Scala for copy work?

VoidoidRamone · Nov 14, 2004

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum, but oh well...

I was wondering if anyone has tried this or uses it? If I were just shooting slides of b&w prints, would Scala look nicer (or worse?) than a colour slide film? It was just a thought, since I'm about to shoot slides of all my work for college portfolios (yee-haw!). Thanks. -Grant

Dave Parker · Nov 15, 2004

I have done a lot of copy work with b&w when I worked in the photo stores and we used to use a lot of Astia for the copy work, there is also some b&w slide film still available around the country, and they might be able to order some for you.

Dave Parker
Ground Glass Specialties

rbarker · Nov 15, 2004

If you don't want to use Astia, you might want to take a look at processing conventional B&W film into B&W slides using the neutral version of the dr5 process (www.dr5.com). It seems to provide a wider range of tones than Scala.

psvensson · Nov 15, 2004

Isn't Scala known for high contrast? I think that would cause problems in copying, but I guess you can ask to have it pulled. AFAIK, the tungsten-light slide films are lower in contrast than daylight-balanced ones to avoid contrast problems.

David A. Goldfarb · Nov 15, 2004

There is a good thread on this in the Q&A forum at lfphoto.info. It involved a fine art photographer who was going to give a slide lecture about his own work, and he ended up running tests with one lab that used color dupe film and another using Scala (maybe pulled--check the thread), and he went with Scala in the end. Despite the concerns about contrast, the Scala looked more like the original prints when projected.

Dave Parker · Nov 15, 2004

Does Illford still make their B&W slide film, I used some of that a few years ago with great results, but have not done much B&W copy work as of late, but it was a great product.

Dave

Brac · Nov 15, 2004

Satinsnow said:
Does Illford still make their B&W slide film, I used some of that a few years ago with great results, but have not done much B&W copy work as of late, but it was a great product.

Dave

If they do (and I doubt it) it's not generally available. There is a 100 ISO slide film made by Foma in the Czech Republic called Fomapan R100 that can be obtained from some specialist dealers. Also Maco have an "orthopanchromatic" film called PO 100c which has a clear base and they promote as being suitable for processing as either a reversal or negative film. I haven't used either.

kswatapug · Nov 15, 2004

I did tons of copywork in my previous life using color slide films with a tungsten filter with reasonable results. The best results were using the TMAX 100 reversal kit from Kodak. I shot the film (rated at ISO 50) and had a local lab process it for me. IMO the resulting slides had excellent tonal range and were neutral, unlike the color reversal film, which always seemed to have some sort of a color cast.

Woolliscroft · Nov 18, 2004

Scala does quite a good job, but not a patch on the old ISO 18 Dia Direct. I mostly use Velvia with a tungsten correction filter. Unless the bulbs on the copying stand are getting very old I don't get any colour cast and it lets me mix B&W and colour pictures. You might expect the contrast to go through the roof, but the results are actually fine for lecture slides.

David.

Scala for copy work?

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