Sensia or Provia?

I like Provia in 100; Never tried the 400 but would like too, and haven't shot Sensia in forever. It use to be years back that Sensia was actually Provia stock but just off the line I believe. I think nowdays it's suppose to be Astia? Anyways, what's your thoughts between the two?

Sensia or Provia

Maybe Ted Harris will chime in here. He knows this stuff well.....
Best, Peter

Hi Wayne,

I am not familiar enough at this point with the newest Fujichrome film to say and have never shot Sensia. Provia 100 was always a little warmer and more vibrant than Astia 100 and Velvia 50 was always the most vibrant color and most contrasty of the 3. When I was shooting the birds (those posted here, and many on my website are from 1998) that are on this site and many others that are on mine (more to be uploaded) most of the work was shot on the older Provia 100. My friends at Fuji at the time told me to try the Astia 100 for those times that I needed sharpness, good but more neutral color without blocking up. Check this Astia 100 image from my website (the whites actually hold a bit better on the prints and transparency with detail in the white), it was supposed to be used at Photo Plus West years ago, but Fuji backed out at the last minute:

http://www.nelridge.com/picturepages/yellowslippers.htm

Rich

I don't believe they are the same film, but they do use the same 4 layer technology. Provia is sharper with an RMS of 8, while Sensia has an RMS of 10. Provia also resolves upwards of 140 lines/mm vs 135 for Sensia. I can't say for sure, but I suspect the Provia is much more accurate in terms of color reproduction.

I can't say I like sensia, far flatter in the color department, and the grain structure is different and noticable, I have shoot both the 100 and the 400 and there is a noticable difference between sensia and provia...

Dave

Very nice Rich. I use to shoot old Astia at a 1 stop push quite often and occasionaly at a +2. The shot below is a 1 stop push with a Nikon 50mm F1.8 handheld off a 4.4 mb scan downsized to 62KB after being cropped 50% It's just to show the colors which were right on.

Things may have changed of late but as at a year ago Sensia 100 == Astia 100 and Sensia 400 == Provia 400F. Fuji have 'updated' Astia to the 100F version and Provia 400F will soon be replaced with Provia 400X. Whether or not they change the Sensia emulsions (if they haven't already) I'm not sure.

Roger.

I am pretty sure at this point that Sensia, Astia, and Provia are all different films.

I am very confident that Astia and Sensia are not the same film.

wirehead said:

I am pretty sure at this point that Sensia, Astia, and Provia are all different films.

I am very confident that Astia and Sensia are not the same film.

Click to expand...

So if I shoot the same subject on 2 or all 3 of these films, what differences should I see?

Color saturation and color depth in addition to different contrast ranges come to mind.

R.

wirehead said:

I am pretty sure at this point that Sensia, Astia, and Provia are all different films.

I am very confident that Astia and Sensia are not the same film.

Click to expand...

You would be correct in your assumptions, they all have different grain structure in addition to diffferent color saturations and contrast ranges.

R.

waynecrider said:

I like Provia in 100; Never tried the 400 but would like too, and haven't shot Sensia in forever. It use to be years back that Sensia was actually Provia stock but just off the line I believe. I think nowdays it's suppose to be Astia? Anyways, what's your thoughts between the two?

Click to expand...

Started with Sensia once, then switche to Provia 100 and 400, then went back to Sensia.

What Provia offers like all "professional" films is a more precise colour reproduction and less tolerance , which pros need for the printing.

Which does not mean tho the slide looks better.
So I did what pros had told me before but what I had refused to do with all the pompousness of an "serious amateur ": I saved my money and took Sensia again.
Meanwhile I do not hesitate even to use such amateur crap like Kodak Elitechrome "Extra Color", and I love the results.

rfshootist said:

Started with Sensia once, then switche to Provia 100 and 400, then went back to Sensia.

What Provia offers like all "professional" films is a more precise colour reproduction and less tolerance , which pros need for the printing.

Which does not mean tho the slide looks better.
So I did what pros had told me before but what I had refused to do with all the pompousness of an "serious amateur ": I saved my money and took Sensia again.
Meanwhile I do not hesitate even to use such amateur crap like Kodak Elitechrome "Extra Color", and I love the results.

Click to expand...

IMHO none of the above-noted films are "crap". All of them benefit from a huge amount of research, development, and high grade production.

"Professional" film is generally only sold by dealers who know how to store it, frequently bought by customers who understand that it has been optimized assuming that the dealers who sell it have stored it properly, and frequently developed by labs who expect it to be within published (narrow) tolerances, and set up their developing protocols accordingly.

"Amateur" film is intended to be more flexible - it is designed to be able to withstand sloppier storage, handling, and development. If it is stored, handled and developed more carefully, within closer tolerances, it is expected to present very high quality results.

"Amateur" film may also be set up to give more pleasing flesh tones and more forgiving exposures, but those are set ups that can also be found (to a degree) in professional films optimized for portraiture or weddings.

In short, buy from retailers who know how to store film, utilize developers who know what they are doing, and try out a few films to find what you like, in circumstances you intend to shoot.

I have a great loyalty to Kodak materials, to the extent that I'll admit I am biased, so I'll suggest that you should try as many of those that you can, because IMHO it is difficult to do better.

Matt