I had sent a message to Kodak suggesting that they make a film that would compete with Velvia. The response was that they felt that their VS does just that and that their 100SW competes favorably with Provia 100 F. I prefer Fuji over both Kodak products. The VS seems quite surreal as far as color rendition is concerned while Velvia has accurate colors but just saturating them more. To me, the Provia F has much better blues and greens than SW, so I use it over Kodak. What are your preferences? Does Kodak need to improve its pro slide film?

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), January 11, 2002

Answers

I am one of the few -I suspect- not using Velvia or Fuji on a regular basis. I always considered it a specialty film. The slides are stunning, but the color saturation, to me anyway, is quite unreal. Blue sky comes out bluer than the sky was the day it was shot, and if I wanted that, I could probably produce the same using other films and filters (same with green). I use Kodak's VS often, and am happy with it (in fact, I used to use EPP, and was quite happy with that!). But, I readily admit, that if you want super-rich colors, Kodak is a step behind Fuji. As for improving their film, well, that presupposes that returning enhanced colors is the goal of slide film making, which it might not be for some people (but, like I said, I know I am in the minority here). If you shoot for travel magazines, or many other types, you could digitally alter almost anything like this anway. Heresy to the purists, but I see it done everyday, and the pic quality in most books/mags is rather limited anyway. It all depends what your goal is, I guess.

-- Miles Stoddard (p67shooter@yahoo.co.uk), January 12, 2002.

Kodak E100SW has a warming layer built into the film, making a warming filter unnecessary. Last spring I used some in heavily overcast, rainy weather thinking it would be the right choice, but I didn't like it. The brownish warm cast was too much, and made the greens, oranges, and yellows look awful. I've used the old Provia and Sensia 100's, which I liked, and didn't think 100SW was even close to being in their category. I now look at 100SW as a specialized film, usefull in very few situations with very few subjects. Bob

-- Bobby Mahaffey (mahajen@prodigy.net), January 14, 2002.

I have used Kodak exclusively for about 8 years in the P67, and feel that they have improved dramatically over that time. I started with Lumiere, and now use E100S and VS. The Velvia palette is not natural to my eye, sometimes obtrusively so. VS colors may not be quite as saturated, but are closer to the actual scenes as I remember them, and it can even be used for portaits. Superior composition is more important to me than garish color. Maximum enlargements so far are 30x40 and they look great. I've tried Provia F and it looks good, but I haven't seen an advantage over the Kodak products I'm familiar with.

-- Steve Boothe (boothers@wwdb.org), January 15, 2002.

I'm a Velvia user in wildflower and scenic shots, but I like E100VS too and see some advantages to it. Sometimes Velvia is too contrasty, while E100VS offers a lower contrast alternative. And it gives me a 1 1/3 stop advantage in shutter speeds when there is a breeze moving the subject, which is a big help (I expose Velvia at E.I. 40, and E100S at the rated 100, for a difference of 1 1/3 stops). As to color, E100VS isn't quite as saturated as Velvia but it's good enough. I expect to use Velvia when I want maximum color, and E100VS as a standard 100 speed film. I look forward to trying Fuji's new Provia F too. Bob

-- Bobby Mahaffey (mahajen@prodigy.net), January 15, 2002.

It's interesting to hear all the differing opinions about films. It truly is in the eye of the beholder. As far as pro slide films go, some people find Velvia's colors garish compared to E100VS. I find the exact opposite! To me, Velvia's colors are "truer" than E100VS, and to me, the E100VS colors are just plain ugly. Way too red, especially in the shadows or in low light. And sometimes when out shooting landscapes, you get these really weird purples. Have no idea where they come from. E100VS seems to me to be a film whose palette was never "finished."

I shoot Velvia most of the time for landscapes. Have tried all types of slide films for this purpose but always come back to Velvia. For more general shooting, I have been using Provia 100F. I'm not completely happy with it, it sometimes has a tendency to go way too cool, especially in overcast situations. And if you mistakenly overexpose a little, it has a tendency to make skies and reflected snow go over the top in cyan with weird posterization effects. I have used E100S and E100SW occasionally. They seem fine, but never quite got excited by them. I like Provia 100F's tighter grain. I like that it pushes so well, and also like Provia 400F for same reason. I find the latter to be excellent for night-time photography, as it handles long exposures quite well.

-- Bryan Flamig (bryanflamig@home.com), January 16, 2002.