Shooting Provia (4x5) for the first time! Any tips?

[l2oBiN]

I have four sheets of provia loaded and I am planing to shoot them off tomorrow. I will use a digital slr to meter but I also will take the sekonic l508.

Having only shot Foma so far(and only a few sheets), could you give me some advice on how to shoot Provia?

Ps. During loading, i have noticed that the provia feels a lot thicker than the Foma. I have checked the specifications and it seems Foma is 0.175mm while Provia is .204mm thick. Why is this so? Is this common for all transparencies? Could it be that the foma is missing a protective layer which the Provia has?

 

[nickandre]

There is a standard thickness. 7 mil I thought.

Anyways, just meter it as you normally would for 100 ASA. Make sure you add in any bellows factors due to the diminished exposure lattitude. It's a great film, and it looks great especially on the light table. Have fun.

 

[l2oBiN]

There is a standard thickness. 7 mil I thought.

Anyways, just meter it as you normally would for 100 ASA. Make sure you add in any bellows factors due to the diminished exposure lattitude. It's a great film, and it looks great especially on the light table. Have fun.

Thnx Tiberius. Since I am a relative newcomer LF, could you please explain the bellows factor and how do you alter your exposure to take it into account? Perhaps by including an example? Thanx in advance..


Also I have been hearing to expose for the highlights and even underexpose by 1/2 stop. Is this appropriate practise?

 

[andrewkirkby]

I always shoot Provia underexposed by 1/3 stop (i.e. Set your meter to 125) It makes the colour a bit richer. Use a handheld meter to meter. My Canon digital gear isn't nearly as accurate as my Gossen or Sekonic handheld meters.

Compensate 1/2 stop for every 6" of bellows extension - YMMV though, depending on lens used.

 

[nickandre]

The inverse square law. When you double the distance, you lose 2 stops or something like that. When I extended a 200mm lens on a cambo to full bellows, I think I added 3 stops and it came out right. Complete guess tho. Applies primarily for macro photography. At that point I was getting larger than life sized. In normal distances you shouldn't have a problem.

You can probably just shoot it box speed unless you do crazy things.