Slide/Colour film holiday recommendations

[86Blues]

Hi, just looking for recommendations for some slide/35mm colour film for a summer trip to Canada, been a while since I bought some so I'm not fully up on what brands/makes are still going. The photos I'll be looking to take will be largely scenic/landscapes and some city, if that helps. Last slide film I had was Fuji if I recall correctly – the end results would be scanned in rather than projected, so the majority of the time I'd be looking to get a good quality 35mm film to shoot with (the reason I mentioned slide really was last time I went to Canada a few years ago I did get some really good results around Niagara with slide film). If there's anywhere that's good for processing that'd be a great help too! TIA

 

[robhooley167]

I'd go for Fuji Provia 100F, good saturation and a reasonable exposure latitude.
I'd be tempted to take some Kodak Portra 160 with you, yes it's a negative film but it's very forgiving of difficult lighting situations.

Then for processing, Peak Imaging http://www.peak-imaging.com/

 

[droj]

I could endorse the above by Rob, but if you're going to be hand-holding the camera 100 iso is a bit slow and I might plump for a 400 iso film - at the cost of a bit more grain. Or will you have a tripod?

 

[FujiLove]

I'd say take both the Portra's, so you can choose depending on the weather and try a roll of Ektar for a bright landscape day (shoot it box speed and don't over-expose too much...it's more like slide film), then go crazy and throw in a roll or two of XP2 B&W film for the city. You can send that off for processing the same as your colour films. Peak Imaging has a lot of good press on here. I've also used and can recommend AG Photographic and UKFilmLab.

 

[86Blues]

Thanks for the replies so far, some much appreciated suggestions! It will be a case of shooting hand held, no tripod on this one – when it comes to the Ektar how much over-exposure would be "standard" to do with it, or more a case of it being dependent on the weather at the time of taking the pics? (apologies if that's a bit of a beginner type question!)

 

[medwaygreen]

Mathers have Agfa Precisa 35mm slide film at a good price. see below.

http://www.mathersoflancashire.co.uk/category.aspx?cid=0&id=105

http://www.agfaphoto.com/appc/content_manager/page.php?ID=193738&dbc=dda5a

 

[ChrisR]

I could endorse the above by Rob, but if you're going to be hand-holding the camera 100 iso is a bit slow and I might plump for a 400 iso film - at the cost of a bit more grain. Or will you have a tripod?

Sadly, there are no 400 ISO reversal (slide) films left, I'd suggest Portra 400 if you need the higher speeds (unless you can find some old Provia 400X somewhere).

Thanks for the replies so far, some much appreciated suggestions! It will be a case of shooting hand held, no tripod on this one...

Have you considered taking a monopod? Much easier to pack and carry, and you eliminate or reduce many of the degrees of freedom that might make 100 ISO film a problem. No use for long exposures or bracketing however.

Mathers have Agfa Precisa 35mm slide film at a good price.

Precisa is re-badged Provia, we understand, so a good buy. I couldn't get Richard's Mathers link to work.

 

[FujiLove]

Thanks for the replies so far, some much appreciated suggestions! It will be a case of shooting hand held, no tripod on this one – when it comes to the Ektar how much over-exposure would be "standard" to do with it, or more a case of it being dependent on the weather at the time of taking the pics? (apologies if that's a bit of a beginner type question!)

Simon - Have a look at these two pages. In summary: for best effect, shoot Ektar on a sunny day and at box speed. The meter in your camera should be okay with Ektar without doing anything special.

http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/reviews kodak ektar 100.html

http://www.wendylaurel.com/shoot-kodak-ektar-100-film-tutorial/

On the other hand it seems that Portra is best shot at half box speed and metered for the shadows (though it is debatable whether this is simply creating a negative that scanners find easier to scan...but that's another subject). I hold my incident meter in the shadows when I shoot stuff like Portra and most other colour negative film. You could point a reflected light meter (your camera's meter) at a darker patch of whatever you're shooting. The change of ISO, plus metering the shadows should then overexpose the film by two or three stops more than you would if you shot it at box speed and just metered the whole scene with your camera.

Hope I haven't confused you even more!

 

[Deleted member 21335]

I love Ektar 100. Shot 22 rolls of film in Iceland in March. I think 2 were Velvia 50, 3 or 4 were Portra 400 and the remainder were Ektar. Shot it at box speed and the results are beautiful, only my photography letting them down. Ha.
Shot it in a mixture of strong sunshine and gloomy days using a Sekonic to incident meter.
That's my go to film now when I'm not making photos of people, although I've seen some VERY good results when people use it for that too.

 

[FujiLove]

One thing I have noticed about Ektar is that, for once, the marketing hype seems to be true: it is incredibly fine grained. It's almost medium format quality in 35mm...not medium format Ektar, obviously!

 

[FujiLove]

I love Ektar 100. Shot 22 rolls of film in Iceland in March. I think 2 were Velvia 50, 3 or 4 were Portra 400 and the remainder were Ektar. Shot it at box speed and the results are beautiful, only my photography letting them down. Ha.
Shot it in a mixture of strong sunshine and gloomy days using a Sekonic to incident meter.
That's my go to film now when I'm not making photos of people, although I've seen some VERY good results when people use it for that too.

Any more of your Iceland photos to share with us Gareth? The idea of Iceland + Ektar makes me drool a little.

 

[86Blues]

Certainly looks like I came to a knowledgeable place to ask this and future questions! I'm liking the sound of the Ektar, pretty sure I have shot with Provia once before albeit some time ago now, so those are looking like two good picks. I hadn't thought of B&W for the city shots I have to say but that's something worth considering too I think – currently I haven't got an incident meter though, would the meter on my camera, a Canon EOS 3000V, be enough to get good results using the technique mentioned by FujiLove above?

 

[droj]

The meter in any camera can be fine if used intelligently. Neg film has more leeway. With slide film, judgement has to be tighter.

 

[ChrisR]

Yes, the advice from @FujiLove specifically related to colour negative film. With slide film, shoot at box speed, and consider using graduated filters in situations with very high contrast (particularly sunrise, sunset). You still don't absolutely need a tripod, though it will help as light levels get lower, or if you want a long exposure for other reasons, eg smoothing water.

As you're not taking a tripod, and therefore not going for long exposures, this won't matter, but if you were, don't forget to read up on reciprocity failure, which means that as exposure gets into the few seconds or more, it has to be substantially lengthened compared to what you might expect. That's pretty garbled, but if you're going for long exposures, look it up on 't interwebs (or other discussions on here which make a much better fist of it).

 

[RumpFace]

I would suggest the Precisa stuff all day long for slide, ektar for colour neg and if you fancy black and white a few ilford delta 400 and 3200 rolls, they can cover most exposure indexes from 200 to 6400 if you need to. I also like and use agfa APX 100 for my own bw film use.
Also, use one of the few labs in the UK who process all processes in house on a daily basis.

 

[86Blues]

I had a look at a reciprocity failure article, interesting read and I'll have to have a further look at that and try and take it in a bit more – I've got the above link for Mathers working and it looks like they've got stock of the Ektar, Portra, Precisa & Provia that have been mentioned in this thread so far which is handy, which make/type of graduated filters might be handy for sunrise/sunset, in case that opportunity arises?

 

[ChrisR]

... which make/type of graduated filters might be handy for sunrise/sunset, in case that opportunity arises?

Ah, that is a whole other game of marbles! The top choice seems to be Lee, but they are VERY expensive, fragile (resin) and often slow to deliver. I've heard people say good things about Hitech Firecrest, but that's also hideously expensive. For me... well, I've used a bunch of Cokin filters and holder that I bought for a few quid (literally, total of less than £15) at various charity shops. There can be a bit of a colour cast, but I have not used them enough to work out under what conditions it arises.

 

[robhooley167]

I wouldn't say Lee filters are fragile, mine have certainly taken a lot of abuse so far.

 

[s162216]

I wouldn't say Lee filters are fragile, mine have certainly taken a lot of abuse so far.

I agree, I've used resin Hitech filters for the past few years and have taken them around with me (in the plastic pouch) in a variety of bags, pockets etc and not had any damage occur.

 

[Deleted member 21335]

Any more of your Iceland photos to share with us Gareth? The idea of Iceland + Ektar makes me drool a little.

Hey there. I wasn't gonna post the full set but there is a section on my site. I have created a thread and a link to the full set here...

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/iceland-on-film.596081/

 

[FujiLove]

Hey there. I wasn't gonna post the full set but there is a section on my site. I have created a thread and a link to the full set here...

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/iceland-on-film.596081/

Thanks for the link Gareth. The photos on your blog post are absolutely superb. I'm really blown away by some of them, most actually. Composition, colour - absolutely brilliant. I also love the way you have gathered together related images, such as the glacier towards the top of the page. I've bookmarked it for inspiration!

I hereby award you eight gold stars: * * * * * * * *

 

[Deleted member 21335]

Thanks for the link Gareth. The photos on your blog post are absolutely superb. I'm really blown away by some of them, most actually. Composition, colour - absolutely brilliant. I also love the way you have gathered together related images, such as the glacier towards the top of the page. I've bookmarked it for inspiration!

I hereby award you eight gold stars: * * * * * * * *

Haha thank you so much for the kind words. Means a lot.

 

[86Blues]

S oI placed an order with Mathers, great service from them it should be said, went for a couple rolls of Ektar, Provia, Precisa, Superia 400 and Portra 400 – also discovered three rolls of Superia 200 which are well in date still as a bit of a bonus! Just hoping that the weather turns out good or at least not raining all the time now!

 

[86Blues]

Apologies but for one reason or another neglected to post a few of the pics up following the recommendations here – where's the best place to upload some pics to link for showing on here?

 

[kendo1]

Apologies but for one reason or another neglected to post a few of the pics up following the recommendations here – where's the best place to upload some pics to link for showing on here?

Flickr.

Ask away if you need any help.

 

[ChrisR]

Apologies but for one reason or another neglected to post a few of the pics up following the recommendations here – where's the best place to upload some pics to link for showing on here?

Or Photobucket... flickr better if you actually use its features, but if you only want what PB's name describes, it seems fine to me!

 

[steveo_mcg]

Photobucket is a total PITA on mobile though. On flickr you can click through to see the image larger on PB it just shows another small version.

 

[abdoujaparov]

where's the best place to upload some pics to link for showing on here?

If you only want to show them here, you don't need a hosting site. Just upload them directly to the post. (There are size limits, it tells you what they are on the upload dialog)

 

[86Blues]

Ok, lets start off with a few Superia 200 pics – no prizes for guessing these were all taken in Vancouver/Jasper/Banff in 23-26 degree heat by the way!

 

[86Blues]

Next up some Superia 400, not fog in the pics by the way it's smoke from a forest fire near Washington that drifted as far as Calgary!

 

[86Blues]

The Portra 400 drew the short straw for pics around Calgary when it was affected by the smoke

 

[86Blues]

Some Precia pics

 

[86Blues]

Finally, some Ektar 100 pics – worth noting all of these are untouched from the original scans (forget who developed and scanned them now actually)

 

[86Blues]

Forgot about the Provia!!

 

[Andysnap]

Excellent, a really good example of each folm and brought back memories of my Canadian trip a few years ago, we did a similar trip, Toronto, Vancouver, Whistler and Vancouver Island.

 

[medwaygreen]

Looks like you had a great trip. Thanks for posting and I think Provia and Ektar have performed very well.

 

[excalibur2]

No one seems to use Fuji 400h..I've been looking on the net for comparisons to Portra 400 and they are very similar. Anyway I've just taken some shots with 400h with the ETRS and will see what the results are like as it's 9 years old.and have about 15 rolls.

 

[Yardbent]

Finally, some Ektar 100 pics –...........

have you taken any showing peoples skin with this film
I've read it can be a bit. pink
there's a shot on the flickr EKTAR 100 group where the chaps skin is 'orange' ..
john

PS
thanks - from an ex-Vancouverite - for the pics. Good memories there
many years ago I wild-camped on the Columbia ice-field -- i was NEVER so cold..

 

[Andysnap]

have you taken any showing peoples skin with this film
I've read it can be a bit. pink
there's a shot on the flickr EKTAR 100 group where the chaps skin is 'orange' ..
john

PS
thanks - from an ex-Vancouverite - for the pics. Good memories there
many years ago I wild-camped on the Columbia ice-field -- i was NEVER so cold..

John

I have found that pale skin is fine but anyone with a more ruddy complexion or a deep tan can come out a little redder than is usual.

Andy

 

[FujiLove]

have you taken any showing peoples skin with this film
I've read it can be a bit. pink
there's a shot on the flickr EKTAR 100 group where the chaps skin is 'orange' ..
john

PS
thanks - from an ex-Vancouverite - for the pics. Good memories there
many years ago I wild-camped on the Columbia ice-field -- i was NEVER so cold..

It's probably been over-exposed, which tends to cause Ektar to exaggerate reds and purples. I've found it produces an accurate colour balance if shot at box speed.