Suggestions for film?

Dylan · Mar 7, 2007

I have an Eos Elan 7e and I'd like to get some input on the different kinds of film available. As we get into spring I'll be shooting a lot of flowers and wildlife. I have been using the standard ISO 400 Fuji film however I want my flowers to pop. I've heard Fuji Velvia is really good for this sort of thing however my local lab does not do slides. Does anyone have a recomendations?

selmerdave · Mar 7, 2007

Find another lab that does E-6. Velvia is definitely what you want for that. Personally, I don't like Velvia overall but there is no doubt that it does saturated colours like nothing else. Generally I think you'll do better colour-wise with slide film, but others may disagree. I'm a big fan of Kodak film - Kodachrome, Ektachrome and the E-100 series (although they are quite different from one another).

Dave

Sw1tchFX · Mar 7, 2007

E100 or velvia is what you want.

JamesD · Mar 8, 2007

You can try Kodak's 100UC (or 400UC), or Portra 160 VC (or 400 VC). These are Kodak's high-saturation color negative films, with pretty fine grain. Or, if you want to use slide film (a good idea), you can always mail it off. Kodak used to make a color transparency processing kit; I'm not sure if it's still available.

kevin_c · Mar 10, 2007

Another alternative to Velvia is Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Color 100 (EBX), personally I find the colours slightly more realistic than Velvia, although they are quite highly saturated still.

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=1095&pq-locale=en_GB&_requestid=2775

Riggaberto · Mar 11, 2007

Get fujichrome and get a mailer. You gotta have slide films for great color. It really doesn't compare.

montresor · Mar 13, 2007

I see you can still get Kodachrome 64 and 200, and Kodak notes on their website (12/06) that Dwayne's is still processing it.

Dwayne's Photo Service
415 S. 32nd Street
Parsons, KS 67357
US
(620) 421-3940
Toll Free: 1-800-522-3940
Fax: (620) 421-3174

selmerdave · Mar 13, 2007

FWIW I just got a few rolls (of Kodachrome) back from Dwayne's about a month ago. I was very happy with the results, turnaround time was very quick at about five calendar days from dropping them in the mailbox to returned on my doorstep. Processing one roll is a little rough with the $5 minimum shipping charge (they ship priority only), but 5 rolls was just $6 shipping and overall it was quite inexpensive.

So I'm still happily buying Kodachrome.

Dave

Dylan · Mar 15, 2007

Dwaynes looks pretty good. I noticed that they also do B&W film as well. I recently got a Sigma 20mm prime so I'm anxious to try some architecture shots in B&W. Thanks very much for all of the input.

Alpha · Mar 15, 2007

selmerdave said:
FWIW I just got a few rolls (of Kodachrome) back from Dwayne's about a month ago. I was very happy with the results, turnaround time was very quick at about five calendar days from dropping them in the mailbox to returned on my doorstep. Processing one roll is a little rough with the $5 minimum shipping charge (they ship priority only), but 5 rolls was just $6 shipping and overall it was quite inexpensive.

So I'm still happily buying Kodachrome.

Dave

Kodachrome is indeed a wonderful film, but it's best known for its bright but natural color reproduction.

If you really need colors to pop, I'd go Provia 100. The colors are almost as snappy as Velvia but the contrast isn't as finicky.