which one is the slide with most natural colors?

[jrmions]

Hi analog friends,

I'd like to shoot some slides, but with very natural colors (for people photography). I don't like the saturation of velvia.

I'm not really into slide films and i can't find the info on google.

thanks

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Try Ektachrome

Ektachrome has always been pretty neutral for me.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/e100g/e100GFilm.jhtml?pq-path=13369

I used to use it for my art documentation jobs.

Good luck.

 

[keithwms]

Astia 100F. Provia 400x if you need the speed. But astia gives nice skin tones.

 

[Ian Grant]

Fuji have always been the most natural since E4 days

Now we have E6 so Astia or Provia.

Ian

 

[Q.G.]

My vote: Ektachrome 100 G.

But why slides?

 

[jrmions]

and what can you tell me about sensia 100. i've shot 1 roll of it but those days i didn't know how to expose correctly. The price of the slide also matters to me, because additionally processing is expensive. thanks

i want to shoot something in color now and i think it would be nice to watch the photos with my projector :]

i also like the concept of pretty much fixed color/contrast of the photo on slides

i still have ~40 rolls of apx 400, when i finish them (like 1 year) i will consider negatives or slides :]

 

[Dave in Kansas]

Both Velvia and Provia are too saturated for my taste on many subjects. Astia 100F looks nice to me, but my preference is Kodak Ektachrome 100G or Elitechrome.

Dave

 

[L Gebhardt]

and what can you tell me about sensia 100. i've shot 1 roll of it but those days i didn't know how to expose correctly. The price of the slide also matters to me, because additionally processing is expensive. thanks

I haven't shot any 35mm transparency in a while, so I haven't used the recent Sensia, but when I used to use it I found it to be a great film. Sensia used to be the same as Astia. I assume it still is, but didn't get a name change when Astia went to Astia F. It's the least saturated of the Fuji slide films, and I think of Kodak too. Very nice all around film, and should meet your stated requirements quite well.

 

[hrst]

and what can you tell me about sensia 100.

Sensia 100 has always been my favorite. IMO it is very neutral or a bit warm, and gives nice rendition even to a bit overexposed highlights. Shadows might not "snap" as much as Velvia when projected (a bit lower DMAX) but OTOH it makes printing (and sc*n*ing) easier and it still looks good also when projected.

Provia 400X, on the other hand, is something I don't find very usable if you want natural colors for portraits etc... It's a bit high in contrast and easily go magentaish IMO.

 

[Vonder]

Astia. There is none better, none more natural. In fact, I would go so far as to claim all others have some bit of the unnatural to them. Be warned though, there are lies, damned lies, and scans. Don't let a scanned image guide you. You need to shoot a roll and look at it, ideally projected, to get a sense for what a slide film is like.

 

[Michael W]

slides, but with very natural colors (for people photography).

Kodachrome. Use it while you can, for the rest of the year. I think it's the best for natural colour portraits. After that, Provia & Astia.

 

[lxdude]

Fuji have always been the most natural since E4 days

Ian

Kidding, right?

 

[Slixtiesix]

Another vote for Astia 100F. Astia has a remarkable latitude for a slide film, which makes it an ideal choice for beginners I think. Colours are as realistic as you can get them and it is also very fine grained.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Provia 100F, as is, or pushed 1 stop.
Velvia for people photography is akin to shooting Bambi — too awful to contemplate.

 

[Q.G.]

I have never, nor do i now, known any Fuji film that produced natural colours.
(But seriously)

But i guess what's "natural" depends a lot on taste too.

 

[Ian Grant]

Kidding, right?

No, many in the UK preferred Fuji slide films because they gave more faithful colour rendering.

Ian

 

[Steve Roberts]

I recently shot my first (and so far only) roll of Sensia 400, purely because of the speed. The colour rendition was the most natural I've seen from a c/trans film for a long time and grain was not an issue when projected in my living room on a four foot screen. For my application I preferred it to the colour rendition and grain of the old Kodachrome 200.

As Ian says, Fuji has always had a hardy band of followers in the UK. Back in the 1970s when the Fuji lab was in Swindon, the turn around time for pre-paid films was remarkable, though that was probably due in part to the superior postal service the UK enjoyed in those days.

Steve

 

[nickrapak]

If you can still find some (it was discontinued late last year), Ektachrome 100 Plus (EPP) was the most natural film made since Ektachrome 100 EPN was discontinued.

 

[Q.G.]

If you can still find some (it was discontinued late last year), Ektachrome 100 Plus (EPP) was the most natural film made since Ektachrome 100 EPN was discontinued.

And that EPN was the best i have ever seen.
I switched to that from Ektachrome 64 and (believe it or not) Kodachrome 25. Why do good things go away, while the less desirable stuff remains?

 

[Eric Rose]

Well it's probably been disco'd for 20 years but Agfachrome 64 was my favorite for colour fidelity.

 

[lxdude]

No, many in the UK preferred Fuji slide films because they gave more faithful colour rendering.

Ian

Maybe because of the frequent cloudiness?
I mean, I don't like Velvia much, but under heavy cloud cover it shines. I've always lived in sunny places and to me the old Fujichrome 100 was sort of posterish and overdone and not nearly as true as the Kodachromes. The Fujichrome did have really pretty greens, which sorry to say, are what has faded most.

I still preferred it to the old Ektachromes, which were too blue. When a bright orange California Poppy comes out looking yellowish, well...

Like Eric, I liked Agfachrome 64 best (after Kodachrome). Well balanced colors, slightly warm with creamy whites. Meshed well with Kodachrome. And it has resisted fading really well, with 35 year old slides still beautiful.

 

[keithwms]

Maybe because of the frequent cloudiness?
I mean, I don't like Velvia much, but under heavy cloud cover it shines.

I too find that cloudy skies don't significantly affect the performance of velvia, and indeed it can do very nice things with low contrast scenes. I learned that under very cloudy skies in Arizona.

Anyway, my preferred flavour of velvia is velvia 100, and it should be noted that that many of the hardened opinions on velvia are based on early velvia 50... not 100 or 100F. Anyway, velvia and skintones... not good! Velvia 100F if you must, but I wouldn't unless the surrounding environment had really compelling reasons to do so e.g. verdant rice paddies in Indonesia or something like that!

Provia's colour accuracy is good if the colour temp of the light is bang on 5000 K. But it tends to blue up on me for almost any light that I like to shoot with. In my opinion it is not a good choice unless you colour meter. Actually I prefer the colour rendition of 400x to provia 100F. 400x is the bomb.

On the other hand, astia 100F has worked well for me in very challenging light, even quite mixed. Attached is a very recent example from a camping trip. Broad daylight and very deep shadows, white whites, but notice that the skintones are quite good, not requiring any adjustments. You may not be able to tell form the attachment, but the shadow detail is mostly all there and the highlights are good too. This was high noon light.

 

[JohnArs]

EPN was the only film with exactly grey tones and all over one of the best, with Astia the second!

Cheers Armin

 

[ntenny]

No, many in the UK preferred Fuji slide films because they gave more faithful colour rendering.

When my dad was in the camera business, he saw some actual research---I think it was published and everything---that found that, in (very) general, Fuji's colour films were deemed more realistic than Kodak's by Japanese viewers, and the reverse by American viewers. (I don't remember if it was specific to either print or slide.)

So I think you're saying that the British are more Japanese than they are American?

Personally, I find Provia 100F to be nicely realistic, but everyone has their own taste in these matters. People really do perceive colours differently.

-NT

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I too find that cloudy skies don't significantly affect the performance of velvia, and indeed it can do very nice things with low contrast scenes. I learned that under very cloudy skies in Arizona.

Anyway, my preferred flavour of velvia is velvia 100, and it should be noted that that many of the hardened opinions on velvia are based on early velvia 50... not 100 or 100F. Anyway, velvia and skintones... not good! Velvia 100F if you must, but I wouldn't unless the surrounding environment had really compelling reasons to do so e.g. verdant rice paddies in Indonesia or something like that!

Provia's colour accuracy is good if the colour temp of the light is bang on 5000 K. But it tends to blue up on me for almost any light that I like to shoot with. In my opinion it is not a good choice unless you colour meter. Actually I prefer the colour rendition of 400x to provia 100F. 400x is the bomb.

On the other hand, astia 100F has worked well for me in very challenging light, even quite mixed. Attached is a very recent example from a camping trip. Broad daylight and very deep shadows, white whites, but notice that the skintones are quite good, not requiring any adjustments. You may not be able to tell form the attachment, but the shadow detail is mostly all there and the highlights are good too. This was high noon light.

Velvia 50's design intent is for exposure in diffuse illumination — as pointed out above, it delivers the best results in low contrast light. Bingo. I rarely expose it without a polariser, but this is due to the subject matter and print process (Ilfochrome).

It was not designed nor intended for bright sun exposure. That applies to 50, 100, 100F. For bright sun, Provia 100F.

Try it, but Velvia 100 didn't go down well with me in target light, even worse in marginal light.