DigitalM7 Posted October 17, 2014 Share #1 Posted October 17, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Can you recommend me a good film for snow conditions. I think iso 400 would be the best choice. I'm planning a ski-trip in Grindelwald, Switzerland and will take my M7 + one lens (50 mm Summicron) with me on the ski-slopes. Most pictures will be typical holiday/family pictures and also a few landscape shots of the beautiful scenery. Weather conditions can change rapidly from grey overcast to bright sun/blue skies in a matter of minutes. I think for most pictures the M7 will be perfect, the biggest challenge will be to take sharp pictures of the fast moving kids on ski's. Any tips ? Thanks ! Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Hi DigitalM7, Take a look here Your favorite film for snow + wintersport ?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
miha Posted October 17, 2014 Share #2 Posted October 17, 2014 Well, there are basically 7 or 8 ISO 400 emulsions available. Ilford HP5 with its lower inherent contrast would be my choice. Do you develop / print yourself? If not, go for one of the chromogenic emulsions, like the recently discontinued Kodak BW 400 CN or the Ilford XP2 Super. Any C41 lab will develop these films and they scan beautifully, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblitz Posted October 17, 2014 Share #3 Posted October 17, 2014 color or bw? if color, portra 400 works is great. Even 800. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Albertson Posted October 17, 2014 Share #4 Posted October 17, 2014 ISO 400 is a bit fast for sunny snow shots. Cloudy snow shots aren't worth it - everything is really flat. Try Portra 160 for color print, though I like an ISO 100 slide film instead. Ilford Delta 100 or FP4+ for b&w. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StS Posted October 17, 2014 Share #5 Posted October 17, 2014 Another vote for a low speed film here, they have a higher dynamic range to handle the high contrasts to be expected. Stefan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalM7 Posted October 17, 2014 Author Share #6 Posted October 17, 2014 Thank you all for the advice. I prefer color print film. Stefan and Chuck you guys are right, sunny conditions and snow will give plenty of light, ideal for a slower film. So I will take iso 100 and iso 400 and use according to the weather conditions. I still have plenty of Porta 400 and Ektar 100 in the fridge. Has anyone experience with Ektar and snow ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Barnack Posted October 18, 2014 Share #7 Posted October 18, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) I would go with KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 160 Film For sunny days where the landscape is snow covered, taking along a B+W 39mm 0.9 ND MRC 103M Filter 66-024576 B&H Photo Video for your 50 'cron would be a good idea. Unlike the M240 which has a 1/4000 top shutter speed, the M7 tops out at 1/1000. You could easily find yourself in need of the 103 ND filter, even with ISO 160 film. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted October 18, 2014 Share #8 Posted October 18, 2014 Most pictures will be typical holiday/family pictures and also a few landscape shots of the beautiful scenery. Weather conditions can change rapidly from grey overcast to bright sun/blue skies in a matter of minutes. Take a grey card to meter from, or an separate incident meter. Either will ensure you over expose properly for the snow. And don't feel dull weather is a waste of time, step up and think of it as a challenge, use it to create atmospheric shots perhaps? Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xalo Posted October 18, 2014 Share #9 Posted October 18, 2014 For all things white I have a weak spot for the Ilford Pan F and its seemingly infinite highlight shades. Not certain that's fast enough for kids on ski with the lens closed for depth of field or when it snows. If you like the rendering of the chromogenic films, they could yield flexibility from 200-800 ISO. I have yet to try Delta 400 at 200 ISO but read good things here and am eager to try, but that's probably better for home development. For colour I would take Provia 100F slides (and an incident meter), giving you in addition to the film's finesse even at 200 (400?) ISO the option of screening. Cheers, Alexander Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_S Posted October 18, 2014 Share #10 Posted October 18, 2014 I shoot a lot in the snow, and prefer FP4+ (with a light yellow filter) to other films, since it forgives a lot - both in exposure and development. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalM7 Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share #11 Posted October 18, 2014 For colour I would take Provia 100F slides (and an incident meter), giving you in addition to the film's finesse even at 200 (400?) ISO the option of screening. Alexander, I considered to take Provia 100F with me, I got fantastic results with it in the past. For most of the pictures I will be on the ski's myself and taken a incident meter with me on the ski-slopes is not practical. Maybe I could use the iPhone as a lightmeter, is anyone using one of these lightmeter apps ? Are they good enough for slide film ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xalo Posted October 18, 2014 Share #12 Posted October 18, 2014 Eric, true, an external meter can be impractical. I'm using an android phone and wouldn't rely on the LightMeter app. I don't think to have ever used it in practice, other than to compare its creative reading with those of my accurate Gossen lightmeters or cameras. Others had better experiences. But then, when I'm at the seaside, I rarely use the meter I carry because the M5's spot meter helps to interprete even very contrasty situations. The larger blob pattern of the M7 (same as on my other metered M's before) is quite reliable as well in this regard, especially if you go with one lens only and therefore know well what it meters. I wouldn't worry to much in the end. Others will fine tune this remark, but you can imagine how much the area you are metering is (in the case of snow) above the medium grey and overexpose accordingly. For a bright beach it seems to be mostly in the well known range of +1 stop to max +2 stops to retain highlights (e.g. the Contax T exposure adjustment button is +1,5 stops). If half of the measured area is filled by someone wearing a darker than medium grey apparel, you may even be good straight from AE. Did you already choose your kid's ski jacket's colours? Alexander Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted October 18, 2014 Share #13 Posted October 18, 2014 Did you already choose your kid's ski jacket's colours? Alexander Clothing, not a bad idea. If the palm of a hand is a good grey card substitute perhaps a ski glove could also substitute if it is tested before the holiday to see how much exposure compensation needs factoring in? Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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