Slide film recommendations please

[oscroft]

I spend part of each year in Thailand (and on occasional trips to other SE Asian countries), and I always use Velvia and have loved the results so far. But that has been using SLRs, and lenses no wider than 24mm (before I recently got the RF bug).

On my my most recent trip, I took a Bessa-L with 21mm and 15mm lenses, and my trusty Velvia. But the trouble is that with such wide angles it is very hard not to get a wide range of exposure values in the same frame. Coupled with contrasty lenses and a deeply saturated, contrasty and unforgiving film (it's got almost no latitiude), I found it very hard to get well-exposed shots. And when I did get the exposure about right, the results were very contrasty. I've added a few contrasty shots below (I won't bother showing you my over- and under-exposed shots; you know what they look like).

I can't help thinking that a less contrasty and more forgiving film might be a big help, so does anyone have any suggestions for favourite films for such conditions that I should try on my next trip?

 

[captainslack]

Sensia, perhaps? I've used that for awhile now without any problems.

 

[kaiyen]

I have come to like Astia more and more as time goes by. Sure, Velvia has that saturation going on, but I'm not sure I like it that much. Astia's more natural response to colors just appeals to me more.

You will get much more latitude with Astia and Sensia (which used to be but are no longer the same emulsion, but are still very close).

allan

 

[DougK]

I've had pretty good success with Elite Chrome, seems pretty forgiving for a slide film. Try a roll and see if you like it. Loathe though I normally am to use negative film, you may also want to consider Portra 160NC. I like it almost as much as slide film.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

I'd second the Sensia recommendation, it has substantially less contrast than velvia or provia.

 

[leica M2 fan]

I have come to like Astia more and more as time goes by. Sure, Velvia has that saturation going on, but I'm not sure I like it that much. Astia's more natural response to colors just appeals to me more.

You will get much more latitude with Astia and Sensia (which used to be but are no longer the same emulsion, but are still very close).

allan

I concur that either Sensia or Astia would be perfect.I just love Velvia for scenics e.g. Arizona or Colorado but for locations like in your pictures I think the aforementioned films would really please you.🙂

 

[snowwalker]

You could give Provia a try?

 

[oscroft]

Thanks for all the suggestions. By a majority decision it sounds like Sensia is the next one to try, so I think I'll take some of that with me next time. I'm quite intrigued by Elite Chrome too - I've used Kodachrome and various Ektachromes over the years, so as a Kodak film I think it has to be tried. So I'll take a few rolls of that with me too and see what it's like.

(I should probably try them here before I go, but being back into developing b&w for the first time in 30 years I'm a bit obsessed by the rather excellent Delta 400 here at the moment).

Thanks again,

 

[titrisol]

Sensia or Provia are the ones I prefer

 

[mdelevie]

Low contrast and very wide exposure latitude are the strength of portrait films, and the 'weakness' of slide films. So if you're willing to switch to negative film, you can gain back the exposure latitude you want, plus you can divorce the issues of contrast and color saturation.

For example, in the Portra line of films, you can choose from 'natural color', 'vivid color', or 'ultra color' in 400 ISO and 100/160 ISO. I'm very fond of UltraColor 100 and 400, though I keep a few rolls of NC and VC at hand just in case someone wants less vivid colors. These films (in my opinion) all have the same low contrast, yet the color saturation varies quite dramatically. (The low contrast portrait films are designed to handle the huge EV range in wedding photographs, such as between the bride's white satin dress and the groom's jet-black tuxedo)

This doesn't answer the question you asked, but I hope it's of some value anyway.

Mark

 

[oscroft]

This doesn't answer the question you asked, but I hope it's of some value anyway

Yes, it is, thanks. I've never really been a great fan of negative film, but I have been thinking it would solve my contrast/latitiude problems (and my sessions with a projector are getting pretty rare these days now that I scan everything). I may need to experiment a bit.