Shooting with Kodachrome 64 in 35mm

Uncle Bill · Aug 22, 2006

Got a question for the studio audience, I experimented with Kodachrome 64 and I shot the roll with a polarising filter on the lenses I used which for the record is Zuiko with my OM-4. I find the images on the dark side, should I have left UV/Haze/1a filter on the lens? Up until now I have been shooting with Fuji Velvia 100 for the record.

Bill

Dave Parker · Aug 22, 2006

It looks like your meter may have not been working right? they seem to be about 1 stop under what they need to be? did you do any independant metering of the scene? The UV would not have made any difference and did you have the ISO set up correctly in your camera?

Little more information would go a ways to help you out Bill.

If you could, post your exposure data, f/stop, lens, speed or anything else you recorded.

Dave

Uncle Bill · Aug 22, 2006

I think the meter is fine on the OM-4

I shot some Velvia a few weeks later with the results posted below and we all know how tricky that film is to play with.
I shot with (going by memory here) a 28 f3.5 Zuiko lens opened up about halfway with a polariser on the front. It was a partly cloudy hazy day mid afternoon.

Bill

Claire Senft · Aug 22, 2006

I do not think that using a haze filter would have done much except perhaps add a slight warth to the shadows. To me it looks like it is about 2/3 to 1 stop under-exposed. K64 is a somewhat contrasty film.

DBP · Aug 22, 2006

Are the slides really that dark, or is there a scanning artifact here? Kodachrome can be tricky to scan.

copake_ham · Aug 22, 2006

DBP said:
Are the slides really that dark, or is there a scanning artifact here? Kodachrome can be tricky to scan.

I think it is what you are mentioning. I use a Nikon 5000D scanner - and it has a "special" Kodachrome setting.

I also think the image is somewhat under exposed. I did a little brightening (gosh - that sounds like English weather) in PS CS2 and "found" the white door in the upper right hand corner.

Here's a "side by side" - Bill's image first, PS'd on the right. Of course the shot is "deteriorated" by reiteration...

Michel Hardy-Vallée · Aug 22, 2006

Bill, your K64 looks normal to me. Your highlights do not seem blown up, and the shadows can only be dark as they are, given the nature of the scene ; it could have used maybe a half stop more of exposure, but not much more.

I've always found that that film had a bit more "70's brown" in its palette than modern E6 emulsions. You won't get the same type of saturation you get with those films, so your shadows may become darker more quickly, and the lower saturation/deep shadow makes the overall contrast less intense to the eye. Pictures taken with it always look a bit as if they are coming from a 1974 magazine.

Matt5791 · Aug 23, 2006

Uncle Bill said:
I shot some Velvia a few weeks later with the results posted below and we all know how tricky that film is to play with.
Bill

I think that K64 (or any Kodachrome) is definitely more tricky to play with than Velvia.

Steve Roberts · Aug 23, 2006

mhv said:
Bill, your K64 looks normal to me. .

Agreed (within the confines of the variables of digitising, etc.)
I've found the opposite to be the case. Having been a life-long user of mainly Kodachrome, I was disappointed to hear of the impending US-only processing and inevitable delay when sending from Europe. Thus, I have been looking at alternatives. When I see the Fuji and Ektachrome slides taken by myself and others, my initial reaction is that they are a little overexposed compared with K64, but take a day's break and look at either in isolation and they look OK. I don't think there's any right or wrong, just "different".

Best wishes,

Steve

digiconvert · Aug 23, 2006

From my limited experience your K64s look Ok to me,as someone else has noted it is more contrasty than E6 films , hence the lack of detail in the shadows. If you look at the background in the BMW shot the shops over the way seem to be correctly lit.
K64 is also a beast to scan. If I am going to scan I have found that 1/2 a stop overexposure (yes on slides !) gives a better chance of getting an image you can work with. You can also have a bit of fun with some normally exposed slides and get a 'retro look' as here.
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I like K64 a lot, I am trying other slide films but keep going back to it for its contrast and clarity- just me I guess - but it is one of the great advantages of film that you can choose a different film for a different look.

Keep shooting !
Chris

Shooting with Kodachrome 64 in 35mm

Uncle Bill

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Claire Senft

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Michel Hardy-Vallée

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Shooting with Kodachrome 64 in 35mm

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