At 17:27 26.09.01, Bernd Moeller wrote:
The cited test results were for Provia F 100. My mistake to forget the "F".
I also think that Provia F 100 is the finest film available - it's my
favourite.
Funny, however, that the independant test reveals slightly lower
resolution for it compared to Sensia. Could be a typo.
Resolution has never been touted as the forte of Provia F100, it's the lack
of grain.
I would also like to add that the numbers cited for resolution is pure BS
(not from the list members, from the testers): They measure resolution with
a contrast range of 1000:1, that's about 10 stops. How many of you are
shooting under those conditions?!? On rare occasions you can have small
back lighted objects (like grass straws against a very bright sky), but you
should really look at the second number in the tests, the resolution with
contrast 1.6:1, or about 2/3 of a stop. That should be a much more
realistic and sobering value for normal shooting.
As to the topic, Sensia II vs. Provia, the earlier Sensia was the amateur
version of Provia (not F). Later came Sensia II, the amateur version of
Astia. The name has now changed back to Sensia, but the emulsion code is
still RA, amateur Astia. I use this film almost exclusively, with some
rolls of Velvia for special occasions (read dull and grey light). I really
like the soft contrast for landscape, and it's also great for night photos
where contrast easily gets out of control.
My personal "rule" is to expect detail in 6 stops for Sensia, 5.5 stops for
Provia F100, but only 5 stops for Velvia. Unfortunately, Velvia is also
much more saturated than the other two, otherwise these three films
would've made a great "zone system lite". (Tris, you needed an excuse to
have more bodies, didn't you?)
A norwegian photo magazin ran an article about pushing and pulling slide
films a few weeks ago, and it seemed Velvia could be pulled at least 2/3 of
a stop, resulting in much lower contrast, but I suspect that grain would be
objectionable if you tried to increase contrast in Sensia to Velvia-level
by pushing.
Too bad, 'cause I certainly can't afford shooting Velvia as my standard
film and then pay for push processing, and I don't like the saturation for
normal shooting either.
Regards,
Thomas Bryhn
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