Why do you shoot colour reversal film?

Psst.
Fuji exists and it isn't a scarcity in Europe and Asia.

In another dimension Harman could make a slide film with strong lomo-esque character and improve it over the years.

runswithsizzers said:

I would be very interested in learning more about exactly how you take medium format stereo slides and also interested in learning more about your mediium format stereo viewer.

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It could be a long story, but basically you need a camera, slide mounts and a viewer. I've attached three photos as examples. (I'd be happy to expand if you message me!). Whilst most people who shoot stereo use digital, it's still accepted by most that the most realistic immersive results are still obtained using medium format film ... at least right now, digital displays are improving all the time..

A great range of responses! More welcome.

It seems there is consensus (more of less) that you can't beat viewing slides, either in a viewer or projected. (That's certainly my view.)

There seems to be some differing views on scanning ... and I'm not qualified to comment, as I get no joy at all out of scanning, then spending ages fiddling around with the digital files. I realise that for some people this is easy, or pure bliss, or both!

As for E6 film availability into the future, I hope neither Fuji or Kodak pull the plug but surely its inevitable one day? Kodachrome? Dream on.

In the first moment I used slide films - back in early 80s, I did it because you didn't get reliable results when you asked a "normal" professional laboratory to make prints from C41 films. Some were too bright, others were too dark, others had unpleasant colours...

With slide film, I always knew that I myself could try to do anything to get good pictures (or mess them up ).
After some years, when I had found my favourite films, I didn't change until I stopped photography for many years in 2007: Kodachrome 25 , Ektachrome 400HC and Ektachrome P800/1600 .
I still miss all the three of them. Especially Kodachrome 25's are among the best coloured slides in my collection and much better than any coloured print I have ever seen.

And from those years on until today...

ChrisGalway said:

Are you viewing the slides in an optical viewer or projector? (The best viewing experience in my opinion, but "selfish" as you can only show others in person.)

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Yes, I have always been loving to use the projector.

For that reason I have stopped to work in the black-and-white darkroom many years ago and have since been doing slides in black-and-white also. It's a real pleasure.

It'd be interesting to know how many of us - BW Slide shooters and shooters + reversal madmen - are out there currently.
Somehow I suspect that the number could be higher than current E-6 shooters and DIY processing afficionados due to pricing, ever shrinking number of competent labs, and availability of film and E6 chemistry.

The best E6 kit for the job might be restricted to ship to your destination, and so on.

Ivo Stunga said:

It'd be interesting to know how many of us - BW Slide shooters and shooters + reversal madmen - are out there currently.
Somehow I suspect that the number could be higher than current E-6 shooters and DIY processing afficionados due to pricing, ever shrinking number of competent labs, and availability of film and E6 chemistry.

The best E6 kit for the job might be restricted to ship to your destination, and so on.

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I have done C41 and E6 processing at home before I worked in a lab that process them. I never can do as good of a job or as cheap as the lab can. So if there is no lab I won't be shooting film.

Ivo Stunga said:

It'd be interesting to know how many of us - BW Slide shooters and shooters + reversal madmen - are out there currently.
Somehow I suspect that the number could be higher than current E-6 shooters and DIY processing afficionados due to pricing, ever shrinking number of competent labs, and availability of film and E6 chemistry.

The best E6 kit for the job might be restricted to ship to your destination, and so on.

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I've never seen any believable numbers for film users ... let alone a breakdown by type of film. I suspect there are fewer people shooting B&W slides than colour slides, because there are very few labs left who will process B&W reversal (2 or 3 in Europe?) whereas finding a lab to process E6 is easier.

Suppose 1 in 200,000 (of the whole population) shoot some colour (or B&W) slide film, that would equate to 9 people in Latvia ... how does that sound Ivo? It would be around 25 in Ireland ... that sounds way too many! I fear the real numbers might be closer to 1 in 500,000 or even 1 in a million!

In the absence of data we are just guessing of course. Kodak, Fujifilm and Harman surely have a good grasp of the numbers. As must retailers like B&H in the US and FotoImpex in Germany. Does anyone care to spill the beans?

ChrisGalway said:

I suspect there are fewer people shooting B&W slides than colour slides, because there are very few labs left who will process B&W reversal (2 or 3 in Europe?) whereas finding a lab to process E6 is easier.

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... and, as far as I know, there are NO labs offering reversal processing for 135/120 B&W still film in North America(?) Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Back in 2018-2020 I was sending various b&w negative films to DR5 for reversal processing. The results were good, but turn-around times were very slow, often several months. Also, the owner was very rude and unpleasant. After DR5 failed as a business, I was unable to find a lab in the US doing b&w reversal processing.

I am still studying my options for doing b&w reversal processing at home, but it seems like availability of any b&w reversal processing kits is very sporadic in the US.

- While my experience is limited, I have never seen a C print or electronic display look so good. I still believe that viewing a slide directly is as close to being there as it gets. Projection is a close second.

- A slide that has been composed and exposed competently is magic. It’s like a tiny portal to another dimension.

- I fondly remember Grandpa’s slide shows. I have many of those slides today.

- Family color prints, on the other hand, were desecrated and mutilated to the point of losing value and context as historical records during the scrapbooking craze of the 1990s and 2000s. Most of the negatives have disappeared. Me being me, this is one of the few things that will get my blood boiling even today. Warning: your mother’s neighborhood friends are terrible graphic designers. Fortunately they don’t care about slides.

- Transparency film captures subtle changes in color and light intensity in a way I haven’t often seen in C41 films, at least not 35mm.

- I suppose that unless you had/have some cash and access to a pro lab, C41 was/is often a bit of a quality crapshoot. For me, it was only in the early 2000s that I started getting really good and predictable results using the local Inkley’s (and an N80 set to auto everything…) Digital killed that, even though the C41 to RA4 prints were from a digital intermediate scan you never saw.

- Lab scans today are a quality crapshoot. Example: I took a snapshot of some sharks from below in one of those fancy aquariums. The blue LED lights above made a neat silhouette. The scan came back awful with a heavy-handed attempt at color correction to neutral resulting in a very ugly image.

- The gap between what I want vs what I’ll get with C41 is too wide unless I begin optically printing myself. I don’t have the time or desire to do this.

- A while back I bought an 8x10 Kodachrome on eBay. It’s a Hollywood studio headshot of Gloria DeHaven apparently taken by Clarence Bull. Must be late 1940s or very early 1950s as Kodachrome sheets weren’t around long. The colors are perfect, the lighting is perfect, the exposure is perfect. I bought it because I wanted to see in person what a good transparency looks like and I’m not disappointed.

ChrisGalway said:

Suppose 1 in 200,000 (of the whole population) shoot some colour (or B&W) slide film, that would equate to 9 people in Latvia ... how does that sound Ivo?

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This actually might be in the ballpark, because we have Baltic Analog Lab here in LV that does BW Reversal of 8 and 16mm films and educates young, experimental shooters and offers student residency Take that lab away and I know only of 1 acquaintance that does BW reversal.

And there probably are some shooting E6 and processing in a local lab. This lab services mailorders from other two Baltic states too!

I very much prefer to shoot slide film over negative film. for B&W when i did print optically, i shot negative. but because of my love for projection, I shoot 95% slide film now. I develop myself, both color and black and white. its not really that hard, just time consuming and for color, the chems have gotten very expensive. I think its money well spent, so i keep doing it. but now that I have to pay more in shipping than the chems cost, i am rethinking doing color slides at home. I have 2 great local labs, blue moon and citizens camera that develop slides and do so at a reasonable cost, so I will use those when i decide the cost of doing it at home is too much. It doesn't hurt (or help) that i have a freezer full of slide film. I bought it to shoot, not to sell. but at the current prices people are getting, I might change my mind. black and white reversal is not hard and gives great results.

I also find that slide film scans for me. I do have a very good dig camera and have been using that more, but its not the same. Im old school, tube amps, vinyl over digital music, piano over synth. I like the tangible physical aspect of slides. I can open the binders and hold them up to a light or window and have a glimpse back into my world from long ago or a few weeks ago. I also dont have to worry about my son ruining my hard disc again

john