Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 03:51 PM 4/3/01 -0700, Brian Reid wrote: >Anybody got anything to say about photography? A while back, Kodak sent me a half dozen rolls of K64 and said "use these along side your current slide film, send the K64 to us, process your current slide film as you always do." I was photographing some illustrations for a scenic Napa Valley book so took the K64 and my trusty Velvia. On every setup (always a tripod with Arca release clamp) I had one R7 loaded with Velvia and another loaded with K64. I switched bodies, moves the lens to the new body, and photographed everything in duplicate. After a couple of days photographing around Napa valley, I sent the K64 to Kodak and I processed my Velvia. Kodak sent me the processed K64 and I was to fill out an extensive evaluation (many pages) and send them identical samples from each film. I made plenty of in camera dupes. The bottom line was that for sheer brilliance, color, and beauty, the Velvia blew away the K64. The LP/MM resolution difference between the two films was irrelevant as these were book illustrations and not meant to be murals. Not that Velvia is second fiddle to K64 in this ballpark anyway. And part of my evaluation, besides the obvious, said that after travel to get somewhere (always costly), several days of intense photography (even more costly), and travel back, I refuse to pack my film in a box to be then shipped yet on another trip (not in my custody) to "hope" that it makes it there and back, and doesn't get lost or corrupted in a lab, whose location I know not where, and whose personnel I know not of. Therefore, I'll stick to my Velvia and Provia 100F and 400F films. I have yet to find Velvia saturation and balance objectionable. On the contrary. I find it intensely to my liking. I quite often use 100F at ASA 200 and 400F at ASA 800. Good stuff. Jim