Shooting velvia 50...any advice?

[phantasia]

Hey all,

Managed to borrow a dynax 5 for my upcoming trip to australia. Will just be bringing one roll of velvia 50 to try out and "play play". Any advice or tips i should look out for when shooting velvia 50?

Personally, i have never shot slides b4. So not quite sure what to look out for. And can i just develop slides at any normal photolabs? Or only specific ones will develop slides. Thanks!!

Edit: oh yah...and i also read somewhere that slides are better used for viewing on a loupe rather than developing...does it mean that if my final intention is to develop prints, i should be better off just shooting negatives?

 

[glennyong]

what ? 1 roll onli ?? bring a bulk there... u shoot 1 roll of velvia, den the rest of the trip hw ?

 

[slacker123]

use a tripod if the shutter speeds get to slow

you can push velvia 50 to velvia 100 with no loss in image quality.

velvia does not sit so well with shadow detail. basically it will be rendered a black. brightly lit scenes, landscapes, sunrises, sunsets which are aplenty and beautiful in australia fit velvia just fine.

slides are great. they are only expensive to make photographic enlargements with them. negatives if you want to print. other than that, what goes? its the picture that matters, the rest is just personal preference. =)

 

[phantasia]

what ? 1 roll onli ?? bring a bulk there... u shoot 1 roll of velvia, den the rest of the trip hw ?

hehe...the rest of the trip will be on superia 200 and digital. Think with the limited experience i haf with slides...and cost of slides and developing...its simply too expensive and risky to be bringing bulk of slides. Besides...its not really a photographic trip...the emphasis is still enjoying the place with a group of friends.

 

[AReality]

Think of how you're going to view your photos when u come back.

 

[glennyong]

hehe...the rest of the trip will be on superia 200 and digital. Think with the limited experience i haf with slides...and cost of slides and developing...its simply too expensive and risky to be bringing bulk of slides. Besides...its not really a photographic trip...the emphasis is still enjoying the place with a group of friends.

ok, in that case, bring a digi cam... juz to play it safe yah... lol..

 

[theITguy]

The Velvia 50 is not for the weak hearted people. So prepare to use a tripod to shoot in low light and dim area.

 

[waileong]

I think the last point is wrong. Enlargements are relatively cheap with slides, it's doing normal 3R/4R prints that's totally not cost effective!

Eg Colourlab is now offering 8x12 enlargements for slides at $4.50 each. No difference for negatives or digital pics.

What makes slides expensive is scanning, but if you have your own scanner, or if (like me) you prefer to project slides, then developing slides is very cheap, about $5 per roll.

Wai Leong
===

use a tripod if the shutter speeds get to slow

you can push velvia 50 to velvia 100 with no loss in image quality.

velvia does not sit so well with shadow detail. basically it will be rendered a black. brightly lit scenes, landscapes, sunrises, sunsets which are aplenty and beautiful in australia fit velvia just fine.

slides are great. they are only expensive to make photographic enlargements with them. negatives if you want to print. other than that, what goes? its the picture that matters, the rest is just personal preference. =)

 

[ericp]

A few words of advice :

- Put your camera in "P"rogram mode, and trust it, as you have little experience with slide film exposure. You also picked a doozy of a slide film to start with ...

- Do NOT take images with people in it, they'll end up looking like lobsters ... Velvia 50 enhances colors like reds.

- Do look for opportunities at dawn & dusk, ie. 1st and last 2 hours of the day. Scenery, buildings, etc ... Velvia will really make the colors come alive.

- Do look for colorful scenes, eg. fun fairs, flower gardens, seaside with clear blue skies, etc.

- After you develop your slides, look at them through a loupe on a light table where you pick up your film ... you'll be amazed. And very likely, hooked

 

[nightpiper]

bracket your shots with EV compensation. my advice is +1EV but there r others who dun agree. its your turn to experiment with it.

 

[megaweb]

If you are not going to use loupe and lightbox to view slides, I suggest you to shoot negatives better.

 

[phantasia]

If you are not going to use loupe and lightbox to view slides, I suggest you to shoot negatives better.

Yeah...after reading all the replies..i'm seriously considering if i should just forget bout using velvia. Maybe will not bring the film slr as well, just a film and digital p&s should do.

 

[showtime]

Hey all,

Managed to borrow a dynax 5 for my upcoming trip to australia. Will just be bringing one roll of velvia 50 to try out and "play play". Any advice or tips i should look out for when shooting velvia 50?

Personally, i have never shot slides b4. So not quite sure what to look out for. And can i just develop slides at any normal photolabs? Or only specific ones will develop slides. Thanks!!

Edit: oh yah...and i also read somewhere that slides are better used for viewing on a loupe rather than developing...does it mean that if my final intention is to develop prints, i should be better off just shooting negatives?

yes you view them with a loupe. but you still MUST develop them before you can view them using any technique...

 

[Sausage]

Can I know which slide film is good for shooting people? I just shot with provia 100F and found the skin tones okay, but I haven't seen the results with any other kind of slide film, so I can't draw a comparison.

 

[ericp]

Astia 100 will give you beautiful skin tones. Try it, especially in a studio, and you'll be hooked. It's also fairly neutral, and I like it for general shooting as well, too bad it's not available in bulk rolls here.