What's it going to take to get better print film available for our 4x5's and 8x10's. I recently called Fuji and posed the same question, their response was "consumer demand, in the form of emails and phone calls" He mentioned that all request are processed and logged. Based on that, I propose that all of us who participate in this great site,make time everyday to call or email Fuji or Kodak, and express the need for a fine grain, high contrast and saturation print film. I love Velvia, but slide film (imho) is a pain in the ass to print. We need to start a grass movement of sorts to get these guys to recognize our slice of the big pie. I welcome all thoughts on this matter.........

Thanks-Albert

-- Albert Martinez (martinez@unitekmiyachi.com), June 09, 2001

Answers

Sounds like a good idea to me. Do you have email addresses for the people that count at those companies? If so, can you post them here and I'll send emails on a regular basis.

-- Graeme Hird (goldeneyephoto@hotmail.com), June 09, 2001.

You can contact fuji by visiting:

http://www.pictures.fujifilm.com/contact/contact_form2.html

-- Albert Martinez (martinez@unitekmiyachi.com), June 09, 2001.

Albert,

Your asking for "a fine grain, high contrast and saturation print film". I would second that, along with good scanability as a criteria. I'm just curious, which print film that exists today (in other formats such as 35mm or 120) do you believe meet this criteria which should be available in 4x5?

-- Larry Huppert (lnh62nospam@hotmail.com), June 09, 2001.

Larry,

Fuji Reala or a Kodak 25 type emulsion would be a nice start. It boggles the mind why neither of the two offer something in the 50-100 iso range. I can't imagine there not being a market for such a film. Hopefully they'll soon see the light-in color and highly saturated........

Regards, Albert

-- Albert Martinez (martinez@unitekmiyachi.com), June 10, 2001.

Most advertizing, where there is a demand for the type of color and grain you refer too, uses slide material and not color negative film. Portraiture and wedding uses color neg material to print from but they don't need saturated color. There are many fine grain color films out there but not saturated color negative film. Part of the reson is that a printer using color neg film can saturate it to their hearts content. And now that we have the digital revolution applying to photography, the evolution of film will cease. I'm not in favor of it but it is a logical response to the digitites. James

-- james (James_mickelson@hotmail.com), June 10, 2001.

Have you tried Fuji NPS? If you like Reala I think you will find it similar. It is rated 160ASA, but it works better shot at 100ASA and has very fine grain- especially at 4x5. It is a somewhat lower contrast film, well suited to outdoor scenes, but saturation can be controlled during printing or through digital means.

-- David Rose (DERose1@msn.com), June 10, 2001.

The demise of Agfa Ultra and Kodak Ektar 25 would seem to indicate that consumer demand for such a film is low across all formats.
I could see a rising market for a low contrast slide film, or even a non-masked negative film with scanning as its sole end purpose though.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), June 11, 2001.

Pete,

Interesting idea. Given minilabs are going digital anyway, having a maskless color negative material would make sense. I've heard that Kodak has some kind of new color negative film geared towards scanning. Anyone know what this is, and how well it works?

-- Larry Huppert (lnh62nospam@hotmail.com), June 11, 2001.

I use portra 160 vc which is the only colour neg film(5x4) available in my area and it makes excellent prints using a darkroom enlarger. It scans well using an Imacon scanner with final print on a Lambda. I occasionally push it to 400 for indoor group shots and it holds up pretty well.

Peter Ng

-- Peter Ng (peteng@bigpond.com.au), June 17, 2001.

Ply them with money & most will make almost anything you want. Give them a bank backed guaranteed order & watch how quickly the companies get going on your film. A few won't be made no matter the money due to EPA or other considerations. But current emulsions in sizes you want can be done if you are willing to pay for them.

-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), June 17, 2001.