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Faith restored


andybarton

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I have been working through my remaining stock of C41 colour film and am getting to the end of it. I am tired of the struggle required to get decent colour from the negative scans.

 

On a recent holiday in Cornwall, I shot a couple of rolls of E100 slide film. (I only shot three films all week...:rolleyes:)

 

It is a joy to look at the strips on the light box and they are a piece of cake to scan.

 

I wonder how long E6 will last - can't be long now...

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Since Fuji Sensia was discontinued I've used very little slide film. The only E6 film currently in the same price range is Agfa Precisa and the odd roll I tried gave decent results.

 

I must have more than few thousand mounted slides some going back thirty years. Even viewing them through a cheap plastic viewer held up to the light from a window they look as though they could have been taken yesterday.

 

Sometimes new technology isn't always better.

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IMO, Astia was the best slide film I have ever used.

 

Beautiful, natural colours. Dead easy to scan. No grain. Just brilliant.

 

And no more.

 

I have a couple of dozen rolls in the freezer, some of which must be 10 years old. I am reluctant to use them. I don't know what condition they will be in - some of them were given to me a few years ago by a forum member - I am pretty sure that they will all be OK, but they are out of their cardboard boxes, so he only knows how old the rolls are.

 

Sniff...

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I have taken to Provia 100F, also for 120, plus an occsasional role of Velvia and what I have left of Provia 400X (also for the bit of grit when scanning).

 

Directly seeing the actual, final photograph is unique, even if it gets processed all over again for current enlarging techniques.

 

Besides trusting in the continued use by some of those who exposed slide film already before the digital overtake, my hope is triple. One, the use of slidefilm for slide shows may again be gaining (a few) more followers — I read here in LUF that 'real' projection at parties is en vogue in certain communities, and perhaps not only screening fleamarket or family nostalgia. Two, the lomo community continues to cross-process considerable amounts of sensitive surface. Three, the curiosity to try out slide film seems to be quite strong among young photographers, if flickr is to be trusted as a reflection of those tendencies.

 

This will neither restore the volumes, prices nor diversity of the past, but hopefully maintain sufficient commercial momentum to keep in production more or less what is there. Sure, the price per role gets prohibitive, but development bags still exist for some countries (Fuji lab Germany) and an E6 development without framing remains reasonable (in Paris at least, also per mail order).

 

Alexander

 

P.S.: Andy, I'd just try those Astias. I think I also found a role or two in 120 in the fridge...

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I recently visited Copenhagen and shot 8 rolls of Provia 100F. Was very pleased with the results. Developing slide film is not not cheap--my preferred lab here in LA charges about $24 per roll for developing and scanning. But the results are great, and it's exciting to see the slides on a light table.

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I have been using Velvia quite a bit lately and haven't had a problem finding it or getting it developed. It's a bit expensive though IMO.....

 

This will be a significant contributing cause to the eventual total and complete demise of transparency films and why I no longer use 5x4" RVP. One of my cameras takes only four exposures on a roll of 120. Even rounding costs down, the cost of a roll of RVP plus processing equates to at least £2.50 per exposure to me, so I certainly feel the effects of rising costs.

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Yes, the cost of slide film keeps rising and a roll is now a lot more expensive than it was just a couple of years ago. One wonders how high the price will go! Luckily I'm still able to get my film developed for under 10 euros a roll, that doesn't include scanning, which I've always preferred to do myself, using VueScan, which I find gives good results without too much pain.

 

The demise of Astia and others is also a negative, albeit inevitable; luckily there is still Provia 100F, Agfa Precisa, and a few others around.

 

I shoot quite a lot of digital now, but there is nothing to compare to putting a roll of slide film through my M7 and then looking at the results on my lightbox and/or projecting it.

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My favorite E6 film ( Fujifilm RVP 135-36 Fujichrome Velvia 50 Professional 16329161 ) is $11.59 American per roll these days.

 

Holyfreakingmoses. :eek:

 

This is in no small measure what caused me to start thinking in terms of getting an M240, which I did back in April of this year.

 

As much as I love to shoot film, $3000 USD per year for film and chemistry to develop it in just does not make sense. Not when I can shoot color with the M240 fo a one time expense of a little over 2 years' worth of film and chems - at the current prices - which will not stand forever.

 

I therefore came to the conclusion that as an economically disadvantaged photographer, I had no choice other than to purchase the $7000 M240.

 

As I always tell my wife, "In photography, you have to spend money in order to save money." :D

Edited by Carlos Danger
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@Andy - You may rest assured that I am most decidedly not a member of that most reviled group referred to as "The 1%." The majority of the capital I used to purchase the M240 was in the form of Nikon cameras and lenses that I had diligently acquired over the past 25 years.

 

Nikon glass does still hold some value, even if most of the film camera bodies go for a song these days.

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I did - the co-forent who kindly recommended the lab and has experience with them.

A self-explaining price list is an advantage.

For everyone, since it brings in new customers imo.

 

Oh:

Thanks for the good tip, Jesse!

 

Cheers,

Simon

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