idle
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2005
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I have two film stocks designed for exposure with lasers: both have their colour layers in a different order to std daylight or tungsten films because laser light is massively different. These films are Fuji's Eterna RD-1 and Kodak's Vision 2383.
Both need to be exposed at around iso 1.5 for good results although exposure up to iso 6 can be used.
Resulting colour depends hugely on the time of day and whether the sun is shining or not. Once developed and scanned, finding a good 'look' can be a challenge. I've tried using colour filters (yellow and orange) to balance the tendency for these films to look like tungsten but I reckon it's just better to accept that they will never create a broad range of accurate colour and just embrace the effect!
So, when scanning, I usually just look for one colour to balance and will let the rest fall wherever. That might be a nice blue sky or a neutral grey road/footpath etc.
Attached are one from each type. The brightly pink shot is from Fujifilm Eterna RD-1 and was shot in fairly bright sunlight. I balanced for a 'natural' blue sky. The 2nd shot is the Kodak 2383 shot on an overcast day and balanced for, again, a blue sky (although it was actually grey). The gate sculpture is actually a lovely brown wood carving!
The films are virtually grainless and prints can look like digital shots. They can easily be enlarged from 35mm to A1 size (with a bit of sharpening) and still look superb.
Piriti Pararaiha (Paradise Bridge) by Michael J Breen, on Flickr
Loitering Around Auckland City by Michael J Breen, on Flickr
Both need to be exposed at around iso 1.5 for good results although exposure up to iso 6 can be used.
Resulting colour depends hugely on the time of day and whether the sun is shining or not. Once developed and scanned, finding a good 'look' can be a challenge. I've tried using colour filters (yellow and orange) to balance the tendency for these films to look like tungsten but I reckon it's just better to accept that they will never create a broad range of accurate colour and just embrace the effect!
So, when scanning, I usually just look for one colour to balance and will let the rest fall wherever. That might be a nice blue sky or a neutral grey road/footpath etc.
Attached are one from each type. The brightly pink shot is from Fujifilm Eterna RD-1 and was shot in fairly bright sunlight. I balanced for a 'natural' blue sky. The 2nd shot is the Kodak 2383 shot on an overcast day and balanced for, again, a blue sky (although it was actually grey). The gate sculpture is actually a lovely brown wood carving!
The films are virtually grainless and prints can look like digital shots. They can easily be enlarged from 35mm to A1 size (with a bit of sharpening) and still look superb.

