Need advice about slide film.

[IlfordFan]

So I just got 2 rolls of slide film, Velvia 50 and Provia 100f. Which of these is easier to shoot? Should I even try to use them in my Canon Sureshot or should I get a better camera first? After watching the Sureshot commercial, it just does not look like something that could shoot slide film!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Provia 100F is very easy to shoot, and a bit more forgiving than its contrasty stablemate Velvia.
Velvia is probably not the best film to run through an all-auto point-and-shoot as this film very often requires care as to exposure. There are many ways to expose both of these films, but to a certain degree, they rely on an pre-existing knowledge of good exposure principles to get the best results. You could give the films a try and consider the results before jumping to an SLR which will provide a springboard for developing an understanding of exposure for slide films.

 

[btaylor]

Well... you already have the film, shoot them and see what you get. That's always the first step. I would think the Sureshot will be just fine for it's intended use: snapshots. Millions of rolls of transparency film, Fuji and otherwise, were run through these cameras back in the day and they did just fine.

 

[IlfordFan]

So do you think the Provia 100 would work better in the SureShot?

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

So do you think the Provia 100 would work better in the SureShot?

In a word, yes. It's a good film, but it is an E6 film (as is Velvia), so you need to know where the nearest lab is to you that processes E6 films and have the processed film returned to you either cut and mounted in slide mounts or as one continuous strip that you can later cut into 6, and slip the individual cuts into an archival sleeve.

 

[IlfordFan]

In a word, yes. It's a good film, but it is an E6 film (as is Velvia), so you need to know where the nearest lab is to you that processes E6 films and have the processed film returned to you either cut and mounted in slide mounts or as one continuous strip that you can later cut into 6, and slip the individual cuts into an archival sleeve.

I mail my films to The Darkroom for processing, so this is a non-issue. Has any of you here used provia 100 in a SureShot or similar P&S camera?

 

[ewbank1]

I used to shoot a lot of slide film in an Olympus Stylus Epic, which is the simplest point and shoot camera I ever had. The exposures and color came out well. I liked having a small camera always in my pocket, now that is usually digital instead.

 

[BradS]

The Canon Sure Shot cameras were great cameras. If yours is in good working condition, just use it and don't worry so much.

 

[warden]

It's just two rolls of film, so your risk is very low. Just go for it, and find some colorful stuff to shoot. I'm guessing you'll be delighted with the colors and want more. Have fun!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I mail my films to The Darkroom for processing, so this is a non-issue. Has any of you here used provia 100 in a SureShot or similar P&S camera?

Load the Provia 100F in your camera, shoot and report back.

 

[Prest_400]

Until the 70s when color print film took over, slide was the main snapshooting medium and many families will have a legacy of Kodachrome and E4-E6 film in their archive, shot with things like instamatics and some others simply sticking to a sunny 16 rule suggested in the box.

I loaded a roll of Elitechrome in a Sureshot AS1 (mixing names here, the underwater P&S) and it was quite fine. Only more difficult situations (against the light) weren't compensated but it exposed according to the highlight.

Found that Slide film has gotten an aura of challenge and difficulty around the internet about latitude. It's not "Portra 5 stops overexposed" forgiving neither will it take very contrasty scenes in the same way; but a metered for the highlights method should give fair results.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Until the 70s when color print film took over, slide was the main snapshooting medium and many families will have a legacy of Kodachrome and E4-E6 film in their archive,

That situation would have been very, very highly variable around the world. For instance, within my own extended family, Kodachrome 25 and 64 were predominant as the "snapshooting" favourite of the 1970s and 1980s. Then came a mix of Ektachrome. I have inherited close to 40,000 Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides (each aunty owned a Minolta SRT101 and 3 lenses) of my aunties' world travels that spanned the late 1960s right through to the early1980s. There is not a single roll of negative film in these archives: just lots and lots and lots of yellow-topped Kodak boxes! The Ektachrome slides have not aged very well, exhibiting a lot of faded and in some cases entire images have faded to nothing: this is a shame because of a few are of Trooping the Colour in London and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I used a folder 35mm camera with a light meter and shot hundreds of slides in the 1960's. Use box speed and you will have no problems. For some increased saturation, under expose by a half f/stop.

 

[Minoltafan2904]

The Provia 100F would be better for a beginner, my first roll of slide film was Provia 100F, and except for a few frames it came out really well.
It's less contrasty and has more exposure latitude than Velvia by far.

 

[railwayman3]

I'm sure that you will have no trouble with the Provia 100F in your P&S, I use it quite a lot and, on a deliberate recent test, there was nearly + or - 1 stop latitude for an acceptable result. Velvia is also an excellent film, but has rather higher contrast, so perhaps try that as the second choice.
(I have some boxes of Kodachrome slides given me by an old friend, and taken back in the 1970's on a simple Instamatic 126, no meter, just dial "sun, bright or cloudy", and they are remarkable good. One, of Venice, actually won a modest award in a competition ! )