Railfan Technology > Fuji slide film

I am thinking of trying some Fuji 35 mm slide film and I need to get some feedback from fellow TO members who use it. I have always used Kodak K-64 slide film but want to try some Fuji; I notice there are several names they go buy such as Provia, Velvia etc and want to try something similar or as close to K-64 as possible.
Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

gg1tim

Hoo boy! Stand back and wait for the replies on this one! Let me be the first to offer an opinion. I still shoot K64 when I'm not shooting digital. Fuji slide film has never "looked right" to me and never will. In part that is because CN and CPR, my typical subjects, have red/orange and red units. Fuji, in my opinion, doesn't get red right. Many of the Fuji devotees are shooting UP, NS and CSX where red is not an issue. That said, Provia is the best of the Fuji bunch. Velvia is only useful on the worst, most overcast, dismal days. Velvia in sunshine is beyond bizarre. A friend, who also shoots K64, keeps one roll of Velvia in his camera bag for shooting trains in the rain during fall foliage season.

K64 has given us many good years and most of our railfan books. It's tough to use due to the contrast. But for me it's K64 or digital. There's nothing in between.

KG

Fuji Provia 100F is my first choice. I used to prefer Astia, but for some reason I don't like the newer Astia 100F as much as the original. I don't care for the super saturated films, so never used Velvia on trains other than one roll to discover I didn't like it. Another E-6 film I like is Kodak E100G, though I haven't shot any for a few years, mainly because Provia is less expensive.

Fuji Provia is wonderful film. I preferred it over K64. I shoot digital since 2005, but all my stuff in the waning years of my film shooting was primarily Provia 100F. I thought it looked good when I shot it and now after a period of aging I think I like Provia 100F even more. Velvia I never cared for.

chico
http://www.heartlandrails.com

I have been shooting Fujichrome film for about 15 years and I am very happy with it. I find that Provia is an excellent film - maybe the best - for studio conditions but outdoors, for railfanning, I prefer Sensia (ASA 100) slide film. It is much more forgiving than Provia and has a lot more exposure latitude. Results are very predictable without the weird color aberrations that Velvia produces in certain situations. It works well with filters including polarizing filters. It does not need to be kept in a cooler (which is advised for Provia) and it is much cheaper than the Provia. I buy Fujichrome Sensia 100 from B+H in New York - usually 40 rolls at a time. I take it to my local camera shop in town (I live near Philadelphia, PA) where it goes on to a local lab for E-6 type processing. It is returned to me in about a week. During the years that I have been shooting Fujichrome Sensia, I have had quite a few photos from my slides published in 6 or 7 railfan magazines here in the USA and in Europe, also in three calendars and in 3 books. Obviously, other folk must be satisfied with the results or they wouldn't get published. And, just in case you were wondering, I am a dinosaur in that I do not yet own any digital photography equipment and don't plan to go that route in the near future. Before anyone starts another flame war, let it be said that I understand completely the reasons for and merits of switching to digital photography. At this particular juncture, I am one of the few that still prefers film but I can see that in the future I may want to revise my thinking and move in a different direction. In the meantime, I would suggest that if you are searching for a decent slide film that you try both the Sensia 100 and the Provia. Only by trying and comparing will you find the solution that works best for you and satisfies your sensibilities. I have cast my lot with the Sensia 100 and have not looked back. Best wishes and good luck!

I used to shoot Kodachrome back in 1999 when I gave up shooting prints because I was thoroughly disgusted with the variations in quality between photo labs with prints, plus Slide Film renders much more saturated colors. That said, I now use E100VS Pro from Kodak which is an E-6 film that I can get processed in 2 hours here in Western New York. For the best price I either purchase it from B&H Photo in New York City or Calumet Photo in Chicago. I gave up shooting K64 because I was sick of waiting 3 weeks for my slides to come back. I personally have never shot any Fuji Slide Film but I'm sure it's excellent nonetheless. I have been recommended by a few people, Velvia for train photogrpahy though I've never actually used it. The E100VS Pro renders colors that are so "badly oversaturated" that they almost don't look real, which is exactly what I look for in a good slide film!

I switched from K64 to Provia 100F several years ago and have been very satisfied. I get overnight processing from a local pro lab. I also tried Astia, Sensia, Velvia, and various Kodak E100 and E200 films, all generally with good results. Provia got the nod because it is almost grainless. Yes,a bit different than Kodachrome but not so different that you can't mix Provia and Kodachrome slides together. Velvia is a special purpose film, and it does strange things to reds, but it can be a great film to use during Spring in California if you want to emphasize the green hillsides and you're not shooting warbonnets or CP units. It is perhaps ironic that just as everyone is switching to digital there are probably more good slide films availabe than ever before. I just shot 36 rolls of Provia 100F and 400X in South Africa, and my results seem to hold their own with my digital friends.
The downside is that scanning is a pain. So I'm going digital like everyone else.

JBW

Well spoken, JB. When I started shooting slides in 1969 there was Kodachrome II and there was garbage -- Agfachrome, Anscochrome, Dynachrome, Ektachrome, Fujichrome, Searschrome and probably others I fortunately never tried. You could get acceptable results out of a few of them, but KII was the gold standard. Now 30 years later Ektachrome and Fuji offer film that's as good or better than Kodachrome in many people's minds and slide film is becoming a niche market. Wish I could take a couple "bricks" of today's film back to my younger self shooting the last days of the California Zephyr, Coast Daylight, San Francisco Chief, Trainmasters, black widows, etc!

But to continue with the irony, shots taken with the current digital cameras are noticeably better than shots taken with older digitals. Those pixels just keep getting better and better, just like film, but in a more compressed timeframe.



jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is perhaps ironic that just as everyone is switching
> to digital there are probably more good slide
> films availabe than ever before. I just shot 36
> rolls of Provia 100F and 400X in South Africa, and
> my results seem to hold their own with my digital
> friends.
> The downside is that scanning is a pain. So I'm
> going digital like everyone else.
>
> JBW

I recommend Provia 100F and the newer 400F. The 400 will give you the extra speed to be competitive with digital shooters. With 400 speed film and a fast prime lens you can shoot almost to dark, well after sunset. I especialy like Provia at night. Very little reciprocity failure and the colors stay true. I would shoot various Ekta.. at night and color would be all over the place.

Velvia is gettting a bad rap here. Remember it was the choice of many professionals for years and can do a lot for you on a drab day. However, the original is gone,(maybe resurrected) and the substitute is not that great.

Ektachrome seems always to be changing while Provia is the same because it is good and they got it right.

Bob

I gave up on Kodachrome back in 2000. Doesn't matter how good a film is if sub-par processing ruins the images. To give you an idea of how irritated I was with Kodak, I switched, cold turkey, to Fuji Astia in the middle of a trip to the Northwoods of Minnesota to catch the last summer for Cliff/LTV Erie Mining. All my images of the LTV F-units were captured on Astia. When Fuji tweaked Astia a few years ago, I switched to Provia 100F.

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Velvia is a special purpose film,
> and it does strange things to reds, but it can be
> a great film to use during Spring in California if
> you want to emphasize the green hillsides and
> you're not shooting warbonnets or CP units.


It's also fun to use right around sunrise and sunset - glint shots and silhouettes get quite a boost.

JAC

Velvia (the original 50 all of the way!) I still have a number of bricks of it in the freezer. It will be interesting to see how the replacement works. I'll be the first to note, however, the various K-Chromes never floated my boat. It is even more interesting that none of the various little software programs out there for post processing digital are intended to replicate K-Chrome - just the film foamers love to bash - Velvia. Note also, Velvia has been the gold standard for landscape photographers for years.

A note about the new Provia 400X. I got very good results from this in South Africa, and having the high ISO sure helps in low light situations. But the test roll I shot before going suggests the real ISO is somewhere between 300 and 350, and I would suggest adjusting your ISO accordingly. I shot at +0.3 with good results. It does not deal with underexposure well. It is grainy, but much less so than comparable ISO films. It is much better than the old 400F or the Sensia 400.

Pullman Porter mentioned KII (Kodachrome Two) which came on the market in 1959 or 1960. I would argue that was the best slide film ever made. My shots from the 1960's still just sparkle. And it scans really well. Somewhere I heard it was replaced by K25 and K64 because the processing of KII was a toxic chemical problem....or is that just an urban myth?

Now to get back to playing with my new digital toy.

JBW

In fairness to the "foamers", rail hobbyists may have different goals than a strictly landscape photog. Velvia is great but obviously not for everyones taste thats why there are different flavors even tho I think that is going to diminish. As far as usage, Fuji dropped the old Velvia not the Provia so that probably says something right there. A

Bob

No argument there; KII tops my list as the best-ever slide film. I always felt that the original Astia gave very similar results. Brian Rutherford, former CTC Board editor, used to say "Astia looks more like Kodachrome than Kodachrome does!" I also think processing was the reason Kodachrome II was dropped. Kodachrome 64 was a big improvement over Kodachrome-X, but Kodachome 25 never measured up to KII. Of all the films I've used, K25 REALLY needed to be aged before use, unless it was the Pro version. Fresh K25 could have a slight greenish cast with muted colors and could be especially awful in contrasty light.

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pullman Porter mentioned KII (Kodachrome Two)
> which came on the market in 1959 or 1960. I would
> argue that was the best slide film ever made. My
> shots from the 1960's still just sparkle. And it
> scans really well. Somewhere I heard it was
> replaced by K25 and K64 because the processing of
> KII was a toxic chemical problem....or is that
> just an urban myth?
>

RobJ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In fairness to the "foamers", rail hobbyists may
> have different goals than a strictly landscape
> photog. Velvia is great but obviously not for
> everyones taste thats why there are different
> flavors even tho I think that is going to
> diminish. As far as usage, Fuji dropped the old
> Velvia not the Provia so that probably says
> something right there. A
>
> Bob

Velvia (50) was dropped due to unavailability of a raw material used in the manufacturing of that specific film. It's discontinuance had nothing to do with its sales.

Velvia 50 is once again available.
All sorts of data on these films available from Fuji, oddly enough.
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/proPhotoProductVelvia.jsp

grahamline Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Velvia 50 is once again available.
> All sorts of data on these films available from
> Fuji, oddly enough.
> http://www.fujifilmusa.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/proP
> hotoProductVelvia.jsp

Joe, It's a new formulation and as of last week not yet available at B&H. I haven't looked this week. ;)

Dan

PullmanPorter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No argument there; KII tops my list as the
> best-ever slide film. I always felt that the
> original Astia gave very similar results. Brian
> Rutherford, former CTC Board editor, used to say
> "Astia looks more like Kodachrome than Kodachrome
> does!" I also think processing was the reason
> Kodachrome II was dropped. Kodachrome 64 was a big
> improvement over Kodachrome-X, but Kodachome 25
> never measured up to KII. Of all the films I've
> used, K25 REALLY needed to be aged before use,
> unless it was the Pro version. Fresh K25 could
> have a slight greenish cast with muted colors and
> could be especially awful in contrasty light.

No kidding Jon. I remember in my final KR-64 days that the skies would often turn green and shadows would be inky black. Not much fun to scan if you ask me. Alas, I went with some Agfa and then Fuji before the digital age set in.

kgmontreal Wrote:
Fuji slide film has never "looked right"
> to me and never will. In part that is because CN
> and CPR, my typical subjects, have red/orange and
> red units. Fuji, in my opinion, doesn't get red
> right. > KG

Back in the day when film bound i fond that that some FUJI look much better shot at ISO 125.
Test some reds at 125 as it will lighten it just a nuff to bring it down in color that you may like it or maybe not