Reversal or Negative colour

[leica dream]

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I just cannot get film out of my mind despite being wonderfully satisfied with my little Leica C. A couple of years ago I bought a secondhand Leica R6.2 and used b/w with the intention of maybe restarting my own processing. That did not work out for all sorts of reasons so I sold the R again, but the lure of going back to film will just not go away. I suppose 70 years ago in my youth my film/darkroom experiences are just pretty embedded.

I am exploring this again and this time looking at colour.  Many years ago reversal film cost included processing and mounting but that does not seem the case these days. My idea would be to get film processed commercially (UK) then scan with my Epson Perfection V700 Photo flatbed for later printing. I have been digitizing many old slides very successfully recently. What I cannot work out is whether it would be better to use Kodak/Fuji reversal film or negative film to get best digitized print results.

I have not explored UK processing options yet, but what experience can anyone share about the reversal/negative option before I launch another film camera purchase investment?

[adan]

It pays to remember that in the film-only era, colo(u)r reversal images were considered "the professional medium."

The pros who regularly used color negative were those whose intent was almost always selling darkroom prints (wedding and studio-portrait pictures).

Any pro whose work was going to be considered by editors or art directors needed to be able to present "finished original" pictures right out of the film lab. Which showed the actual colors, not inverted colors contaminated with an orange mask.

Additionally, "color slides" like Kodachrome or slow, fine-grained ISO 50/64 E6 films (Ektachromes/Fujichromes/Agfachromes) were usually sharper and finer-grained for a given ISO. The pros who did shoot color neg tended towards larger formats (4x5 or 120 film) to minimize the relative grain size.

These days, for home-scanning, the dynamics have changed somewhat. Color neg films are somewhat sharper and less grainy than they used to be (thanks to delta-grain technology), and home scanners sometimes lack the ability to fully "penetrate" the blackest shadows of slide/reversal films - the Dmax or maximum density. Which in the past were scanned for magazines or ad agencies with expensive high-intensity-laser drum scanners, that could penetrate anything and pull out shadow details.

On the flip side, scanner software has a very easy time matching colors with slide film - yellow is yellow; what it sees is what you get. On neg film, yellow is rendered as a kind of purplish-orange ( ), which can vary from one film type to the next, so the inversion to correct color is more troublesome and may require more hand-adjustment after the fact. And you, the scanner operator, can't visually compare your original film to the scanned reproduction - one is backwards to the other, in hue and brightness.

For those (unlike you) who plan to develop their own color film, the negative process is simpler and faster than the reversal process (which requires two development steps, plus a reversal chemical step), so that favors negs.

Depending on location, local "snapshooter negative" color labs may still be slightly easier to find. But if the film will be mailed away in any case, it is just as easy to mail reversal film as negative film.

Slide films tend to be more expensive, as does the processing.

I hope that is a "neutral" evaluation.

Personally, I shoot only larger formats on film now anyway - and sometimes develop my own film - so I've been using negative film for everything. But I also bought a couple of reversal rolls to keep in practice.

Edited April 11, 2021 by adan

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[fatihayoglu]

If you are looking for a lab in UK, I can recommend Palm or AG Labs in Birmingham, have used both and they are always great.

[leica dream]

Thank you so much Andy. It is so helpful to try understanding reasoning behind changes. My recent scanning of very old (1960's) slides has been so successful which has encouraged me.  What I need to consider now is whether the quality of scanned reversal shots will produce images which compare favourably with the digitals from my Leica C. Ideally I need to be able to shoot identical shots on the different media then compare output.  I did something like that a few years ago when I compared my Leica VLUX with my C to find a glaring superiority of the C.

[250swb]

If you are scanning your own film then use C-41 negative film, it will suit the limited DR of your scanner far better than slide film.

[Einst_Stein]

//quote

The usable dynamic-range of conventional slide film is between 6-8 stops (total 14-16 stops). Color negative is between 9-13 stops (total 16-21 stops). Digital sensors are mostly between 7-10 stops (total 12-15 stops).

D9 "DynamicChrome" 1st Developer Bath for WARM-TONE ...

cinestillfilm.com/products/cs6-creative-slide-d9-dynamicchrome-1st-developer-bat…

// unquote

 

I found color negatives much easier to digitize than color reversal. You might have a fear factor on the color adjustment in the beginning, but it is really not difficult.