When in doubt, try it out
When in doubt, try it out
It seems I started a bit of a squabble with my previous comment about Velvia. Re-reading my post, my comment about "Disney-chrome" evidently came across as a face slap to users of Velvia. I didn't intend it this way, I was just trying to liven up the text a bit. Sorry if I offended anyone.:bang:
For many, many years I have shot transparencies because I like their projected brilliance, and also, under ideal conditions, I like their color pallette more - they (to me) seem to print (on Cibachrome) more as I remember the original scene. Even scanning and printing digitally, I find transparencies unequalled for color brilliance and snap.
That said, as a species transparencies are all inherently high contrast - doubly so compared to negative film - and therefore suffer from requiring fairly exact original exposure. Judging by
jaffa_777 's posted samples, he's very accomplished and seems to have this down. Transparencies tend to have bleached highlights when printed on Cibachrome (is that even available anymore?) unless a contrast mask is prepared; I assume if the display prints are prepared by scanning and digital printing this can be tamed effectively.
I do stand by my statement that Provia 100 has proven a very "reliable" film by responding well to varying conditions of natural light and having a somewhat lower contrast that helps in the printing process. Out here in the southwest we get a lot of sunshine and that means shadows which means a lower contrast original is your friend. I like its color pallette, but exactly opposite to Velvia, greens are its weak suit. As others pointed out, the lab matters, and for this reason (also economy) I use Fuji mailers. Personally I find the 1 -2 week wait worthwhile. But since the "blue shadow" issue has been raised, by all means shoot a roll yourself to specifically check for this.
It's been years since I shot Velvia, and today's versions are probably quite different from what I shot. I found it a remarkable film with very high sharpness and color saturation, without equal for recording green foilage. I also found it very difficult to print for contrast reasons, and overly sensitive to lighting conditions - unnaturally yellow in early morning or late afternoon light, and simultaneously exaggerating the blueness of shadows. Without question the worst in this respect was a "VC" (high saturation) Ektachrome I shot that produced such extreme colors in early morning I had to reshoot the whole thing another day.
Personally, I think the single most foolproof film would be a color negative exposed at 1/2 its rated ISO. Negative film is developed to a low contrast so that it can record a very high dynamic range (shadow to highlight) as long as it has adequate exposure. It's the exact opposite in this respect to positive film, which can not tolerate overexposure. A few years ago I saw an Eastman demo for color negative motion picture film where the camera went - in one continous shot, with *1 fixed f-stop* - from bright outdoor sun to an interior shot lit solely by a few lamps. After adjusting the printing density for the various sections, the whole shot appeared quite natural. I don't shoot much color neg and so have no recommendation here, but others on this board surely do.
Well that was quite the wordy post! To summarize -
1) I'd shoot Provia 100 for transparencies (but do tests for shadow blues, since it has been brought up)
2)See if you can find a color neg film you like, and expose for 1/2 rated ISO.
But - do your own tests first, with the meter you plan on using, under the most extreme contrast lighting you can find. Something like a gray scale card under an umbrella on a sunlit beach.
Cheers to all
