A bit off topic for this forum, but thought you guys would know more than anyone else around these parts

I've been heading towards mf from 35mm digital (and am still looking into technical cameras for arch work) and just bought a mint rz67 Pro II with a 110/2.8, 120 back, and both finders (prism and wlf). I like big cameras, lol. I'll be shooting film with the rz alongside my 35mm canon digital stuff until I get the cash up for a back (probably a 8-12 months from now)

So... the question is... for portraits and fashion, which film stock (color) did you find the best for your purposes when shooting film? I'll shoot a little b/w as well, but am interested in color mainly at this point.

Of course, back suggestions are welcome as well... to my eye, the aptus backs seem to enjoy their time with the rz pretty well With the crop factor as large as it is, the chip size would seem to be important.

Thanks!
Shelby
shelbylewis.com

Fuji PROVIA
Kodak E100G
Kodak PORTRA

I am partial to Neopan 100 and the new Velvia 50 which is quite stunning.

Velvia for people photography? Hardly flattering.

Fuji Astia slide
Fuji Pro 160c print
Marc

I was thinking the same... but I wonder if a velvia color shot (purposely chosen) converted to b/w in ps would be interesting (as far as contrast goes).

Thanks for the suggestions.

HAVE EITHER ONE OF YOU ACTUALLY SHOT THE NEW VELIVA 50?

If not, I suggest you do and maybe revisit your conclusions about the film. It is a very different film from the original 50.

Yes, it is contrasty. Yes, it is sharp. But guess what, sometime, just sometimes, if you use something other than a traditional choice you can pull an amazing image.

It is a incredible film. What is the hurt of testing a roll of it. You may be surprised to find you like it.

Take a chill-pill buddy. It's a landscape film that saturates reds and orange, the opposite of what you want for skin colors, which is what the poster said he intended to shoot.

Dude,

I am not your buddy. Keep your advice to someone who needs it.

Maybe you may not want saturated colors but others may. Have you ever pulled Velvia to see what it looks like when overexposed and pulled by 2/3rds? It is much smoother but still very sharp.

The colors soften and mute. The gentlemen asked for suggestions and favorite films. I gave him mine.

LOL Whatever you say Mr. "My name and profile-info is stolen from a fictional character in a movie with Nick Nolte" Now take your finger off the nuke button.

Well, this is a very subjective question,

What is your lighting, how much time do you have, etc., etc., etc......

Kodak Portra 160VC and NC are great films meter at 100 and run normal

Portra 400NC and meter @ 250 and run normal. I was not a big fan of the 400VC

Fuji NPS is also a great film. The fuji 800 color film metered at 640 is wonderful and pushed to 1200 also looks great!

Kodak Tri-X 400 not the TXP which is rated at 320. It is a little flatter to me.

Ilford if you can find it. Did they not go out of business?

With the RZ there is a ready load holder that lets you use 4x5 film in the RZ, it is like the 545i holder for 4x5. Gives you a 7x7 negative which is amazing.

Chrome can work but in a very controlled environment. A little too sharp for me. In landscape and still life there was nothing better than Kodachrome and Fuji's various chrome films.

An RZ w/ 110/2.8 and Portra 160VC rated at 100 is a spectacular combination. Look at probably 80% of the editorial photography that had the ability to rate at 100 in their shooting environment before digital and when 160vc came out. It was probably the most used film.

Portra 400NC with available light and rated at 320 and pushed half a stop in processing is simply amazing! Using scrimed Kino's for portrait with this light is so amazing!

Best of luck with film. It is some amazing stuff. You can get yourself an Imacon scanner for around $2k now a days and there is no better combination.

On Digital.

There are ton of choices out there. You can get Valeo's if you can deal with shooting tethered or to their caddy. But the Valeo 22 is pretty amazing for the money.

You can get yourself an Aptus, 22 or 75 again it is all about budget.

With Phase you have the P25 and P30 as well as the P45. Again, very subjective to budget.

I am a Phase user and have been for a since fall 2005 and jumped over to Leaf for a bit and came back to Phase.

Phase right now has really pissed me off with the lack of support for Leopard. Not sure what they are thinking. Leaf has seemed to have figured out their problems. I wish I still had the Aptus75 at the moment, especially at 400. Phase is not good past 200 on full frame chips.

The P30 I have no experience with, so I can't comment. But a lot of people seem to love their P30 at 400 and even 800.

All the Best!

Thanks for the comments... very helpful. I've been digital since day one so this is all going to be new for me!

I have the samples of the new version of these films that Kodak is(was) providing free... one roll each of the 160 and 400 in both VC and NC... so they'll be first out of the gate.




You know, this ability to overexpose film to smooth out highlights on skin is what I'm most interested in. Digital (at least my 35mm stuff) treats highlight transitions so harshly. Although I'll eventually be MF digital, this go at film has me excited.



Thanks.



And to you as well!

I look forward to this new time in my photographic ventures. I'm an architect by day, so I do indeed follow this second vocation with a bit more attention to intangibles (as it doesn't pay the bills, lol)... so I appreciate all the comments, both subjective and objective.

Try the latest Fuji Pro 160s and 160c. I have seen some medium format photos with them and they were just breathtaking. I have some on hand but just have not shot it yet, but really looking forward to it shortly.

Hi Shelby,

I assume you are aware that you should expose different for film than for digital? No more expose to right, but a DSLR meter is actually tuned for FILM if I am not misstaking.

I would advise to read up on Zone System, this is a good article http://www.normankoren.com/zonesystem.html. Zone system is for spot metering but gives good understanding for film metering. Of course there are other meters also. I recent bought a Pentax spotmeter new in Hong Kong, but I think maybe Calumet still has stock of them also. Very simple and very good for spot metering, although you may want a different type of meter... incident or reflective?

I use Fuji Velvia 50 which is true magic for landscapes and scenery. Many people use Fuji Provia 100 for people. Both are SLIDE films and do try slides, the colors may much amaze you.

I am both engineer and as you architect, so perhaps by profession same as photography : technique and indeed sensitive eye

Have fun

Regards
Anders

Will do... thanks for the heads up!
Shelby

Glad to see this question posted as I had been wondering about this too. Is there a film choice that is easiest to scan or they all more or less the same for scanning?

Thanks Anders... and glad to meet a comrade-in-arms (arch and engineering) on this board. I hadn't thought about a spotmeter, but it makes perfect sense. I currently use an incident meter (sekonic 358) very commonly to get light and ambient ratios correct... but a spotmeter might, indeed, be helpful in work that is using total ambient illumination. Just think, 18% gray should be metered as 18% gray... imagine that, lol.

Slides? It'll be like shooting digital all over again (I just won't have that "recovery" slider in lightroom to save my blown highlights ). I definitely plan to shoot some slides... especially after I pick up a 50mm and do a little off-the-cuff architectural work.

Thanks Again!
Shelby

I have no experience with other films, other than Fuji for fashion and portraits. I normally use Astia indoors more, and Provia on some occasions for both indoors and outdoor. Both are slides.



Color production: Astia - Real color : Provia - Natural color
Saturation: Astia - Standard : Provia - High
Contrast: Astia - Soft: Provia - Standard
Sharpness: Astia - Standard: Provia - High


I use Astia strictly for fashion, glamour, and portrait. Astia is a very fine granularity film for extreme skin tone reproduction. Color reproduction with soft contrast makes it ideal for portrait and fashion photos.

Provia is a versatile an all-around well balanced film (people, landscape, buildings, etc.)

All this info can be found in the Fuji Film website.

film....let me think.....mmmmhhhhh......film......you know what it has been over 4 years since I last used film.

doesn't this forum title say: medium format digital backs and photography?

Just kidding guys...I wish my clients would want me to shoot film sometimes...as long as they bring it to the lab, pick it up, arrange someone to print contact sheets and scan the neg's themselves.

Again I would like at this new Fuji Pro 160s and 160c. According to the brochure I received and conversations I had with the Fuji rep, this was a film designed with scanning in mind. And the grain is rated as the smallest ever.

But as I have always said, I am no gear geek, I look at results and I saw some amazing photos (from scans) with this film.

For fashion/glamour/beauty I now use the Fuji Provia 100F.
I also have some astia left which I still have to test.

I did try Portra 400VC which I LOVED for outside work, but have not used them on models yet.

For B&W I'm in doubt between Tmax400 or Illford Delta pro400.
I think I like the Illford a bit more, but it's hard to choose.

For most of my work I use a Leaf Aptus22, but sometimes I love to play arround with film, at the moment I meter everything for what is labeled on the box, but I hear there is a lot to gain, however I will have to figure that out later

Thanks Frank... much appreciated. I've got the VC and will have to give it a try.

I'd be interested in your take on the Aptus22... it's the one back I'm most interested in at the moment (even though it will be a while before I can purchase).

Thanks,
Shelby

"easiest" to scan is always chromes. As all scanners are calibrated with chrome IT8 targets, but there certainly are advantages to scanning color negs like broader dynamic range. Negs take a hair more work but scan as well in the end and they make a great base film for B&W conversions.

Beautiful work on your website Kirk!

Thank you very much!

Try a roll of Fuji Astia, best film ever made, worth trying. Accurate, detailed no grain
Marc

Hi,
The leaf aptus is stunning.
The quality of the files is great and in the studio it works tethered like a charm (no buffer, it just keeps going when needed )

Color and contrast + sharpness is great.
There is very little not to like, I would love to have ISO3200 as clean as the 5D, but than again when do I need that
So for studio/controlled light setups I think one of the best solutions.

The current generation 100 ISO film from Fugi and Kodak are all very good.

Astia 100F is wonderful, as is Velvia 100F, both have virtually no grain (I know this is heresy, but I like the Velvia 100F over the the old Velvia 50 and the recent Velvia 100). Provia 100F doesn't do too much for me, however. The new Provia 400X is an improvement over the old 400F and great if you need 400 ISO.

The Kodak Ektachrome 100G and 100GX are no slouches either and are as good as, if not better than, Provia 100F and Astia 100F (just as fine grained, and what grain is there is a bit nicer). The slighter warmer toned 100GX is nice to have.

B&W -- Fuji 100 Acros is great and hard to beat. Ilford Delta 100 is also nice, and in appropriate situations, Ilford Pan F.

Ah... I just got Astia back from my travel to Angkor Wat (took me long to find Astia 100F to purchase, have really been looking for it...), yet... for people it may be good, but... for landscapes & scenery looks very dull... for landscapes, scenery, nature... there is nothing to touch VELVIA 50.... nirvana;

MAGIC VELVIA 50

Hm. Perhaps Astia is too much natural for what I do??? Velvia 50... magic enhancement; true WOW


Ok, so here is my future film bag;
- many rolls of Velvia 50; landscapes, scenery; MAGIC
- a couple of Provia 100 for people
- one or two Provia 400X for low light

Regards
Anders