For the last 2-3 years I have been shooting almost exclusively B&W, slowly learning to take control of the image from beginning to end. Occasionally a little Portra or the Leica v-lux for color. Just last night I stayed up later than I should, with the loupe and light box, going over some 3-8 year old slides from my love affair with Velvia. Most of these didn't impress me all that much at the time, but I was shocked at the nearly 3D detail and how the colors leaped off the film. Digital is easy and gives nice, accurate color, but it just doesn't measure up in image quality. It makes me want to drag out Mom's old projector to see them at life size.
Do you want colour-accurate or not? Nothing beats digital for accurate colour, despite the pissing and moaning you will hear here from people who tried running an uncalibrated workflow. If you buy a flagship modern DSLR (A900/A99, 5DMkIII, D800), then that certainly has more resolution than 35mm slide film. However, I've not seen a digital camera under $50k (that new 80MP medium-format thing) that can approach 6x7 for resolution.
If you want cheap reasonably-accurate high resolution colour, shoot colour neg in medium format, e.g. Portra 160. That stuff is nearly as colour-accurate as digital and certainly better than chromes because it has the mask to deal with dye shortcomings. Or if you want crazy-colours, shoot Velvia or whatever. Chromes have more visible dynamic range (12+ stops) than any digital output device (monitor, projector or print) so they will look far better despite poor colour accuracy. That will change in 5 years as OLED displays become mainstream.
There are no films that can match a modern stabilised DSLR for lowlight sensitivity. My old A700 can shoot ISO3200 f/1.4 1/25s (85mm) and get good sharp results by the light of a couple candles; newer bodies are better still. By the same token, you can't buy a digital camera that can touch the cheapest 4x5 setup for resolution and DOF-control.
Horses for courses and all that.
If you want cheap reasonably-accurate high resolution colour, shoot colour neg in medium format, e.g. Portra 160.
Another question about slide film??? What is generally considered the best method to meter, A) landscape, B) Product, and C) Portrait?
My Nikon bodies have Spot, center weighted and Matrix. And I also have a handheld spot meter and a hand held incidence/reflective meter..
From what I have seen a 'damn good' projected digital image will not even come close to a 'good' slide film. They (digital) all seem to lack 'punch' and I have yet to see a really sharp one. It may be the temptation is to crop too much for the projector to do it justice.
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