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Slides viewed on a light table have much more tonal range than a print viewed with reflected light. Also, your images won't be ruined by the slings and arrows of outrageous automated printing machines. Color slides will sometimes result in heartbreak because they offer so little exposure latitude. If you are a little over, you've lost detail in those highlights that a color negative film would have preserved. Slides are good if you want to sell to traditional magazines and stock agents. Oh, and if you want to sound like a pro, refer to slide film as "E6" (after the Kodak process that is used to develop all slide film today except Kodachrome (K14) and infrared Ektachrome (E4)) or "chromes". Slide films are sold in two broad categories: "professional" and "consumer". Consumer film is produced so that it will look its best after a few months of aging at room temperature. In theory, professional film is produced so that it gets shipped from the factory when its color balance is perfect. It is designed to be exposed immediately or refrigerated. In practice, the consumer and professional versions of the same film usually produce indistinguishable pictorial results. Fuji Velvia is sold as professional film in the United States where amateurs have abandoned slides. People watch the shop pull the film reverently out of the fridge and read the "refrigerate me" on the box and wring their hands if they leave the film in a spare camera body for a few months. In Europe, where amateurs still give slide shows, the same film is sold as a consumer film with no refrigeration in the store and none indicated for longer term keeping. Why do professionals uncomplainingly pay a few dollars more per roll? They'll buy 100 rolls from the same emulsion batch, test a couple to see exactly what in-camera filtration will result in neutral gray, then photograph an entire clothing catalog with that batch. Sometimes Kodak and Fuji don't bother getting a professional batch exactly neutral because they expect professionals to test and use color correction gels. In those cases, you actually get better results with consumer film. Another reason professionals buy professional film is that they want an old emulsion like Kodak EPP that is technologically obsolete. Kodak doesn't make it anymore for consumers because their new T-grain slide films are dramatically better. But if you and your catalog printer know exactly how to maintain color fidelity from the clothing to the printed page with EPP then you aren't going to want to switch film just to get finer grain (especially since you are probably using 120 or 4x5 size and not enlarging much). If you are only exposing one roll at a time and don't have any special expertise with a particular emulsion, there are only two real benefits to professional slide film. First, pro film comes in more flavors than consumer film. Kodak in particular seems to release its professional slide films in "neutral" and "warm color balance" versions. The same film packaged for consumers comes in only one color balance. Sometimes the professional version of an emulsion has a coating on the base side to facilitate traditional retouching. Should you happen to be using professional film, don't obsess over keeping it refrigerated. If you end up leaving it at room temperature for a few months, then what you end up with is consumer film. Note: If you do refrigerate your film, make sure that you do obsess over letting it come up to room temperature in its sealed container before using it. If you pull film out of the fridge and start using it immediately on the beach in Florida, you'll find that water condenses in little droplets on the film, leaving unsightly blotches on your processed images. From the 55-degree fridge to a 70-degree room, Kodak recommends about 1 hour for 35mm film, 30 minutes for 120, and 2 hours for a 50-sheet box of 4x5 film. Double these times if you've been keeping your film in the freezer. I'd also double them if you intend to use film outdoors on a hot day. I've been a bit sloppy with these times myself and never gotten burned with Kodak or Fuji film, but had some Agfapan 25 experiences that were horribly painful. Can do violence to flesh tones, although allegedly Fuji is working on this problem. I used this film almost exclusively in 45 Travels with Samantha. This was the park of the 16th century Villa Orsini and is filled with grotesque sculptures. Kodak E100S and 100SW 47 Aero/Astro Professor Laurence R. All three are good all-around slide films with extremely fine grain and saturated yet fairly accurate color. The Kodak E100SW version is allegedly warmer than the E100S. If you want to save money and need a huge pile of film, Fuji Sensia II and Kodak Elite 100 are the consumer versions of these films. Below: a few images from 49 The Game, taken with Fuji Astia in my studio. Tulelake, California Below: Fuji Provia F (fine-grain) in Florida: 58 Poolside, Sanibel Harbour Resort (one of the world's worst), Fort Meyers, Florida 59 Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, SW Florida 60 Venice Rookery. SW Florida ISO 200 62 MIT Graduation 1998 Kodak has great marketing for its E200 slide film. I used a lot of it at 63 MIT's 1998 graduation ceremony and the results were pretty bad compared to those obtained with Fuji Astia shot on the same day. Fuji has its MS 100/1000 "multispeed" E6 film but I haven't tried it. I haven't tried Fuji Provia 400 but I don't think it is a lot better than the T-grain Kodak Elite 400, which I tried in 1993 and found wanting. Color negative film is very tolerant of exposure errors. You can be off by 2 or 3 f-stops and still get a print that is barely distinguishable from one from a correctly exposed negative. This frees your mind to concentrate on composition, focus, timing, etc. Pro lingo for negative or "print" film is "C41" (official Kodak name for the development process). If you have always wondered "Why does negative film have an orange color," then 67 this is the link for you. Because a negative is never the final product and there is so much slop in the printing process, there isn't as much demand for "professional" print film as there is for "professional" slide film. Professional negative film tends to be produced for wedding photographers who want low contrast and photojournalists who want to push-process their C41. Some of my friends swear that Fuji Super G 100 is better, especially for skin tone, and they're probably right but I don't use a lot of ISO 100 print film. Example: 69 Rollei 6008, Zeiss 120mm macro lens, extension tube, tripod. These are designed for weddings where the groom wears black and the bride wears white and you want some detail in both fabrics. One of the great things about these films is that labs in every corner of the world know how to make beautiful portrait prints from them. Fuji NPS is probably preferred if you expect mixed or fluorescent lighting. Whether you go Kodak or Fuji, you'll be amazed at how fine grain and color saturated the images are. My personal favorites in this category: * Kodak Royal Gold 400, bright but not lurid colors * Fuji NPH, lower contrast, best exposed at ISO 320 * Kodak Portra 400NC, another good lower contrast portrait/wedding film Example: Fuji Super G+ ISO 400. Fuji NPH, exposed about 1/2 stop over Here's some ISO 400 wedding film, used at a wedding! For example, here are some pictures taken on a bright Florida day. Notice how the colors aren't pushed to the extremes as with most consumer film: 75 Boca Grande. Looking at Sanibel Island from Fort Meyers, Florida 79 Roseate Spoonbill. Fuji NHGII 800 Photojournalists are heavy users of ISO 800 color negative film. But Fuji seems to have the quality edge and that's what everyone uses. This film has very high color saturation, but it seems to only have one shade of each color. If you're going to be shooting bad pictures outdoors in bright sunlight, go for the 100 and then you can make huge enlargements. If you're going to be shooting with available light and/or fill flash and/or in deep shade, you'll need the extra stop from ISO 400 (and maybe more). It takes big bucks and a lot of R&D to compete in this mar...
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