Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Peter Jon White <PeterJonWhite@PeterWhiteCycles.com> asked: >So, in trying to decide which of two films you would prefer, are you saying that you would rather read the opinions of others, than look at the two films side by side? How can someone else's description of an emulsion be better than seeing it for yourself? Sorry Peter, - re-reading my posting I realise I didn’t explain very well what I meant. Of course there is of course no substitute for trying the film for yourself. As Mr Rabiner so colourfully puts it... "You can talk talk talk; You can bicker bicker bicker; BUT YOU GOTTA SHOT A TEST ROLL YOURSELF!!!" But at the end of that test roll you have only 36 samples of how that film behaves against the subjects you had available to you and the lighting conditions you met. Asking for other folks’ opinions will add their knowledge and experience to yours, perhaps of using that film under very different conditions. A film which performs well in a California summer may not do so well in a London winter, or an Alpine snowscape. Or as I discovered, the film I use here in England simply couldn’t cope with the heavy shadows cast by the Florida winter sun. Asking opinions of an untried film could also help narrow the field before testing begins - useful in a world where there seems to be an ever-growing number of film types. For example, if the general consensus of the LUG is that WizzoChrome gives high-contrast images of high colour saturation, then that film is unlikely to satisfy a user who does not like this style of image. When I asked for recommendations for 400ISO+ slide film, the general consensus of the LUG was that they could not be recommended, though someone suggested with the possible exception of 400ISO Fujichrome. Since no-one sprang to the defence of their favourite high-speed slide film, I concluded that the chances were fairly high that indeed none were very good. But as the man says, BUT YOU GOTTA SHOT A TEST ROLL YOURSELF!!!. I’ve shot some 400ISO Fujichrome, and the resulting slides look pretty good - haven’t seen them projected to large size yet. Regards, Doug Richardson