Film Questions - Dynamic Range

[EdinburghGary]

Guys,

Anyone know the best film for getting the most dynamic range out of our shots? When I scan my Velvia, it compresses the histogram a hell of a lot - I suspect partly due to poor scanning ability (I Haven't a clue), and partly due to not shooting to optomise for a scan.

I am wondering which 120 slide would give me the best Dynamic range. I presume as a result, it will be less contrasty and less punchy?

Also, if anyone knows - what is the best film for super high contrast Black and White? And should I use a red filter?

Gary.

 

[Garry79]

I would imagine that your dynamic range issue is more to do with the scanning than the film as you suspected.

A red filter will give you more contrast in the sky. But to get more contrast you could try home developing where you can experiment with "pushing" and "puliing" exposure/development times.

 

[Garry79]

Doh! Wrong thread!

 

[Steve Smith]

I would imagine that your dynamic range issue is more to do with the scanning than the film as you suspected.

Definitely.

However, give Kodak Ektar 100 a go. Due to demand, it is now available in 120 (it was only going to be 35mm).

It will give good saturated colours (though not as much as Velvia) but will have a few more stops dynamic range.

Get somewhere like Transpacolor to process and print it then try to scan it yourself using Transpacolor's prints as a guide.

Obviously it's going to give best results printed optically but I don't think you are planning on doing that yourself.


Steve.

 

[Knikki]

http://www.scantips.com/

May help

I use to use Velvia alot (in those halycon ISO 50 days ) but found when scanning that all the colours in the shadow area would 'block up' makeing the image look dull.
I switched to Kodak as I,personally find, there Extachrome works really well.

Transaprency film has very little exposure latitude maybe as little as 1/2 stop, which is why bracketing is usually recommended.
Landscape ND Grads are really useful
I always scan then do any ajustments, mainly curves and levels, in Photoshop.
Try setting the ISO differently, think a few people use Velvia 100 set at ISO 50
Presonnaly I usually set a 100ISO at 125. Gives it a little more saturation which I like.

I know you use a Chimmeny meter on your RB, but in the past with other MF Systems I find using an hand held meter and incident metering (some may disagree) to be far superior. You could get a good old Weston for less than £50 or a Sekonic like Kev uses for less than £100.

Black and white is a slightly different kettle of fish.
Filters in black and white change there opposite colours so a Red filter makes blue dark and red light (nice dark skys on sunny days with fluffly little clouds)
Same with Orange but can be used to add more contrast to a scene espically I have found with builds and stone work.
Yellow can be used for making things look natural
Green can make foliage look lighter in colour and red things darker.