Ricardo, good to hear from you! I'm glad you are enjoying the Yashica Mat - were you the one I gave the close-up set to? My memory seems a bit cloudy - old age creeps in. The Yashica Mats are sublimely wonderful cameras. That Yashinon lens simply SCREAMS with a sort of creamy-sharpness that is beautiful.
Raid and Ricardo, for some reason, and I certainly don't know the "technicalities" of this, but I find that scanning Portra is always resulting in nice work - and nearly always I need to pump up the shadows in PS "curves" before getting it just like I "envisioned" it. A very good film to scan as it seems to just come out better to me than some of the others.
I think that slides are typically denser than normally exposed negatives, i.e. getting details without too much noise in the shadows requires a decent scanner, and I think you two will both find that you CAN make those scanners work in reference to the shadows. Beyond that, it's typically personal preference. I personally find that I can get better results from slides with less effort.
It might be because I have the "sample" on the light box, and so when I scan, I can see the matchup with the colors easily. Of course, with negatives there is that orange mask that makes it nearly impossible to determine "coloration", so maybe it's just that I'm easily impressed when looking at the chromes in the first place!
My scanner will clip the highlights on a high contrast scene negative, but is just fine with high contrast slides. That makes me a happy slide shooter.
And...of course, I don't expect FABULOUS results with my (comparatively) cheap flatbed scanner, at least in comparison to the dedicated scanners. But, I've been MORE than happy with the scanning of 120 chromes.
I've scanned a LOT of chromes and quite a bit of negatives over the past few years. Here is my PURELY subjective list of the "best", at least for my own needs.
Negatives:
1. Portra 400UC - BEAUTIFUL for skin tones, and exceptional grain for this speed. I shoot it at 320 - you don't want to underexpose this great film. Far and away consistently great scans for its speed.
2. Reala 100 - Good for skin tones, and exceptional for landscape colors. For me, it scans with an extraordinary consistent result.
3. Gold 100 (!!!) Don't laugh until you try it! Sure, it's an everyday Kodak film that is supposedly "grainier", at least according to the apostles out there in PNet land. But, it has a sort of "sharpness" and color detail that is wonderful to my eyes.
4. Portra 160NC - Nice stuff for people shots. VERY nice stuff. Pretty darn consistent. The Portra VC is not good for skin tones, but good for everything else.
Chromes:
1. Velvia 100F - NOT for people shots, but for landscapes and anything else with blocks of color, it's the best.
2. Provia 100 Daylight - Excellent all around, and gives good skin tones. Not as punchy off the scanner as Velvia, of course...but you can scan VERY true to the chrome you see on the lightbox with this film. Extremely consistent time after time.
3. Kodak EPN100 (Ektachrome 100) - I think this is an underrated film, and I was astounded when I got the chromes back, and then even MORE astounded when the scan gave me extremely accurate colors, including good skin tones.
4. Provia 400 - The FIRST high-speed chrome film that I have had good results with! Yes!!! Try it!
5. Agfa CT200 - I just got my first scan done yesterday, and I'm loving it.
The slide film > scan > digital print venue is FANTASTIC for me. I have a couple of scans that just, for some reason, came out SO beautifully, that I made 16x20s from them with excellent results! And, most all of the "good" 120 scans from my 2450 will do an 11x14 without even hiccupping. At least in my eyes....
Keep your eye out for the new Rollei black and white slide films...!!!!
Hope this helps you guys. Just MY opinion, and opinions are a dime a dozen. But, it sure is FUN to scan!
