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Slide films
Minolta Maxxum 9,
100mm Macro lens, Fuji Velvia, 1/8 sec at f-16. Bogen Tripod and Ball Head.
Color slides or transparencies, give a positive image. They
produce more brilliant colors and give better sharpness than print films. Unlike print
films, slides require a loupe or a projector for better viewing. When judging slides for
sharpness or color, use a quality 8X loupe. It is difficult to judge a slide by projecting
it. However, projectors let you view your slides on a large screen which is always very
impressive and brilliant. Slides are also cheaper per shot than print films, and you can
always make high quality prints from your slides. If you want to sell your work, you need
to use slide films. Fine art, book publishers, magazines, as well as majority of other
publications use transparencies only. Slide films are less forgiving than print films.
Since the image is made inside the camera, any mistake will show up and fixing them is
more difficult than print films. With negative films, you take the picture, but the
processor or the processing machine decide how your pictures should be like in terms of
color or exposure. If you over or under expose your slides, you can't fix them as easily
as a print user can, especially if you overexpose a shot. With underexposed images you
still have some detail to work with, but with severe overexposure all detail is lost.
Slide films have only +/-2 stops of exposure latitude. You must work within this range. At
+/- 2.5 stops all detail is lost.
As you can see, exposure calculation is more critical
with slides. For middle-tone subjects, slides give good results. If a scene contains
shadows and highlights, loss of color saturation or detail will occur. Use a slow fine
grain slide for best results. Slower films are sharper and have tighter grain than faster
films, but require longer exposure times. Use faster films in low light situations or when
photographing fast action. You can push your film if you need faster shutter speeds. You
can rate your film 1 to 2 stops faster than its normal ISO. For example, an ISO 100 can be
set to ISO 200 to gain an extra shutter speed. You must have your film push processed or
your slides will be underexposed. Image quality will suffer to some degree when films are
pushed. It is best to use a faster films instead of pushing a slower film. Processing
slide film is easier than print films. If you have a darkroom you can process your own
films and make quality color prints. For serious photography work, use slide films. You
have total control over your images and the final result is very rewarding. Try different
brands of slide films, and compare their color and sharpness, and pick the one you like
best.
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