Re: Longeviry of films - was Elitechrome slide processing

[Greg Triplett <triplett@hotkey.net.au>]

Hi Folks,

>> How do you find the Velvia?<<

At Ted's camera shop in the fridge (g).

Seriously though it's an important part of my photography
now.

I initially read about it in "Camera Bag" where it was
described as a high colour saturation film good for dull
weather and autumn leaves. In 1996 I was going on my first
"Fall Leaves" bash to Conrail territory and in preparation I
tested it out on autumn scenes on a rainy day in the Macedon
Ranges. I also included red and blue colour patches ( to
match CP & Conrail ). I used 3 EOS's 1 loaded with K64, 1
with Sensia 100 and 1 with Velvia. All shots were metered
the same, bracketed in 1/2 stops and all used the same lens.
( 50/1.8)

The differences were dramatic. The colour in the Kodachrome
washed out and turned to shit as usual. The Sensia was
identical to the Kodachrome. The Velvia however had bright
vivid colour even though it was dull and raining at the
time.

In the Northeast of the US they do not have the good weather
which we have here in Oz. On a time limited costly trip I
need to be able to keep shooting effectively through
whatever shit weather presents itself. This I did and when
the sun disappeared out came the Velvia. The results were
dramatic. Bright blue engines and red, yellow and orange
leaves in brilliant colour even when dull. It looks like the
colours would be in full sunlight without the shadows.
Obviously we would like to have sunny weather but when you
need to keep shooting Velvia is the stuff.

OTOH Velvia is way too garish in full sunlight. When the sun
comes out I put the Velvia body away. I met some guys at
Tehachapui once who told me that they deliberately
overexposed it by 1/2 stop to reduce the colour saturation
in daylight.I prefer to do that by using Kodachrome at half
the cost. You can also use Velvia to effect with sunset
silhouettes, soft low light and to accentuate clouds without
a polarizer. In time exposures it tends towards green and
offers no advantage over Kodachrome. 

As for Provia 400 all I can say is that it's a fast film. It
does show a bit of grain but doesn't seem to carry much
extra colour saturation that Velvia does. I use it for
really dark conditions for trains and for shooting at
airliners on 400 mm. It saved my arse on a recent visit to
JFK when the light was a bit weak and the planes close and
fast on a 400mm/f5.6.

I'm thinking of trying out Sensia for daylight condtions for
trains. Is it a similar price to Kodachrome ? 

One disadvantage with Velvia is the cost. At $32 a roll and
motor drive bracketing in threes at works out at $2.66 per
shot. Tres expensive. With a slow moving train in a fabulous
location it's not hard to blow $10-$12 worth of film on one
train. 

Regards

Greg Triplett