Slide film.

NakedAnt · Jan 6, 2005

Can anyone explain the benefits and detriments of using 35mm slide film? I've done a bit of research and came up with a bunch of ads :roll: Anyhow, thanks in advance.

Big Mike · Jan 6, 2005

Slide film can give you saturated colors that pop. Fuji Velvia seems to be the most popular slide film for high color saturation.

Slide film has small grain so it looks good when enlarged. A lot of pros who shoot 35mm use slide film.

What you shoot is what you get. Typically when you have slide film developed, you just get the slides and no prints. This way you can see exactly what you shot without the interference of a photo tech making prints.

Slide film has a lower latitude than color negative film, however. This means that you have to be more precise with your exposure.

E-6 development is needed for slide film. It's less common these days than C-41 which any one hour lab can do. Therefore processing may be harder to find and more expensive.

oriecat · Jan 6, 2005

Slide film tends to have better color representative, to my knowledge. Slide film is often more expensive than print film, but processing is cheaper (since there are no prints to make), so the entire cost can be less. But then a lot of places don't process E-6 anymore, so it could be harder to find some place to do it. It's a little harder and more expensive to get a print made from a slide, than from a negative, and due to the process, the colors you get may not look the same as your slide did (at least that's what I've found when I tried getting prints made from slides, they never looked right...)

j_mcquillen · Jan 6, 2005

when I tried getting prints made from slides, they never looked right

What process were you getting them done with?

Try Cibachrome (might be called Fujichrome some places...) - I find this gives good accurate colours, sharpness etc, as long as you have a well exposed slide.