I am torn AGAIN - Kodak UC film vs. Fuji NPC/Reala

[vivaitalia]

Someone help..... I've read that UC has finer grain than any of the Fuji's film...might even be the finest grain negative film presently available. And does anyone know if Royal Gold 25 is available? The insanity

 

[bmac]

Royal Gold has been gone for years. I suggest you buy a couple rolls of each of the films you are interested in and give them a shot. Shoot similar shots with each roll at close to the same time of day. Send them all in to get printed, and see which film YOU like.

 

[Richard D.]

UC-Reala

I use both in 100 ISO. I like both and see little difference between them. Both of them enlarge nicely to 16x20 from 6x7. But Reala is much cheaper, half the price of UC

 

[modafoto]

Reala is my favourite when shooting color @ ISO 100 (35 mm)

 

[BradS]

Fuji Reala seems to be one of those films that people either love or hate...no middle ground. Personally, I love it.

 

[tbm]

I loved Kodak Real Gold 100 while it was available. Upon discontinuing it, I tried Fuji's Reala and was vastly dazzled about its lack of grain, incredible sharpness, and true color duplication. It is one absolutely gorgeous emulsion and my Leica lenses smile at me and it when my M6 and my R8 detect it feeding through it!!

 

[Helen B]

I did side by side tests of NPC, NPS, 160NC and 100UC. My impression was that 100UC did have the lowest graininess by a small margin. That's not a measurement, just an observation. What I did measure that surprised me was the speed: 100UC was just the fastest of the three films based on the lower section of the relative exposure/density curves. 160 NC was just the slowest - but they were all in the same ball-park. 100UC also had the longest straight-line section. Caveat: I only tested one film of each type, but they were all developed together and were all fresh.

Whatever, I'd agree with Brian: the choice between them is purely a personal one based on how they look (except maybe for 100UC's apparently greater range - which may or may not matter to you).

Best,
Helen

 

[Claire Senft]

Fine grain film

If I want the best possible results in terms of grain and resolution there is, in my opinion, one choice...Konica Impresa 50. This film is not well distributed and can be hard to get. It is of moderate to low contrast and offers exceptional discrimation of various hues. This film is everything that Royal Gold 25 should have been. I use it with my 35mm on a very stable tripod...Majestic 2501..with the mirror locked up and hoprfully with an aperture of F5.6 or wider open with a good quality prime lens. This is as good as it gets as far as I am concerned.

 

[Dave Parker]

The agfa Ultra 100 is also a great film with good color saturation and grain, my personal favorites are the Fuji due to the vast cost difference, in every day usuage, I think you will find most of the contenders great film..

Dave

 

[modafoto]

The agfa Ultra 100 is also a great film with good color saturation and grain, my personal favorites are the Fuji due to the vast cost difference, in every day usuage, I think you will find most of the contenders great film..

Dave

Ultra 100 is SO great for outdoor shots and still life IMHO

 

[modafoto]

This thread might be of interest as it discussed the difference between Kodak and Fuji.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Woolliscroft]

If I want the best possible results in terms of grain and resolution there is, in my opinion, one choice...Konica Impresa 50. This film is not well distributed and can be hard to get. It is of moderate to low contrast and offers exceptional discrimation of various hues. This film is everything that Royal Gold 25 should have been. I use it with my 35mm on a very stable tripod...Majestic 2501..with the mirror locked up and hoprfully with an aperture of F5.6 or wider open with a good quality prime lens. This is as good as it gets as far as I am concerned.

I agree. Sadly it has supposedly been discontinued, though I seem still to be able to get it. I have been filling a freezer just in case.

David.

 

[jd callow]

If I want the best possible results in terms of grain and resolution there is, in my opinion, one choice...Konica Impresa 50. This film is not well distributed and can be hard to get. It is of moderate to low contrast and offers exceptional discrimation of various hues. This film is everything that Royal Gold 25 should have been. I use it with my 35mm on a very stable tripod...Majestic 2501..with the mirror locked up and hoprfully with an aperture of F5.6 or wider open with a good quality prime lens. This is as good as it gets as far as I am concerned.

I have not used Impresa very much, but my limited experience or at least my subjective opinion is very different.

Impressa has grain similar or slightly smaller than Reala (which is about as fine as is available), colour rendition that is more muted than VPS and is about as flat as any film I have used.

It's palette is not that true, it just doesn't exaggerate -- kind of the antithesis of Velvia.

Ektar 25, had the finest grain of any colour neg film I have ever used (going away), good to great contrast with a slightly juicy palette. It also had the best reciprocity characteristics of any film I have ever used -- I just wish I had realized what I had when it was available.

I am sure Impresa is good film, but it is nothing like ektar 25. Neither film, from what I can tell, tried to achieve anything like the other.

Impresa is nothing like NPC or UC it is the polar opposite with regard to contrast and colour rendition.

 

[Dave Parker]

I doubt you will ever see anyone produce a print film like Ektar 25, that was flat out the best print film ever made in my opinon, if we had only known, I know my freezer would be full!

Dave

 

[braxus]

Apparently the Fuji Pro 160 films have grain quality very close to Ektar 25 from what I've heard.