the day with overpowering light) without having the Disney-esque cartoon colors on some of the Fuji films.

 

[plummerl]

I would strongly second the choice of E100VS! On the other hand, if it were me, I would be wondering what to load a Nikonos if headed to Belize!

 

[sjw617]

For color I use Fuji Provia 100F in my Xpan (and Linhof).

 

[kully]

If you're super stuck on slide film I'd recommend some Provia 100F and 400F - the 400 for low-light and pushes rather nicely to 800 and 1600.

However, if you've never shot slide film before it might be better taking C-41. Reala 100 is my favourite at the moment.

I mention the C-41 because I took just slide film on holiday last summer and never having used it before got some rather crap photos... 🙂

 

[jbrubaker]

Color film for X-pan

Color film for X-pan

Hi - You didn't say what you plan to do with your images after shooting. If you plan to scan them, then color negative film would be you best bet. Kodak Provia 160 NC is an excellent film for scanning. Slide films tend to be too contrasty and more difficult to scan unless you pay for a very expensive drum scan. ---jb.

 

[PlantedTao]

Thanks for all the great info...
I think I will stick with Kully's suggestion and go will Reala. I'm afraid of getting a bunch of crap photos back because I didn't expose properly and shot in all sorts of conditions. I really want something versatile and Reala 100 sounds like a great film.


Lawrence-
I will be taking a waterproof digi cam for the snorkel trips 🙂 I won't be doing any diving tho...I plan on spending my cash on flyfishing in Belize.

Cheers,
Jason

 

[szekiat]

can i be really daring and suggest you take some fuji superia 200 and superia 400 instead. Overexpose them at iso 160 and 320 respectively and u'll be amazed by the results. Especially the 200, nice colors, relatively fine grain, and cheap as hell.......

Oh and some press 800 if u wanna experiment with the xpan indoors....

 

[MP/CLE]

Remember that the xpan's lenses are quite slow...unless you're taking a tripod I would follow szekiat's suggestion for 200/400...just sayin'...

 

[glynjones]

I'd second the advice about going for negative rather than slide
As there's such a big field of view on the xpan - the meter can be thrown quite easily. I find that mine underexposes a lot of classic landscape shots if I'm not careful

If you've used slide for a bit and gotten used to compensating for this when you need to it'll work well, but if you've not done it before I'd play safe and go with negative film. I'd also second the use of reala - but it may be a bit slow if you're not lugging a tripod around