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krillen
Jun 6, 2003, 3:47 PM
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I've been shooting slide for a while now, and I love the colour saturation and grainless quality you get. However, now I'm starting to end up with piles of slides everywhere and not much to do with them. It's a huge pain in the butt to show people shots of your latest trip when they come over or when I go to the gym so I'm thinkgin taht mayeb print woudl be more beneficial. Also I have a flat bed scanner, so scanning is pretty simple.
SOOOOOoooo, with that in mind I'd like to start shooting the odd print roll now and again just to mix things up. So my question(s) to you is(are): What is the finest grain and best colour saturation for colour print film that you've used?
Also: Where do you send you slides to be scanned, how much, how long did it take, and do you have any horror stories from it?
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favorablesteak
Jun 6, 2003, 4:43 PM
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My favorite print film is Fuji Reala 100. The color is great, low grain, and it's not expensive.
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willstrickland
Jun 6, 2003, 4:43 PM
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For getting your slides scanned I use Larsen Digital http://www.slidescanning.com Plenty of resolution options, free cd's, great prices. It's basically a guy putting his personal scanners to use for a little side cash, but he does good work and has top-end scanners. I recommend him.
For a fine-grain saturated print film, Fuji Super G 100, Kodak Royal Gold 100. For more realistic tones and lower contrast, try some of the portrait/wedding films like Fuji NPS or Kodak Porta 160. They're both 160ISO, and aren't as gaudy and over the top on color sat.
That said, I find it much easier tom store hundreds of slides in 3 ring binders and archival sleeves than storing loads of prints.
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extrememountaineer
Jun 6, 2003, 5:54 PM
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Fuji has absolutely the best color in print film. My wife takes some with her point n shoot that look like awesome in sharpness and colors. Even the cheap stuff, Fuji Superia with their "color layers" takes some awesome pictures.
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trenchdigger
Jun 6, 2003, 7:09 PM
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Registered: Mar 9, 2003
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How 'bout getting a film scanner of your own? That's what I did. Slides are much easier to store than prints and negatives. I usually pull out my decent -> good shots and toss the bad ones in a collective storage box just in case. I'll probably just dump them eventually. A binder is a good way to store your best slides.
Why go with a film scanner? Print film is expensive, for one thing. Especially if you want quality like you get with slides. Not only does the film cost as much, if not more than slide film (for the good print film), but processing is pricey too! You can find velvia for a little over 5 bucks a roll if you shop around, and processing a roll of 36 only $3.50 at my school. On the other hand, a roll of 36 of NPS 160 will run 6 or 7 bucks, plus at least 8 or 10 for processing. That's $7 or $8 more per roll for print film. If you shoot a lot, you'll pay for a film scanner in no time by sticking with slide film.
Another advantage of your own film scanner - you can get prints made cheaply! Wal-mart can make 4x6 prints from a digital image for $.29 and can do an 8x10 for $3.74. If you want to go larger, Ritz Camera stores can do 8x12 from a digital image for around $7 and all the way up to 12x18 for $16. But be sure to bring your own digital image. Their scanners suck and they do no cropping or color correction. I learned that the hard way.
I don't know about you, but I'm always online. I probably show more people my pictures through the web than I do in person, so it's just convenient to have a way to make quality scans of my slides. I also like being able to do all of my own cropping and color correction before I make a print. You don't get that luxury with print film.
I ended up spending a little under $300 for a decent quality film scanner. Found a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite F-2900 on ebay for $250 (after shipping) and then needed an SCSI card to link it to my computer - another $40 at Fry's. It scans at up to 2820 dpi which is enough to print at 8x12 at 300 dpi (pretty damn crisp!). I've made prints up to 12x18 from my scanner and they're slightly grainy, but still very high quality. Stay away from Primefilm scanners - the quality sucks. I've heard Canons are decent too. Just do a little research before you buy. And search e-bay for a deal on one that's maybe last year's model.
One more thing - B&W shots always seem to come out great for climbing shots. I've actually been more pleased with the cheap-o kodak C-41 B&W than the more expensive T-Max. Give that a shot too.
Here's a page of B&W shots from a couple of weeks ago:http://www.leonadivide.com/adam/lawson
Here's a shot from a roll of Superia 200:
http://www.usefilm.com/...4/gallery/106908.jpg
I printed that shot for her at 8x12 and it came out great.
(image hosted at www.Usefilm.com - check it out, it's a great photography site)http://www.usefilm.com/...mode=port&data=11924
~Adam~
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krillen
Jun 6, 2003, 8:13 PM
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Good points here.
1.) I already use both C-41 and True B&W films on occassion.
2.) I can't afford a film scanner right now, or in the near future, but I can afford the occassional roll of print film. I will still shoot slides, but I like some change now and again.
3.) It's nice to be able to give people prints, esp. if you go on group trips, you can just split up the results.
Eventually I will get my own film scanner, or go completely digiatl, but right now I can't afford any major purchases.
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alexvillegas
Jun 6, 2003, 8:50 PM
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Registered: Apr 3, 2003
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You could try to make prints from the slides, using any photographic lab that have a Frontier/Noritsu digital printer.
So you can still have the quality of the slide film AND paper prints to show to your friends... at any size, and low cost.
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extrememountaineer
Jun 6, 2003, 9:14 PM
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www.theslideprinter.com
great prints from slides at great prices. Call them for postpaid mailers. I have been getting prints of my best slides for years from these guys and have never been disappointed.
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rockprodigy
Jun 6, 2003, 9:19 PM
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Registered: Sep 10, 2002
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I shoot print film, and I was pretty sure I was the only person that did, but now there's two of us!
I like to see my photos, and I like to give copies to my buds, so if you do that it's cheaper to go with print film.
The smallest grain print film I know of is AGFA Ultra 50. You can order it from most of the mail order places. I only use that stuff for special occasions.
I used to use Kodak Royal Gold 100, but they quit making it, so the best you can get is 200 or 400 I think. Right now I've been using Kodak Supra 100 for my everyday use which seems to be almost as good as the Royal Gold was. I tried the Kodak Portra stuff and I didn't like it for outdoor stuff. It's designed for portraits and it had too much color saturation, it looked fake.
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bontrager
Jun 6, 2003, 9:30 PM
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Registered: Feb 10, 2003
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I think that Kodak's Portra VC at 160 is an excellent choice. It has great saturation without the unrealistic pops from other film. It has great definition and tonal qualities. I will use Fuji for Slide but nothing has proven for me to capture the natural color and grayscale range as the Portra VC.
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thomaskeefer
Jun 7, 2003, 11:04 PM
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Registered: Oct 24, 2002
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I am in the same boat... trying to debate between the two (slides and prints). I shoot mainly prints but love the color saturation an crispness of a slide.
On a trip to the Caval Ridge on mt shasta last weekend I tried my new Yashica t4 with a few rolls of Fuji Press 200 film.. I am pretty impressed... that is my film of choice now surely... pretty cheap as well.
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thomasribiere
Jun 15, 2003, 3:05 PM
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Registered: Aug 24, 2002
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I have been getting prints of my best slides for years from these guys and have never been disappointed.
I once shot slides, and beyond the fact that slides-parties are sometimes boring and that after you looked at them once you hardly do it twice, I was always disappointed by the slides-to-prints transformation. Maybe the lab was not good, but the prints appeared really darker and with less contrast making them uninteresting. So I don't shoot slides anymore and shoot prints : it's easier to show to my friends and you can indeed share them easier. It just takes so much place to store : I know have 15 albums and at least 3-4 to fill... When I move, it weights a ton! :lol:
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