Ok, I guess I go first! What is your perfered film brand and ASA for shooting outdoors, trains inperticular? I've been shooting Fugi. Speed, anywhere between 100 and 1600 ASA. Depends on lighting and weather I'm going to enlarge it. One thing I've learned recently, (I'm incharge of our One Hour Photo Lab at work) Fugi shoots a little on the "Pink" (Magenta) side. So we boost the green when processing it. It helps even out the colors. My lab uses Kodak paper and chemicals. I've been told that's why the Fugi film looks a little funny when processed in it. ------------------ BNSF RAILFAN-TO-THE-MAX! Brent Tidaback, Member #234 and a N-Scaler to boot!
I prefer Fuji Superia over Kodak and usually 100 or 200 ASA. I use 400 wherever speed or depth of field are an issue. That's an interesting fact you say about the processing Brent. I have alwys been led to believe Kodak lives in the red spectrum moreso that Fuji. Fuji is more to the green side. Gary. ------------------ Gary A. Rose The Unofficial TC&W page N to the Nth degree!
The tech that trained (no pun intended) us said it's something the chemicals do. If you process Kodak film at a Fugi lab, it's the reverse, the Kodak will look green and you'll need to add magenta to even it out. Funny, isn't it? ------------------ BNSF RAILFAN-TO-THE-MAX! Brent Tidaback, Member #234 and a N-Scaler to boot!
Max & Gats, it sounds like you both shoot color negative. If you shoot slides which do you prefer? I shoot mostly color negative myself but I am going to start loading one of the cameras with slide film. A number of years ago would only shoot Kodachrome. Loved the warm tone. It's great to see the Photo forum off and running . P.S. Like Peirce I use 400 ISO Kodak Max or Royal Gold although I think I'm beginning to favor the Max. Something subtle going on there. ------------------ Residing in BNSF's St. Croix Subdivision near Trempealeau, WI [This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04 August 2000).]
I use Kodak films. In the light-weight, high-level, point and shoot camera I carry around most of the time, I use 400 ASA Kodak Max, which is actually the latest version og "Gold," which, in turn, is much the same as VP professional. When I take my twin-lens reflexes, both Rolleis, I use the VP. These are all negative films. If I use slide film, I prefer the Ektachrome family. My reason for using the 400 ASA is I find it working well in the greatest range of lighting conditions. Yes, I have tried Fuji. It is very good, but I find the colors a little too intense and unnatural. As far as processing goes, I send my work into Kodak, through Kmart. I have tried local labs, but found them to vary too much from day to day. Also, they do not seem to have much in the way of quality control in the digitizing process. I have Kodak make diskettes at the same time they do the original processing and prints. ------------------ Peirce Behrendt Southbury, CT peirce@ibm.net
I use mainly Kodak 200 ISO negative film. I am not too keen on Fuji, the colours do not seem so realistic to me, and the greens show up more. I sometimes use 400 ISO if I am shooting in poor light, or want to keep the shutter speed up, or to get good depth of field. I send films away for processing, they go to the Channel Islands, I think! and take about a week. But are much cheaper than local mini-labs, especially for the 7 x 5 prints I like. If I am in a hurry, I do take them to a local processor, and can get them in 1 hour if needed! ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
Patrick, I have never used slide film. Never had the desire to do so, at least to date. If I did, I'd probably head towards Kodak's Ektachrome range. Gary ------------------ Gary A. Rose The Unofficial TC&W page N to the Nth degree!
I shot slide film once hoping to do really nice enlargments for a Calander. Then I found out that it had to be made from PRINTS ONLY! BUMMER! Prints from slides look great, but cost an arm and a leg. I won't shoot too much slide film unless it might get published in a magazine. FAT CHANCE! ------------------ BNSF RAILFAN-TO-THE-MAX! Brent Tidaback, Member #234 and a N-Scaler to boot!
Some info related to my photo "The bus office" at N_scale/Favorite Layout Picture added today at 7:16 am. I have worked a lot with B/W film for astronomical photos, but outdoors and for model photos I prefer Kodak Gold Ultra 400 ASA. The "secrete" behind this particular photo is very simple. Small aperture and long exposure time. To begin with, I use a Chinon CM-4s camera with a standard objective Auto Chinon f50/1:1.9. The only light is the wheat corn bulbs inside the bus office and in the bar, 6 yellow LEDs on the wall of the buildings along the main street. I´m processing the film at an One Hour Photo Lab in our village, and get paper pictures in the size 10 by 15 centimeters. The picture is then scanned with a Mustek 600 CP scanner at 300 dpi. The image is then cropped by a program iPhoto Plus 4.0 to the format I like. I try to limit the image size to between 30 - 60 Kb. This one is only about 36 Kb. Well, that´s all folks. --------- Helge SR&WF I forgot to tell you that I used an aperture of 16 and an exposure time of two minutes. [This message has been edited by HelgeK (edited 06 August 2000).]
I like to use the slowest speed film I can for the conditions, it provides the best grain texture when enlarging. For color negetive I found a great film called Eastman 5254, it might only be available in large lots from a professional distributor[BTW film will store forever if frozen, that is if you can convince you wife that you need 1 cuft of her freezer for film]. It is much more natural than "gold" or Ecktrachrome. It is the stock that most 35mm motion pictures were shot on. I think it also comes in 70mm[2 1/4 square]. Very slow speed around 25ASA. But if you're outside on a sunny day you can blow it up room size with no grain. If you can get AGFA film, it has a much softer almost pastel look. I don't know how that would look for RR shots though. For B&W I use plus x. Again very slow speed but no grain. I kinda like the shots that O. Winston Link took, but I can't duplicate his lighting. ------------------ When in doubt, empty your magazine.
Somebody can correct me if I am wrong on this. I belive I had read somewhere that Eastman 5254 is repackaged movie film, the same as used by many of the big Hollywood filmmakers. ------------------ Peirce Behrendt Southbury, CT peirce@ibm.net
The problem with this type of film is it is not processed C-41. You can't drop it at your local lab and have it done. It has to go to a special lab to be done and can take weeks to get it back, it also will COST YOU BIG. The "free" film you get, Like Seattle Film Works, is this type of film. Shoot nice photos, but is a big hassle to get processed. Some one had said some thing about how there local lab is too inconsistant compared to their K-Mart "Overnight" Film service. Let me say this about that, One hour labs using a Kodak Processer use the same equipment as your K-Mart overnight Lab if it's Kodak paper it's printed on. In my town, EVERYONE (my lab-CVS, Eagle Foods, Kroger, and the two "Dollor Stores" in town.) sends their overnight pics to the same lab in St. Louis, MO. except for Wal-Mart. We have to put our lab through many "tests" every morning before we can prcess and print any photos. If we don't pass, we can't operate. This keeps our one hour processing as consistant as possible, and we do it "ONE AT A TIME". Not 200,000 rolls at once like your overnight labs. PS: I forgot to ad, I shoot AGFA film sometimes, but use it for subjects other than Railway Pictures. I also shoot Kodak, but only when I can't get Fugi. ------------------ BNSF RAILFAN-TO-THE-MAX! Brent Tidaback, Member #234 and a N-Scaler to boot! [This message has been edited by Maxwell Plant (edited 06 August 2000).]
I shoot mostly steam and mainly use Kodacolor 400. For steam, and possibly model railroads, you can get some spectacular results using Ilford XP-2 which is black and white, comes in different ASA speeds, and uses the C-41 process for developing. Any of you who use conventional B &W know the hassle involved in getting prints, unless you have your own darkroom. Sometimes the XP-2 comes back sepia toned, which is fantastic if you are shooting old engines.
When I mention I drop my films off at KMart, I did not intend to imply it was to go to KMart's lab. They also are a pick-up point for Kodak. I send my work to Kodak through that channel. The biggest problem I had was at a local shop of a national chain. The developing and printing were good. They did not do a very good job with the digitizing, ever after I took the job back to them for a third try. That is when I went back to Kodak. ------------------ Peirce Behrendt Southbury, CT peirce@ibm.net
Peirce, If your K-Mart has a One Hour Lab and they send their overnight photo's to a Kodak Lab, your K-Mart's One Hour Lab IS a Kodak Lab. Just like my CVS One Hour Lab, it's a Kodak Lab. Kodak trained us, supplies us with the the GreyTag+ Lab, paper and chemicals. It's all Kodak. Our Wal-Mart One Hour Lab is a Fugi Lab. Same deal as us, only it's Fugi. If your local lab sends it's overnight to a Kodak Lab, the on-site Lab is a Kodak Lab. It's possible they weren't trained right or it's an out-dated Lab. ------------------ BNSF RAILFAN-TO-THE-MAX! Brent Tidaback, Member #234 and a N-Scaler to boot!
Max, I agree. I have no complaints with the equipment, etc. It is how well the operators of that equipment do their jobs. That varies widely. The local chain outlet I mentioned just happened to have someone doing the digitizing who seemed to have trouble getting it right. The "wet" part of the process was fine. It may be that if I went to another store in the chain, in another town, the results would differ. It is not always the quality of the training, either. Attitude play an important role here too. But, that's human nature, and probably beyond the scope of this forum. One of the great things about photography, like any other art form, there is ample room for many degrees of likes and dislikes. Fora like this one allow us to be exposed to, and try different things. . . ------------------ Peirce Behrendt Southbury, CT peirce@ibm.net
