Provia 400x at night

dreamingartemis · May 30, 2016

Hi,

I have a question, I am planning to shoot Provia 400x at night since this is E6 film and I know how unforgiving it can be, how should I meter for shooting at night?

For B&W and C41 film (HP5+ and Portra 400) I can easily just push it a few stops over just to get all the details I need, but this is slide and I know at the most it has an exposure latitude of 1 to 2 stops at best.

I would like to test but where I am from there isn't anyone processing E6 film and I plan to use it all this November in Japan (Tokyo) and have it developed there before coming back.

Thanks in advance.

mooseontheloose · May 30, 2016

Handheld, I've had better luck pushing Provia 400X than any black and white film - it seems much more responsive to light. If you are shooting with a tripod, no worries, just make sure you factor in reciprocity failure. I shot slides for years at night without worrying about them. That said, if you can, please try to shoot some before you come to Japan - if there's a post office near you then sending the film out to be processed is easy enough.

Here are a couple of images shot handheld at night with slide film, in all likelihood Provia 400x (sorry, I don't have the details with me now, but I can't think of any other film I would have been using at that time). Normal metering from the camera.

thuggins · May 30, 2016

I have pushed Provia 400 two stops on various occasions and have always gotten excellent results. It was a wonderful film and its very unfortunate Fuji stopped making it. There are about 50 rolls sitting in the fridge waiting for a trip to Europe where they can be used for building interiors and night scenes.

A 1600 speed film can be hand held in most building interior and many nighttime situations. Just set the meter for ISO 1600 and everything comes out perfect. For longer exposures I've used my OM-2 or OM-4 in Auto mode using Olympus' Off The Film metering capability, and again the shots are invariably beautiful. If you don't have an OM, use a meter with low light capability and set the exposure to whatever the meter shows.

As a life-long OM user I have taken a number of night shots with exposures ranging from several seconds to several minutes, and for the last 20 years I have shot E6 almost exclusively (Kodak VS is also sorely missed, and there are about 50 rolls of it sitting in the fridge next to the Provia.). In none of those shots have I ever seen "reciprocity failure". Colors look different at night and moonlight, starlight, neon light, candles and campfires all have unique lighting characteristics. The images I've taken at night appear very similar to how my eyes perceived the scene at night. Perhaps if you were shooting in the daytime at an f64 and a ridiculously long shutter speed, the colors may not look right for daylight. But this would be a very contrived situation and certainly not one you'd encounter with a 35mm camera.

Nodda Duma · May 30, 2016

Provia 400F was one of the common films for astrophotography because it exhibited little reciprocity failure even after hours-long exposure *and* was sensitive to the h-alpha emission line.

400x was similar but has finer grain. I say similar because many astrophotographers had moved on to digital by the time it was released so there's not as much community knowledge out there regarding 400x.

Point being you can basically shoot it at night without reciprocity compensation. It also responds well to being pushed two stops for night shots.

Les Sarile · May 30, 2016

dreamingartemis said:
I have a question, I am planning to shoot Provia 400x at night since this is E6 film and I know how unforgiving it can be, how should I meter for shooting at night?

For B&W and C41 film (HP5+ and Portra 400) I can easily just push it a few stops over just to get all the details I need, but this is slide and I know at the most it has an exposure latitude of 1 to 2 stops at best.

If your main concern is narrow exposure latitude, then why not shoot C41?

This on on Kodak Portra 800 >10 minutes

This one on Kodak Ektar 100 >40 minutes.

This one on Kodak Gold 100 > 7 hours

dreamingartemis · May 30, 2016

Les Sarile said:
If your main concern is narrow exposure latitude, then why not shoot C41?

This on on Kodak Portra 800 >10 minutes

This one on Kodak Ektar 100 >40 minutes.

This one on Kodak Gold 100 > 7 hours

Swell looking work over there.

I would agree, but the problem is I have this whole stash of goodies and since I am going to Japan for a month, I figure I better shoot it all off when I am there. There is no more E6 processing in Malaysia.

dreamingartemis · May 30, 2016

thuggins said:
I have pushed Provia 400 two stops on various occasions and have always gotten excellent results. It was a wonderful film and its very unfortunate Fuji stopped making it. There are about 50 rolls sitting in the fridge waiting for a trip to Europe where they can be used for building interiors and night scenes.

A 1600 speed film can be hand held in most building interior and many nighttime situations. Just set the meter for ISO 1600 and everything comes out perfect. For longer exposures I've used my OM-2 or OM-4 in Auto mode using Olympus' Off The Film metering capability, and again the shots are invariably beautiful. If you don't have an OM, use a meter with low light capability and set the exposure to whatever the meter shows.

As a life-long OM user I have taken a number of night shots with exposures ranging from several seconds to several minutes, and for the last 20 years I have shot E6 almost exclusively (Kodak VS is also sorely missed, and there are about 50 rolls of it sitting in the fridge next to the Provia.). In none of those shots have I ever seen "reciprocity failure". Colors look different at night and moonlight, starlight, neon light, candles and campfires all have unique lighting characteristics. The images I've taken at night appear very similar to how my eyes perceived the scene at night. Perhaps if you were shooting in the daytime at an f64 and a ridiculously long shutter speed, the colors may not look right for daylight. But this would be a very contrived situation and certainly not one you'd encounter with a 35mm camera.

To be honest, I am never one to like to do push or pull film when it comes to slide and would rather keep it to 400x since Provia 400x can be a finicky beast.

Poisson Du Jour · May 31, 2016

Provia 400X isn't really a "finicky beast", but a very flexible one if pushed/pulled as this capacity is built into it, unlike say the Velvias that are irreversibly compromised by P/P development. I have a part-used roll in my Zero Image pinhole with the longest exposure a full 18 minutes with no reciprocity.

400X is commonly pushed to EI 1600 without fuss or fanfare; indeed you can refer to it characteristics at fujifilm.com:
( http://www.fujifilm.com/products/professional_films/color_reversalfilms/provia_400x/ ).

quoting:
Minimal color and gradation variation during push/pull processing from -1/2 stop (E.I.280) to +2 stop (E.I.1600), and up to +3 stops (E.I.3200), depending on the subject, making this film ideal for lowlight and other situations requiring high film sensitivity.

mooseontheloose · May 31, 2016

I agree with Poisson - I've regularly pushed Provia 400x to 800 or 1600 with no problems (the images in my previous post were pushed), and, as also noted, the film reacts much better than any black and white that I've pushed, despite it being a slide film.

thuggins · May 31, 2016

dreamingartemis said:
To be honest, I am never one to like to do push or pull film when it comes to slide and would rather keep it to 400x since Provia 400x can be a finicky beast.

As mentioned in my previous post and reinforced by moose and fish (shouldn't there be a squirrel in there somewhere?), Provia 400 pushes two stops beautifully and is certainly not "finicky". Short of actually pulling out examples and comparing side by side, I never noticed a difference between Provia pushed to 1600 or shot at 400. I seem to recall that Provia 100 can be pushed two stops with good results, as well.

dreamingartemis · May 31, 2016

Thanks for the answers, though I was hoping for some info about how to meter with this slide. Pushing and pulling seems to be the only way to handle it.

Les Sarile · May 31, 2016

dreamingartemis said:
Thanks for the answers, though I was hoping for some info about how to meter with this slide. Pushing and pulling seems to be the only way to handle it.

Pushing and pulling are very specific task to achieve a desired goal and does not affect the given latitude of a film. Slide film latitude is very shallow compared to most any negative and b&w film and so you will need to meter accordingly. Typically you will expose for the shadows and highlights will be blown out.

Now you still haven't indicated what kind of a night scene you were planning to shoot or what meter you will be using (in camera or external, spot, average or ?) but here are a couple of Provia 400X slides I took of night time city scenes.

dreamingartemis · Jun 1, 2016

My night scene idea is going around Shinjuku at night shooting with either my F6 or fm3a (haven't settled on which on to bring) or even my Minolta Tc-1. Sort of just wondering around.

Les Sarile said:
Pushing and pulling are very specific task to achieve a desired goal and does not affect the given latitude of a film. Slide film latitude is very shallow compared to most any negative and b&w film and so you will need to meter accordingly. Typically you will expose for the shadows and highlights will be blown out.

Now you still haven't indicated what kind of a night scene you were planning to shoot or what meter you will be using (in camera or external, spot, average or ?) but here are a couple of Provia 400X slides I took of night time city scenes.

KidA · Jun 2, 2016

What speed lens do you have? I have done night shots handheld with 100 speed film with a 28mm lens (wide, I know) but it was only f/3.5 (shot @ 1/15s). Not my preferred choice obviously, but it was all I had at the time, and I really wanted the shots. Exposure was perfect, just enough shadow detail. I held my breath, and pretended I was a sniper! But say you have f/2, even a 50mm lens, with 400 speed film, you'll be able to hand hold at 1/90s-1/125s. If you need more depth of field, and you have a tripod, I there's no need to push. But keep in mind, you can probably get down to f/4 with a 1/60s shutter and get good results handheld if you hold really still.

dreamingartemis · Jun 2, 2016

KidA said:
What speed lens do you have? I have done night shots handheld with 100 speed film with a 28mm lens (wide, I know) but it was only f/3.5 (shot @ 1/15s). Not my preferred choice obviously, but it was all I had at the time, and I really wanted the shots. Exposure was perfect, just enough shadow detail. I held my breath, and pretended I was a sniper! But say you have f/2, even a 50mm lens, with 400 speed film, you'll be able to hand hold at 1/90s-1/125s. If you need more depth of field, and you have a tripod, I there's no need to push. But keep in mind, you can probably get down to f/4 with a 1/60s shutter and get good results handheld if you hold really still.

I am planning to use my 35mm f/2.0 and maybe my 50mm f/2. I do intend to bring my tripod as well.

Provia 400x at night

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