-----Original Message-----
From: John Hermanson [SMTP:omtech@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 7:46 AM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [OM] Ektachrome VS
I've heard this new Ektachrome is great. Does anyone have any
experience with it?
John
All,
Below is an edited note I wrote to another listee re VS and Velvia. Take
it for what it's worth...
George,
Thanks for the info on RF & Velvia...
Get ready for another dissertation. I'm really not this verbose in person,
BTW... <g>
RVP vs EVS. Let's go:
Note: I did some scanning of DejaNews last night looking for reciprocity
stuff & Velvia. This debate (RVP vs EVS) has been going on a while! No
conclusions, of course, but it was interesting to see the number of posts
saying "Velvia is the best! I don't need to test VS or anything else!"
Kinda reminds me of the PC/Mac debate. Sadly, preferences count, facts
don't. We have sharp lenses to accurately depict reality, we have smart
meters to accurately depict reality, but hell! More color is better,
regardless of it's adherence to what was actually in front of the camera!
Kinda scary. In the 70's we had to take little pills to achieve the same
effect...
Conditions: Outdoors, partly cloudy day with strong, overcast,
directionless light. Overall the light was a bit on the contrasty side,
but not by much. 3:00 in the afternoon. Subject matter included 2 of my
daughters, green plants/trees, the neutral gray of an overpass, water,
dirt. I shot these on a hike-n-bike trail at Wolf Creek just outside town.
Pretty much identical shots and exposures (taking film speed into
account). RVP at 50, VS at 100. I've traditionally shot Velvia at 40, but
used 50 this time. Lots of 1/3 & 2/3 stop bracketing. I rarely shoot Auto
or Program, sticking to the zone system philosophy, metering & placing
highlight & shadow zones with the spot meter on the 2sP.
Overall VS did very well -- better than I expected. Kodak managed to push
the saturation up to but not over the line that Velvia has crossed.
Excellent transparencies with lots of saturation/contrast while staying
out of ToonTown.
Exposure Latitude: Velvia was far more forgiving than EV was, particularly
on the overexposure side. +2/3 stop w/Velvia gave me a useable shot,
whereas EV was pretty out there -- too overexposed to do much good. I'm
also being picky, however. When the exposure with EV was on, however, it
was on. Excellent shadow detail, it held the highlight detail very, very
well. I shoot trannies exposing for highlights and kinda letting shadows
fall where they have to, and tend to aim for that often elusive "bright as
it can be and still have highlight detail" area. I seem to be able to find
that edge with EV easier than with RVP, even with a single roll! Being the
anal guy that I am, I can sit down with a loupe and find something, no
matter how miniscule, wrong with just about every exposure I make. Not so
with about 5 shots on the EV roll -- that's an excellent record with me!
Saturation/Contrast: EV is pretty darned contrasty. Not as much as RVP,
but pretty contrasty. Subjectively, that's a good thing. I personally
like contrast as long as my highlight/shadow detail doesn't get lost, and
EV looks like it's going to deliver. Punchy greens without going overboard
as RVP does -- you know how Velvia likes green! Both films delivered on my
youngest daughter's bright red shirt. I didn't have any blues or yellows
in the shots so I can't comment on those. RVP delivers a bit more red in
the neutral gray areas of concrete, etc., though still very acceptable. EV
produced more neutral grays than RVP, but the red caught up to you in the
shadows, again within acceptable limits. Neither film is gonna cut it if
you're a gentle, pastel kinda guy, but I'm not, so...
Flesh tones: Hehe -- I'm not subjective on this. EV produced far more
accurate flesh tones than RVP did, which is to be expected. Velvia is not
a portrait film! However, I actually like my flesh tones on the cold side,
and RVP delivers that without a problem! I don't shoot the portrait stuff
with reversal film anyway -- I use neg for that. EV's flesh tones were
much more accurate, though again going red pretty quickly in the shadow
areas. My middle daughter has dark brown hair and was wearing a white
sweatshirt in strong indirect sunlight, and EV kept full detail in her hair
while ensuring that every thread in the white shirt was visible -- I'm
pretty impressed with that. RVP blocked up the shadow detail in the hair
in one shot, and blew out the white shirt highlights in another.
Sharpness: From what I can see through the glass, they're both pretty
sharp. RVP with it's saturation/color contrast appears on the surface to
be sharper, but I believe that's an illusion. When I crank up the darkroom
upon my return from vacation we'll see...
Grain: Again, we'll see when I do some printing. Unlike you LF format
guys (insert jealous grumble here), being a 35mm guy I'm real, real
concerned about grain. While I rarely print larger than 8x10 with 11x14
being the absolute max, I've gotten some pretty crappy 8x10s from perfectly
exposed negs, and so I'm wary. I'll tend to use the slowest film I can,
i.e. Agfa APX25 for B&W work, despite it's tendency to fall from zone V
directly into zone I or II dark stuff, simply for the tight grain. I can
dodge, burn and drag a zone III from it if I have to, but I can't
compensate for grainy negs. Gee, I miss Panatomic X! That + HC110/C could
give you a 16x20 you could view from 3 feet even if you could celebrate
multiple birthdays during development... Contradicting myself, I LOVE
HP5's tonal gradation for portrait stuff when shot at 400. Just don't go
above 5x7 for that, though. It's better than Tri-X as far as I'm
concerned. I'm a bit concerned about EV's T-grain structure -- I've shot
about 10 rolls of T-Max and haven't been impressed at all. I'm processing
it w/D-76 1:3 rather than T-Max developer, though. Might make a
difference. My results have been flat negs with mediocre grain...
Speed: EV is a stop faster! That's a good thing...
End result: I'm taking 10 rolls of Velvia and 10 rolls of EV to Utah,
along with the APX25. After the money I paid for the two I hope I'll have
enough money for gas to drive back with. <g> With 3 bodies I can pretty
much limit RVP's use to things I want oversaturated, and use the EV for a
pass at depiction of reality <g>, as if them mountains in Utah can be
considered reality to this Texas boy who considers anything over 1000 feet
in height as a funny shaped building...
Pls let me know your impressions...
>From the trenches,
Dave
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