What is E6 film good for?

ChristopherCoy · May 20, 2020

Disregard, I found older threads.

ETA: I guess I'll put the original question back.

I had originally stated that my knowledge of E6 slides was limited to shooting one single roll of 120 in my lifetime, and the fact that I know they go in slide projectors.

But what else is it good for? I've read that it has very good color, but lacks the exposure latitude of color negative film, so is it mainly used in studio work under controlled lighting situations?

And how do you get prints from them? Digital scans and inkjet prints was the answer that Matt provided, but can you even do analog prints with them?

MattKing · May 20, 2020

EDIT: The question was about what use could be made of E6 film, from someone who essentially has never shot slides. My answer:
Pictures.
Slide film when projected can be spectacular.
Even when viewed using a backlight and a magnifier it can be spectacular.
As for printing, currently a scan and print from digital file is the most practical approach to printing.
It can be very fine grained.
This is from a medium format Ektachrome 100 GX slide - it looks really nice as an 11x14, and could easily go larger. I just wish the downlader here on Photrio disn't force me to resize it so drastically, and did a better job with the small file that results:

This looks particularly good as well when projected:

MattKing · May 20, 2020

Do we have a modern take on the "deleted" thread here?

ChristopherCoy · May 20, 2020

MattKing said:
Do we have a modern take on the "deleted" thread here?

We do. I typed the original question and then went back to google and about 3/4 down the page found previous photorio threads that answered my questions.

Horatio · May 20, 2020

Yeah. I kinda did that with the Leica iiif thread, but I didn’t delete it. You just can’t have enough Leica threads!

BrianShaw · May 20, 2020

Woo hoo... the good old days are here again!

ChristopherCoy · May 20, 2020

BrianShaw said:
Woo hoo... the good old days are here again!

LOL... I thought I could delete the thread if no one had responded yet, but I guess thats the "other" forum.

mooseontheloose · May 20, 2020

MattKing said:
Do we have a modern take on the "deleted" thread here?

That was my first thought when I read the title!

FWIW, when I shoot colour film (probably less than 5% of all photos), it's always slide. I love the colours, the vibrancy, everything. And if I want to experiment, I don't have to worry about the print shop not printing the "outtakes", as is common here in Japan with negative film.

Prest_400 · May 21, 2020

mooseontheloose said:
That was my first thought when I read the title!

FWIW, when I shoot colour film (probably less than 5% of all photos), it's always slide. I love the colours, the vibrancy, everything. And if I want to experiment, I don't have to worry about the print shop not printing the "outtakes", as is common here in Japan with negative film.

The OP may have decided to disregard this but it's actually an interesting discussion.
As am mostly based on B&W darkroom, colour film nowadays I feel not quite getting the grasp of. C41 I used to send to a lab un UK who got me TIFs and large scans without surcharge. E6 I can develop here and just look at on the light table.
It's fun to see the slides out of the tank, our photo club did a couple occasions of "developing pool" with shared chemistry. I do have a couple pro packs of Provia which cost me half of the current price, those price increases...

Alan Edward Klein · May 21, 2020

You know immediately if a shot was exposed correctly with slide film before scanning. I find it's easier to scan and get the colors right in post processing. I don't print much anymore. But I do create slide shows to display on monitors and 4K TVs. I like the color palette in Velvia 50. https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort...1&tags=velvia&user_id=55760757@N05&view_all=1

etn · May 21, 2020

MattKing said:
Slide film when projected can be spectacular.

Particularly medium format. A 6x6 slide projected on 2x2 meters in a darkened room will blow your socks every. single. time. Even if the picture is poor. I encourage everyone to try it out. Non need to fork out the money for a PCP80, any cheap projector will do. The most expensive today are the slide mounts (price of a box of 20 went from 25€ to 48€ here in Germany over the last 5 years), but those can be reused.

etn · May 21, 2020

Alan Edward Klein said:
You know immediately if a shot was exposed correctly with slide film before scanning. I find it's easier to scan and get the colors right in post processing. I don't print much anymore. But I do create slide shows to display on monitors and 4K TVs. I like the color palette in Velvia 50. https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=velvia&user_id=55760757@N05&view_all=1

Gorgeous pictures, thanks for sharing! What is your color management process to ensure fidelity of the Velvia palette through scan & display?
How does displaying on a monitor or TV compare to the "real thing" of analog projection?
Thanks,
ETN

Luckless · May 21, 2020

I'm still shooting my first round of E6 that I remember [I may have shot some as a kid with my father's camera, but I can't remember for sure.] and personally I'm hoping it proves good for colour photos or making slides.

If it proves to be rubbish for that, then I'll be very disappointed in the marketing departments selling me the stuff...

Half tempted to get the gear and do a stereoscopic project with the stuff if I can prove to myself I can meter and develop it to reasonable accuracy.

Alan Edward Klein · May 21, 2020

etn said:
Gorgeous pictures, thanks for sharing! What is your color management process to ensure fidelity of the Velvia palette through scan & display?
How does displaying on a monitor or TV compare to the "real thing" of analog projection?
Thanks,
ETN

Thanks. Regarding "Color fidelity", I don;t worry about that. I never compare my editing of scans with the original slides. Who cares? It's not a contest. Viewers will be looking at my photos and won't have the original slide to compare too. Just as you didn;t know, and liked them anyway, so will they. When I adjust, the colors probably come out close to the way they were on the slides. But it doesn't really matter as long as I'm happy. The Velvia palette was developed by some Japanese guy who's probably is dead by now. His artistic expression isn't mine anyways. I just adjust it to the way I like it. If it looks good to me, it probably will look good to others. I do use a calibrated monitor and adjust it to RGB color space which is the palette used on the web. If your monitor if off, you could wind up with weird colors that look good to you but are terrible to everyone else. But this is true regardless of the medium and editing process you use.

I haven't compared TV to projector. My projector broke a long time ago. But on my 75" UHD TV, I'm very satisfied. I can create 4K slide shows as a video, add music, narration, titles, and annotations, credits, etc. I have the slide shows on a memory card connected to the smart TV's USB ready to show at a moments notice. No set up time. Just switch it on before your guests feign a headache and complain they have to leave early. . Here's a six minute 2K 1080 35mm slide show I did that I posted on YouTube. It's not the best because it was the first set of slides I scanned. But it will give you an idea if you can play it on your TV. Another advantage of video slide shows is you can add digital video clips in between the slides. You can use your monitor but you ought to look on your TV to see if this method would work for you.

radiant · May 21, 2020

I shot E6 film on my RB67 just - and only - to have a slide film to watch against light. And it is worth it, I cannot understand how colors can be so tasty and facinating.

Here is one frame from that film. Nowhere near the experience of looking at the bare film but maybe one can imagine what this looks like as 6x7 E6.

My answer to orinal question; for absolute color, sharpness, studio, product photography -- am I on track?

Alan Edward Klein · May 21, 2020

Looks great. How did you scan and process it?

radiant · May 21, 2020

Alan Edward Klein said:
Looks great. How did you scan and process it?

Epson V600 straight on glass, just color balance corrections and nothing else. Tried to make it look like the original..

ColdEye · May 21, 2020

I got some of the new ektachrome to try for wide field Milky way or deep space pictures. Planning to use either my f5 or f2, in conjuction with a tracker. From the stuff I have seen it seems Ektar is a way better choice but I will decide for myself once I actually try it.

Donald Qualls · May 21, 2020

ColdEye said:
I got some of the new ektachrome to try for wide field Milky way or deep space pictures. Planning to use either my f5 or f2, in conjuction with a tracker. From the stuff I have seen it seems Ektar is a way better choice but I will decide for myself once I actually try it.

For the long exposures of astrophotography, reciprocity characteristics are paramount. The less reciprocity departure your film has, the more true your colors will be, as well as your exposures shorter (sometimes by huge factors). From images I've seen, both the new Ektachrome and Ektar do this very well.

Sirius Glass · May 21, 2020

For decades I enjoyed taking slides especially for vacations. With the advent of my children, I needed prints to send to parents, ... and slides got pushed out of the way. Now inviting people over to see slides is a thing of the past, but that still does not obsolete slides. I still enjoy a well photographed composition on a projected slide.

Grim Tuesday · May 21, 2020

One thing I like about slide film is that unlike negative film that must be inverted and interpreted with curves (and in the case of color neg, several curves for each channel) the slide is just there. Also, in the case of the specific slide film of velvia 50, I get some really lovely brilliant purple tones I have a hard time getting with other films. This accurately reflects my memory of the moment, and the scan accurately reflects (or should I say transmits) the slide. For example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132764966@N03/49068208736/in/dateposted-public/

Jeremy Mudd · May 21, 2020

Grim Tuesday said:
One thing I like about slide film is that unlike negative film that must be inverted and interpreted with curves (and in the case of color neg, several curves for each channel) the slide is just there. Also, in the case of the specific slide film of velvia 50, I get some really lovely brilliant purple tones I have a hard time getting with other films. This accurately reflects my memory of the moment, and the scan accurately reflects (or should I say transmits) the slide. For example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132764966@N03/49068208736/in/dateposted-public/

Very nice!

Jeremy

radiant · May 22, 2020

Really good points, you are absolutely right @Grim Tuesday - E6 is the true color film.

koraks · May 22, 2020

ChristopherCoy said:
And how do you get prints from them? Digital scans and inkjet prints was the answer that Matt provided, but can you even do analog prints with them?

Scan & inkjet is the only really feasible option at this point. You can try RA4 printing them with a reversal process, but I have yet to see anything that comes close to an acceptable result, and I doubt if it'll every be any good, to be honest. Alternatively you could try working with an internegative, but it's a rather involved and potentially costly process (color sheet film isn't cheap), so a lot of work in order to get decent results.

I have to admit I don't shoot slide film much, except for very rare occasions, in 35mm, which I can then project. There's something very nice to projected slides. But if the end result is a digital file or a physical print, it's certainly not my preferred choice. Either digital exposure or C41 is just much more convenient and also gives exceptional results if done right.

AgX · May 22, 2020

koraks said:
You can try RA4 printing them with a reversal process, but I have yet to see anything that comes close to an acceptable result, and I doubt if it'll every be any good, to be honest.

Another approach would be using a inter-negative. But as with direct-printing the apt materials long ago had been cancelled.

What is E6 film good for?

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