Originally posted by ckiang
For ISO 800, try Kodak Ektachrome E200 pushed 2 stops. Red Dawn has experience on this.
For ISO 1600, try Fuji Provia 400F pushed 2 stops.
Hi
Since ISO 800 is my favourite speed for most of my shooting (this is the same whether i use my Digital SLR or my film body), i routinely push Kodak Ektrachrome E200 2 stops to 800. I set the ISO in camera to either 640 or 800, and then specify "push 2 stops" to the lab.
I've also tried Provia 400F pushed one stop to 800.
E200 is slightly more grainy than the Provia 400f, and that is possibly cos for E200 u need to push 2 stops as opposed to the 1 stop push of Prova 400F. However, the results are very good with either film at ISO 800.
The reasons why I still use E200 instead of Provia 400F exclusively are
1) E200 is slightly cheaper
2) you can still use it at ISO 200 for situations that don't require 800 speed. the grain is much finer if u use it at its native speed.
3) I can keep stock of one type of film (E200) for speeds from 200 to 800 without juggling between different brands, and hence, having to deal with different colour saturation / contrast between the 2 film types. Provia 400F is more neutral in color compared to E200. this is really up to personal preference really.
4) i like the look of Kodak slides better than Fuji's
However, like i said earlier, Provia 400F pushed to 800 has a finer grain structure compared to E200, and for this reason alone, i suspect a lot of pple will prefer to use Provia 400F for pushing. it also performs slightly better under mixed lighting due to its more neutral color, which prevents over saturation of color casts....
For 1600, i think there should be no contest - Provia 400F will definitely do better with less grain for a 2 stops push compared to E200's 3 stop push. i haven't tried it personally myself though. E200 does have a lot of positive comments from users who have pushed it from 800 to 1600.
