Hello, I am an amature photographer working in mostly black and white. I have heard alot of talk around town about using slide film for important pictures, so the other day i tried it. I got my slides back and wow i could realy see the diffrence in the negative itself. When i put these into my enlarger i was shocked, the reason's were obveous at this point. My only question is. Now that i have a positive image the shop has to make a negative to print. Isnt this going to defeat the whole purpose of qaulity? I am assuming that there will be a drop in quality once the image is transfered.

-- Jason R. Dutra (GMC327@AOL.COM), November 28, 1998

Answers

You do not need a negative you need a different lab. Going thru a internegative will decrease the quality of the print and add contrast. Find a lab that offers Type R prints which are prints directly from slides. I use a lab called SlideTec in Pinellas Park,Fl. Prints from slides are more expensive but with the right lab are quite impressive. Slides may have a better advantage especially if you are selling stock photos or are into 4 color printing of brochures etc.

-- David (dwright@colorcards.com), December 22, 1998.

You can get direct prints from your slides (TYPE R) or you can make a internegative and get regular type C prints.

Some prefer type R and some people prefer type C prints.

My feeling is if you want a print as the final output, use negative film, I like the prints from negatives (TYPE C PRINTS) the best.

-- Ron Suttora (morris@jps.net), December 25, 1998.

Hey, I think as an amature photog you should continue to use color slide film for most of you work in color for the following reasons. 1. Slides don't lie, they are the best judge of your work because some lab guy isn't correcting your mistakes before you see them. 2. Color neg film is OK... but it makes you lazy becuase of it's great latitude. Refine you tech skills with slides and then go to negs after you know how to expose and color correct your lighting before you shoot. I shoot both a lot for different reasons, however, slide film is still the best for overall sharpnes and quality. A good lab can make great prints from slides and they scan better for digital work...But don't forget to bracket your exposures, remember, slides make you do it the right way to get good results.

-- David Denemark (photogen@aol.com), January 29, 1999.