Low grain 400/800 color film

[yarinkel]

I am looking for a color print film to do hand-hold night pictures of a relatively well-lit district in my city. According to my lightmeter I'll need 400 to 800 ISO.
For this subject (buildings, neons, etc...), as opposed to other subject like nature, I actually do mind grain.

Any suggestion of low grain film in that range?

I do not rule out slide film but I guess for night pictures the contrast will be to high and I'll end out with badly burned highlights and/or no detail in shadows.

Many thanks for your time.

 

[pshinkaw]

I use the ISO 800 and 1600 Fujicolors. Actually I've shifted to just the 1600. The grain seems to be about the same on both. Understand however that my perspective comes from many years ago. When I started out in photography the highest speed color film was HS Exktachrome at ASA 160. The maximum speed CN filmavailable was Kodacolor at ASA 80.

Today's Fujicolor 1600 subjectively seems to be no grainier than 1960's B&W Tri-X at ASA 400.

-Paul

 

[dmr]

Lately I've been having real good luck with just off the shelf Fuji 400. (see attached) I've found that by intentionally underexposing a stop (shooting at iso 800) will give me a bit better results, like not blowing out the highlights so much.

 

[childers-jk]

I am looking for a color print film to do hand-hold night pictures of a relatively well-lit district in my city. According to my lightmeter I'll need 400 to 800 ISO.
For this subject (buildings, neons, etc...), as opposed to other subject like nature, I actually do mind grain.

Any suggestion of low grain film in that range?

I do not rule out slide film but I guess for night pictures the contrast will be to high and I'll end out with badly burned highlights and/or no detail in shadows.

Many thanks for your time.

I have used Fuji NPH and NPZ. Both are very fine films. The NPZ is great for low light and night shots, while the NPH is a great all around color film for me. I have had very little experience with the Kodak lines, so my opinion is very one sided. 🙂

Jeff C.

 

[furcafe]

I'm not sure if the emulsions that are available in Japan are the same as those sold in the U.S., but for ISO 800, I like Fuji's Press 800 & NPZ, which are similar. Both have fine grain compared to films from 5 or 10 years ago & handle mixed lighting well. IME, Press 800 is much cheaper, but more contrasty & a bit less color-accurate (warmer) than the NPZ. If I want to reduce grain in the shadows, I shoot them @ ISO 640.

I am looking for a color print film to do hand-hold night pictures of a relatively well-lit district in my city. According to my lightmeter I'll need 400 to 800 ISO.
For this subject (buildings, neons, etc...), as opposed to other subject like nature, I actually do mind grain.

Any suggestion of low grain film in that range?

I do not rule out slide film but I guess for night pictures the contrast will be to high and I'll end out with badly burned highlights and/or no detail in shadows.

Many thanks for your time.

 

[sockeyed]

I agree with what furcafe says above. I've been very impressed with Superia 800 and NPZ, and although they're fine-grained, you can bring the grain down even more by shooting at 500 or 640.

Stay away from slide film. Provia 400 is OK for grain, but most films faster than 100 have large grain.

 

[GeneW]

I'll add my 2 bits for Superia 800. Remarkably fine grained for a film that fast. I use it almost exclusively in my Stylus Epic, which tends to expose generously, probably around 500 or 640.

If you're scanning the negs, you can apply a bit of Neat Image or Noise Ninja to reduce and smooth out the grain for a more 'digital' look. I prefer the honest grain myself.

Gene

 

[nksyoon]

First image is NPH, second is Superia 1600. Both were scanned on an Epson 4990 flatbed, so grain could be better than what you see. Colour balance in scanning could also be better.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Fuji Xtra 400 and 800 is surprisingly grainless for its speed. But the grain begins to show if you underexpose it by about 1 1/3 stops.

Konica Supra Centuria scans very very well too, much less grain anti-aliasing than Fuji.

Stay away from Kodak's consumer films at 400 and above ::yuk::, with the exception of UC 400, that one is nice and also scans pretty well.

Fuji NPH and NPZ gives you delicious tones (as demonstrated above!).

 

[dmr]

this is impressive.

Thanks {blush} 🙂

What Fuji is it exactly, Superia X-TRA ? How do you scan ?

I believe it is Superia Xtra. It's just the off-the-shelf green box stuff at Target'. I admit that I often don't pay that much attention to which particular version of film I am using. I know it's Fuji and just off the shelf stuff.

Those were both taken with the GIII but setting the ISO at 800, thus underexposing one stop.

If I remember these images correctly, the one of the building was scanned on the K-M Scan Dual IV. The one of the "cloud" was just a Walgreens DO-CD scan on the Fuji Frontier. No photoshopping on either image other than adjusting levels and slight cropping.

 

[Byuphoto]

Thanks {blush} 🙂



I believe it is Superia Xtra. It's just the off-the-shelf green box stuff at Target'. I admit that I often don't pay that much attention to which particular version of film I am using. I know it's Fuji and just off the shelf stuff.

Those were both taken with the GIII but setting the ISO at 800, thus underexposing one stop.

If I remember these images correctly, the one of the building was scanned on the K-M Scan Dual IV. The one of the "cloud" was just a Walgreens DO-CD scan on the Fuji Frontier. No photoshopping on either image other than adjusting levels and slight cropping.

Do you intentionally under-expose? This goes agaimst what most of us do by over-exposing a stop

 

[dmr]

Do you intentionally under-expose? This goes agaimst what most of us do by over-exposing a stop

Yes, and I'll tell you why.

The meter on the GIII is an averaging type and in the typical night scene like I do has quite a few small very bright patches which really make up the areas I want to capture. The meter just averages the whole thing together. On my first several rolls of night shots in the GIII (Fuji 400 and 800) I did have quite a few shots where the lighter parts (not the very bright stuff like those bare bulbs, which are always gonna be blown out) were washed out and obviously overexposed.

In September and October I had some time to play around with night shots quite a bit. I used Fuji 400 and 800 in the GIII and 1600 in the Pentax. My best results came from the "underexposed" 400 in the GIII.

I'm really hooked on the night scenes, but they are tricky to shoot. I just find that at this time, this technique works for me. YMMV, and what works for me might not work for you. 🙂

 

[dmr]

I looked at your other night scenes and like them all, in particular "the strip". BTW, I got married in a drive through about a mile away from where you took the shot 🙂 I assume the photos are all hand-hold ... Have to go buy some XTRA ... my recent experience with Kodak 800 was quite frustrating.

Thanks. 🙂

The "Strip" one was taken just a few days after I got the GIII working last spring. Yes, they were all hand held, although I did brace against something if I could. (A fairly full denim purse does make a semi-usable bean bag, actually.) 🙂

I don't recall ever using Kodak 800 for night scenes, but I did have some bad luck about a month after those were taken using Walgreens/Agfa 800. I ran out of film on the south Strip and stopped into the Walgreens across from Monte Carlo. They had the Fuji 800 for $8 and change (OUCH!) and the house brand for $3 and change so I tried that. Blown highlights, mega-grain, and dirty solids compared to the Fuji which was developed in the same batch, so you can't blame the processing.

What I want to try now is the Walgreens/Agfa 400 shot at 800. I'm comfortable using the WG/Agfa 200 for normally lit shots and I do want to try the 400 under low light to see what it will do.

I do admit that I prefer Fuji film for most everything, in particular for night shots.

 

[CZeni]

I've used Fuji Press 800 (not sure which "NPx" that is) and have been stunned by the results...just great stuff:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/Zenistuff/hotdawgs and
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Colors - all the shots in this folder are done with the Fuji Press 800.

They make a 1600 speed film that's not sold in the US that's almost as amazing.

 

[parks5920]

I love the "Oh Hell" shot, great work!

I've used Fuji Press 800 (not sure which "NPx" that is) and have been stunned by the results...just great stuff:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/Zenistuff/hotdawgs and
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Colors - all the shots in this folder are done with the Fuji Press 800.

They make a 1600 speed film that's not sold in the US that's almost as amazing.

 

[yarinkel]

Thanks to all for your kind help 🙂

So the way to go for night city pictures seems to be Fuji Superia, underexposed 1 stop.
I'll try that tonight.

PS : dmr, your pictures are of great inspiration!

 

[dmr]

Thanks to all for your kind help 🙂

So the way to go for night city pictures seems to be Fuji Superia, underexposed 1 stop.
I'll try that tonight.

PS : dmr, your pictures are of great inspiration!

Thanks. 🙂

The underexposure by one stop seems to work for me, at least for what I was shooting. 🙂 YMMV of course. 🙂 If I were you I would try bracketing at first. Your camera may behave differently than mine.

And I did check the box, it's Fuji Superia X-tra with the "4th color layer" 🙂

Kinda like the K in CMYK. I guess 🙂