Oh man, I've fallen in love with Provia

Kyon Thinh · Apr 30, 2013

Hello guys,
I've just got back to films after 1 year shooting digital. Then I have a deal with one old man and got his rz67 as my first MF camera, then another deal in apug for expired Provia. I did shoot cherry blossom with it, and when I got it back, I cant believe my eyes: the films are so damn beautiful.:confused: My heart was almost stopped. I took it to my school and my friend asked me if it is a print from a 3D film, because it is so real. I'm proud of it.
Btw, I measure shot with spot meter, and my lab is a pro Fuji lab.
Cheers,
Thinh.

Poisson Du Jour · Apr 30, 2013

'Tis a nice film, indeed. Even when expired, it holds its palette faithfully. Now shoot Velvia for even more eye-popping pink cherry blossom (I assume you are speaking of Japan?). Provia is the less brutal of the two E6 emulsions (the other being Velvia) and is quite forgiving and easy going with skin tones, though better films for that are available. If you like being challenged and emboldened by strong colour, do give Velvia a poke.

EASmithV · Apr 30, 2013

Pics or it didn't happen

Kyon Thinh · May 1, 2013

I have trouble with scanning, so the result is not as impressive as in films .

cjbecker · May 1, 2013

I'm right there with ya, I've always hated shooting color film, always shot c41 and just ended up giving up and shooting b&w (always loved and will always love) but shot a roll of provia and holy, it's amazing. First image of color that i have shot at liked.

Lamar · May 1, 2013

No worries. There is no way to get a reversal scan to look as good as it does on a light table. I have tried and tried. It is not possible. You cannot force all that wonderful color and dynamic range into the digital space without dulling it down. There is nothing that looks as good as a slide on a light table.........

Kyon Thinh said:
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I have trouble with scanning, so the result is not as impressive as in films .

Poisson Du Jour · May 1, 2013

Lamar said:
No worries. There is no way to get a reversal scan to look as good as it does on a light table. I have tried and tried. It is not possible. You cannot force all that wonderful color and dynamic range into the digital space without dulling it down. There is nothing that looks as good as a slide on a light table.........

Truth be told with transparency film (or any film), it's not dulled down, not a lot is lost nor sacrificed. You can achieve a miracle with an $80,000 drum scanner and skilled operators. Or I would not be producing prints from MF at the rate of $2,000 a month. I'm very, very picky about quality. What is important though read, critical, is correct exposure across the image. All but one of the pics posted by the OP are out of whack and easily fixed with an instant tweak.

LJSLATER · May 1, 2013

To this day I've only ever shot one roll of Provia. I jumped right into Velvia as a youngster (for some reason, I'm stubborn about doing things the hard way). I kind of want to try Provia 400 indoors with florescent/cooling filters, has anyone tried this? Yesterday I got some T64 back from the lab, pushed to 125; wasn't too impressed.

Kyon Thinh · May 2, 2013

Hmm, I tried the first image with Epson scan and here is new result. Last time I use Vuescan.

@Poisson Du Jour: Thanks for your advice. I will give it a try, when I finished my Provias, I still have a bunch of Provia.

benjiboy · May 2, 2013

It's my favourite slide film too.

Lamar · May 2, 2013

I use VueScan now and get great results but I tweak in Capture NX. You should be able to turn out something like what I've attached below with a little tweaking. We probably need to take this over to DPUG now though before we get chastised since this is heading toward forbidden hybrid territory in this forum.

Some Provia

Velvia for comparison

ME Super · May 3, 2013

You think Provia scans nice, you should try projection or viewing on a light table!!

Lamar · May 3, 2013

See my earlier comment in the thread. These scans are as good as I can get but they just don't compare to the real thing on a light table. I really don't think a scan can do a slide on a light table any justice at all. The slides are sharper, have better color, and better dynamic range. Colors seem to go bit askew when you force them into sRGB color space.

ME Super said:
You think Provia scans nice, you should try projection or viewing on a light table!!

ME Super · May 4, 2013

Yep I should've seen that. Don't know why I overlooked it. I guess I was too distracted by the images. Very nice scans, BTW

darkosaric · May 4, 2013

Slides are really amazing: last week I was at my uncle place and we got on projector some 30-40 years old slides. Colors are just unbelievable - like it was taken yesterday, on size cca 1x1,5 meters there was no grain, beautiful contrast and vivid colors with 3D pop up.

And my uncle did no used Leica or some fancy SLR cameras: slides were made with agfa sensor rangefinder, some old kodak cameras... My cousin was planing to scan those slides - but on the end he saw that true "power" of slides is in projecting them on big screen, and gave up of scaning

cooltouch · May 6, 2013

I'm also a really big fan of Provia. But I like Velvia too. Provia is probably my favorite, all-around emulsion anymore. But Velvia is still a lot of fun to use, with its deep saturation and almost invisible grain.

Following are a few images I took. The first two are Velvia 50 and the following three are Provia 100. I found myself literally, suddenly right in the middle of a Civil War reenactment with the last three photos. Nothing quite like being up close and personal to the action.

cjbecker · May 6, 2013

I suggest everybody to look at Oleg Novikov website, he has amazing pictures and most are shot with provia.

http://www.olegnovikov.com/index.shtml

Shootar401 · May 6, 2013

I have about 50 rolls of Ektachome 64T frozen and about 20 or so of EPR. Now you're making me want to do a side by side.

Poisson Du Jour · May 6, 2013

cjbecker said:
I suggest everybody to look at Oleg Novikov website, he has amazing pictures and most are shot with provia.

http://www.olegnovikov.com/index.shtml

I do agree. But Oleg doesn't often shoot Provia at box speed. The trick to saturating the normally subdued Provia is to underexpose it, and it works beautifully for many of ON's works.

Kyon Thinh · May 6, 2013

Wow your pictures are nich cooltouch and lamar.
Well, to add oil to the flame, I just bought some B&W TMY and the seller gives me a bunch of Provia RDP II, cant wait to test it.

Roger Cole · May 6, 2013

Poisson Du Jour said:
I do agree. But Oleg doesn't often shoot Provia at box speed. The trick to saturating the normally subdued Provia is to underexpose it, and it works beautifully for many of ON's works.

Provia subdued??

Only in comparison to the even more over the top Velvia.

I loved Astia then E100G. Provia (100) works for some subjects and light but is too contrasty for many situations and awfully saturated for some subjects. Provia 400 is more subtle on both counts but quite a bit grainier.

cooltouch · May 6, 2013

Poisson Du Jour said:
I do agree. But Oleg doesn't often shoot Provia at box speed. The trick to saturating the normally subdued Provia is to underexpose it, and it works beautifully for many of ON's works.

I don't usually think of Provia as subdued, either, but nonetheless I'm curious about underexposing it. I used to routinely underexpose Kodachrome, e.g., K64 I shot at an EV of ISO 80. So what would you rate Provia 100 at? 125? 160?

cjbecker · May 7, 2013

I was wondering the same thing about underexposing.

Lamar · May 7, 2013

Agreed. Provia is quite saturated and contrasty in my opinion but not so over the top as to make it unsuitable for general photography. I like it but my favorite slide film was E100G so that tells you where I'm coming from. For me Velvia 50 is a narrow purpose film. I don't generally even load a roll unless I am specifically trying to get outrageous color and the available lighting conditions support that objective.

Roger Cole said:
Provia subdued??

Only in comparison to the even more over the top Velvia.

I loved Astia then E100G. Provia (100) works for some subjects and light but is too contrasty for many situations and awfully saturated for some subjects. Provia 400 is more subtle on both counts but quite a bit grainier.

Roger Cole · May 7, 2013

Agreed Lamar. Another time to use Velvia would be with very flat, dull lighting, like heavy overcast, to increase the contrast and make the colors pop a bit without the over the top look of it in bright light, IF the film speed will support that. As you say, I find it a pretty narrow purpose film. I got along somewhat better with E100VS but only slightly so (and appreciated the extra stop of speed relative to Velvia 50 - I never used the 100 Velvia.)

EDIT: Oh yes, if anyone is looking for a less contrasty, less saturated more natural looking slide film on today's market and you can stand some extra grain, try Provia 400. It's a wonderful film, amazingly good for a 400 speed slide film and flatter and less saturated than 100, but it is quite a bit grainier. This is a photo of my wife shot on our honeymoon on Provia 400:

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Oh man, I've fallen in love with Provia

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