Hi there,
I think by now you should have realised that diff slides work for diff people. I think you should try out as many slides as possible to determine which is your fav, just like me half a year ago.
My personal comments
Provia 100F - Like what others say, its a fantastic multi-purpose slides! But i don't like the fact that it has a blue-ish cast if a large part of the image is blue (eg, sky). Some say that Provia 400F solves this problem, but ive not tried it as its expensive!
Velvia 100F - High end stuff. Last time i bought was around $11. Colour saturation is fantastic. Excellent for landscapes, provides excellent tones and colours. Brilliant. BUT! I don't like it for the fact that it is too saturated for my liking, perhaps a little artificial. But the grain is great.
Kodak E100VS - After my try on Velvia, decided to go for this kodak, which seemed to be the second most popular landscape slides with photogs. I love it. Priced slightly lower than the velvias. I like it for the fact that the colours are slightly more neutral. Just got back another roll from Ruby today, and realised it has a slight magenta cast to it.
Astia 100F - Pretty rare film. Seldom used it. Less than 2 rolls? But seems like it is the slide to go for portrait as others had acclaimed. However, seems like its always in low supply.
Sensia - Consumer slides. Priced much lowered than the RDPs, RVPs and E100s. Around $5-6 if im not wrong. Still, pretty good i would say. Grain quite fine (referring to Sensia 100). Neutral colours..
And the list goes on and on...
So,i would take the E100VS for landscapes. For people photography, i would take the Astia.
The exposure tolerance of slides are lower than that of film, so try to meter appropriately to prevent dark shadows/blown out highlights. For me, i tend to underexpose my slides by a little to get the colours out.
But, thats just me. Many people do not compensate at all.
Awwite,
Just my newbish comments after using slides for 1/2 a year.
Regards