Slide film for not-so-sunny days

mustanir

mustanir

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I'm plotting very heavily which films I will shoot on my upcoming holidays abroad and I've settled on ensuring I am capable of shooting in colour, preferably on slides. I will be taking a medium format camera just for this purpose (while I shoot B&W in 35mm).
I expect I will be shooting both urban and landscapes. The catch is that I'm expecting to meet plenty of not-very-sunny and maybe rainy days. All slides do well in sunshine but I've had mixed experiences when it comes to less sunny days.

So... what I want is a 100ASA film and a small amount of 400ASA stuff to take with me. I am currently thinking of using the Provias. However, in my experience Provia likes to go blue in anything but warm light so I am wondering if anyone here has any better recommendations? Or is my best bet to just shoot it and not forget my warming filter at home? :p
Or should I just lump it and take some negative film too?
 
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***I will be taking a medium format camera just for this purpose (while I shoot B&W in 35mm)***

erm I Just can't understand why you would want to use B/W film in 35mm when you have a MF camera. My last use of slide film was Kodachrome many moons ago so I'm outa touch, but can recommend Fuji Reala100asa and Fuji superia200asa and Kodak Ultramax 400asa neg film for your 35mm camera.
 
You could try Kodak Ektachrome E-200, that can be push processed easily to 400. I myself have not tried it but I have liked the E-100VS quite a lot.
 
excalibur2 said:
***I will be taking a medium format camera just for this purpose (while I shoot B&W in 35mm)***

erm I Just can't understand why you would want to use B/W film in 35mm when you have a MF camera.
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Sadly I can't carry two medium format cameras. I have decided my main body of work will be in B&W and I've settled on using a 35mm rangefinder for this purpose - the lens is stunning and the camera small, light and convenient.
There will be times I want to take larger format photos for the less snapshotty or street-photography stuff, the stuff I want to take my time on. For this purpose I will be lugging my RB67 about. Not wanting to come back from my holidays with exclusively B&W photos (as I am sure I will encounter stuff that just wants to be shot in colour) I will keep a back always loaded with my main colour film (which I am trying to choose here). The other back may have B&W in it or a higher speed colour film, I'm leaving that one less committed because I may well want to shoot medium format B&W too. I've settled on my choice of B&W film for that so useful suggestions for which higher speed colour film to use would be nice.

I hope that makes sense to someone other than me :P
 
mustanir said:
Sadly I can't carry two medium format cameras. I have decided my main body of work will be in B&W and I've settled on using a 35mm rangefinder for this purpose - the lens is stunning and the camera small, light and convenient.
There will be times I want to take larger format photos for the less snapshotty or street-photography stuff, the stuff I want to take my time on. For this purpose I will be lugging my RB67 about. Not wanting to come back from my holidays with exclusively B&W photos (as I am sure I will encounter stuff that just wants to be shot in colour) I will keep a back always loaded with my main colour film (which I am trying to choose here). The other back may have B&W in it or a higher speed colour film, I'm leaving that one less committed because I may well want to shoot medium format B&W too. I've settled on my choice of B&W film for that so useful suggestions for which higher speed colour film to use would be nice.

I hope that makes sense to someone other than me :P
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If only Tesco would dev and scan to CD, 120 neg film for £3....I would use 35mm a lot less.
 
Further research and deliberation means I am now trying to choose between one of three films. So let me have it - recommendations please!

Fuji Provia 100F
Kodak E100G
Kodak E100VS

Of the Kodaks, I am more inclined to tend towards the VS over the G, but my one area of concern there is skin tone rendition. Provia is safe and also the cheapest, but I am aware of the possible need to use a warming filter or expect bluish photos...
 
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I have used 100VS and have not had any problems with skin tones. Its saturated (more than Velvia 50 in some cases) but not so much that skin tones are unnatural as blues and greens tends to show the effect the most.
Theres very little grain and it produces some very nice pictures.
 
I think E100VS is a very underrated film, I'd go with that unless you need the more natural skin rendition you'll get with E100G. There's also Velvia 100 and 100F if you wanted to check out the Fuji E6 line.
 
I recently used Provia 400X on a cloudy day and it turned out OK. Agreed that you may find a purple tint to clouds with this film though:


Shenley surrounds 3 by ekimeno, on Flickr

This film can also be pushed to ISO 1600, so makes a great night time/available light slide film too.
 
Provia can be a bit 'cold' and needs sunshine IMO.
I used to use Kodak E100G (not sure it's still made) and found this a bit 'warmer' than Provia emulsions.
 
NinetyEight said:
Provia can be a bit 'cold' and needs sunshine IMO.
I used to use Kodak E100G (not sure it's still made) and found this a bit 'warmer' than Provia emulsions.
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I agree on the Provia, it seems to be a very cold film and will have a distinct bluish cast if no sun.

I can only speak from a landscape/nature/macro viewpoint and only on slide not negative. I have useed Kodak E100G & E100 VS, and in my humble opinion both provide a very natural feel to the shot. Sensia, which is being discontinued, provides a much warmer feel to landscape shots.

and finally if you like lots of saturation then there is always Velvia.
 
Thanks for replies so far. I'm gonna shoot Provia 400x. That part's settled.

For the next part, I'm only looking at the best choice of three films - Provia100F, E100G and E100VS. I've ruled out all other options due to them being too hard to get (in 120 format) or in the case of Velvia, a bit inappopriate for people shots.

What I want to know is what advantages are there to shooting E100G or E100VS over Provia 100F. My main concerns are the tendency for Provia to go blue (i.e. I want to know that Kodak's offerings aren't as extreme) and the skin tone rendering of E100VS. Pictures would be nice :)
If I can't be assured it's worth splashing out extra on the Kodak (and then, which one?) then I'll stick to familiar Provia. I'm almost convinced to go Kodak for a change though :)
 
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