Provia- Oh. My. God.

RattyMouse · Oct 24, 2012

I just shot and had returned, my first roll ever of transparency film. It was just one single roll of Provia 100 film. I've never even seen a medium format slide before (6 x 4.5). Wow! The colors just jump off the film! Even more incredible was it that I shot this roll under the flattest light you can imagine. It was totally overcast out doors. Yet the colors were still very impressive. Back in the day when I was a film shooter, I never was tempted by transparency film. I always was a negative guy. Now that I shoot medium format, the pull to see more slide film is rather strong now. I havent even yet seen one of these slides projected. That's a problem because a) no projector, b) no screen, and c) these slides are not mounted. So for now it's just looking at the slides themselves, and scans.

Still, I am impressed.

rbeech · Oct 24, 2012

Try exploring your images with a high power loupe.

benjiboy · Oct 24, 2012

Get yourself a M/F projector and blow your mind.

polyglot · Oct 24, 2012

Hey, don't ever go look at a 4x5 chrome

And get some Velvia and shoot it with a CPL.

DesertNate · Oct 24, 2012

Yep, chromes have that effect on a lot of people. I've had people tell me all they want to shoot is B+W. I donate a roll of Provia or Velvia, and they suddenly like color.

guyjr · Oct 24, 2012

It is a magical thing. One day I want to try shooting with a good 3D camera (not too many of those out there!), and view them ala a viewmaster. If it looks half as good as the 3D image does in a Rollei / Hasselblad style finder, it will be well worth the effort.

pukalo · Oct 24, 2012

Welcome to the Magic world of Slide Film!

Slixtiesix · Oct 24, 2012

Try Velvia 100 and Provia 400X too!

mark · Oct 24, 2012

Those MF chromes will pale when put beside a 4x5. I love slide film. I don't like the price of the LF stuff though.

Brian Miller · Oct 24, 2012

When slide film is used well, I consider its rendering better than C41 film. Its limited range causes the brights to really pop. While a C41 negative may look more natural, it introduces more image background noise which I'd just rather not have.

Lionel1972 · Oct 24, 2012

Welcome to the magic of slide film! I love color slides so much too. I've always loved them (from back when my father shot slides), but when I first tried 6x6 then 4x5 color slides I just couldn't believe me eyes. That's the next best thing to a time machine to me but it looks even better than everyday life. Bought a Rollei 35 SE and then rediscovered what a 35mm slide can look like. With a sharp lens even 35mm slide film is mindblowingly beautiful to look at.

DREW WILEY · Oct 24, 2012

I still have some old 6x7 glass Gepe-mounted slides laying around. Do a med format slide show for
all your geeky friends still viewing fuzzy images on their archaic web monitors. It will be a revelation.

ME Super · Oct 24, 2012

A 35mm slide can look amazing even in a cheap Vivitar projector. Especially when you project it at 6 ft by 9 ft (2m by 3m) on the side of the garage. RattyMouse, since you're shooting medium format, you really should invest in a medium format projector and some slide mounts. You'll love them projected.

cluttered · Oct 24, 2012

All the MF projectors that I've seen are 6x6; are there any that are 6x7? (For a sane price, anyway!)

polyglot · Oct 24, 2012

cluttered said:
All the MF projectors that I've seen are 6x6; are there any that are 6x7?

Yes.

cluttered said:
(For a sane price, anyway!)

No. Though you can occasionally find a very cheap Cabin projector that will do 6x7, I'm not convinced they have quality optics in them.

Goetschmann 6x7 projectors are The Real Thing but you need to be up for about $4k to get a new one with lens.

cluttered · Oct 24, 2012

polyglot said:
Goetschmann 6x7 projectors are The Real Thing but you need to be up for about $4k to get a new one with lens.

Ouch. My list of photographic stuff to buy when I win the lottery is getting depressingly long.

Still, I've seen two exhibitions within the last few months back that were both shot on 35mm Provia and scanned and printed to very large sizes with amazing results, so "mere" 35mm transparency film is capable of great things.

DREW WILEY · Oct 24, 2012

Almost nobody uses projectors anymore. Be patient and one might turn up for free. But MF projectors were never common to begin with. They run a bit hot, so to keep the film flat you'll
need AN glass mounts. These do turn up from time to time. Lenses can be subsituted. Some graphics
process lenses would do a good job, and are cheap these days, though a bit slow per f/stop. One
could simply make a med format or even LF projector; but again, cooling would be important.

Poisson Du Jour · Oct 24, 2012

Yes, MF Provia (and its super-trooper stablemate, Velvia) sure impress.

You don't need a projector. Just a lightbox left on all the time to repeatedly put a smile on your dial!

The reason you got such impressive results is that you exposed Provia in conditions which it, like Velvia, favours the best: diffuse (flat / overcast) illumination. Everybody knows (and should know) what Velvia and Provia can do to a good scene in point light it is absolutely ugly and intemperate; it's not clever or smart to do it that way. Take it out on a rainy day and fine greens and reds to play with: a polariser adds extra 'gasp' factor in the right conditions: forests and scenes where the sky is excluded work best. I never ever step into a rainforest without a polariser on Velvia. No pol needed for sunrise or sunset as the resulting scene can come across and very flat and lifeless.

Provia 100 is used in my trusty XA which almost trumped the images from MF! But MF had other ways of trumping Provia ... with Velvia!!

Sunset over Lake Bonney, South Australia, October 2012
Olympus XA w/ Provia 100

Need more 'Gasp' factor? A similar, later scene with Velvia 50
Pentax 67, 45mm

Roger Cole · Oct 24, 2012

Any recommendations for a 6x6 projector? I only shoot 6x7 in a rollfilm back on a view camera (meaning not that much) but 6x6 and 6x4.5 in medium format cameras. I've been shooting a fair amount of 35mm E6 this year. I have one roll of E100VS in a 645 back right now, and would shoot more if I had a projector for it.

RattyMouse · Oct 24, 2012

Can someone bring me up to speed on lightboxes? I am so green in this area.

Poisson Du Jour · Oct 24, 2012

Roger Cole said:
Any recommendations for a 6x6 projector? I only shoot 6x7 in a rollfilm back on a view camera (meaning not that much) but 6x6 and 6x4.5 in medium format cameras. I've been shooting a fair amount of 35mm E6 this year. I have one roll of E100VS in a 645 back right now, and would shoot more if I had a projector for it.

The best alternative for trannnies if you don't have a projector is to print them. Then frame them. Then put them up on the wall, illuminated by spots.

Ken Nadvornick · Oct 24, 2012

Poisson Du Jour said:
The best alternative for trannnies if you don't have a projector is to print them. Then frame them. Then put them up on the wall, illuminated by spots.

I also believe there are now LED back-lighted frames available for wall display. Could be really nice for the larger sheet film sizes. Or multiple smaller sizes behind opaque cutout masks, I suppose.

I'd think something like the following could be adapted for traditional transparencies:

PhotoGlow Backlit Frame

8x10s displayed like this could be just killer...

Ken

fenderslash · Oct 24, 2012

guyjr said:
It is a magical thing. One day I want to try shooting with a good 3D camera (not too many of those out there!), and view them ala a viewmaster. If it looks half as good as the 3D image does in a Rollei / Hasselblad style finder, it will be well worth the effort.

Yeah, you have to do it! I shoot Provia and old stocks of Fuji Sensia in my Stereo Realist and Wollensak Stereo 10 cameras, mount them in the special stereo slide mounts, and view them through my Stereo Realist "Red Button" viewer which I have modified with a LED bulb instead of the dim yellow torch bulbs they originally used. The 3D effect with those beautiful backlit slides is mindblowing when you see them for the first time. Everyone I show them to is absolutely amazed.

mooseontheloose · Oct 24, 2012

RattyMouse said:
Can someone bring me up to speed on lightboxes? I am so green in this area.

It's just a 'box' of sorts that contains a light source and an opaque piece of glass or plastic that allows you to look at your negs and transparencies. They come in various sizes. Here in Japan most photo stores have their entire counter as a lightbox -- they'll turn it on and you can look at the negs right there.

However, if you have a tablet of sorts (iPad, for example) with a flashlight app that lights up the screen you can use that as a lightbox as well (that's what I do).

polyglot · Oct 24, 2012

Ken Nadvornick said:
I also believe there are now LED back-lighted frames available for wall display. Could be really nice for the larger sheet film sizes. Or multiple smaller sizes behind opaque cutout masks, I suppose.

I'd think something like the following could be adapted for traditional transparencies:

PhotoGlow Backlit Frame

8x10s displayed like this could be just killer...

Ken

Note that E6 films have excellent archival properties only when not exposed to light. Normal projection use (a few minutes of viewing every few months) is not a problem but leaving a chrome (unless it's Kodachrome or Ilfochrome) constantly illuminated will fade it. For display purposes now that Ilfochrome is gone, you can buy polyester RA4 materials and make a print from a neg that looks like a chrome and is designed for back-lighting.

Provia- Oh. My. God.

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