Kodachrome 200 and available darkness

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In David Allan Harvey's pictures from Sevilla he has some really grainy pictures taken at dusk or dawn (this is in the book: National Geographic - The photographs). I believe they were taken with pushed Kodachrome 200 and probably with a handheld Leica.

Can I have Kodachrome 200 pushed or does one have to work at NG for that service? If it's possible, what are the speed ratings for 1 stop, 2 stops and 3 stops push? I suppose it's not as easy as 400, 800, 1600?

I finally bought a Leica M6 this week. 20 years ago a photo dealer who did NOT sell Leica smirked at my inquiry and told me that the fine Leica M was a too good camera for my needs. I've been wanting one ever since that remark! Now I want to take grainy available darkness pictures!

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), October 31, 2001

Answers

K200 with a 2-stop push is shot at EI 500.

For grainy available light, Delta 3200 gets you their in style, IMHO.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), November 01, 2001.


Peter

Are you sure those shots were taken with K200? They might have been the older Ektachrome 200 pushed. From looking at the shots you mean I could not tell what film they were.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.


Thanks for the answers. No, I'm not sure it is K200, I only think that I once read about that. I could be totally wrong.

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), November 01, 2001.

Double-check with whoever does your Kodachrome processing, but I think the standard "push" for K-200 in the K-Lab processors (which everyone seems to be using, even the private labs in the US) is 1-1/3 stops. So try shooting K200 at EI 500. From my own experience, K200 can take a 1-stop push without degrading image quality.

-- Chuck Albertson (chucko@siteconnect.com), November 01, 2001.

I've used K200 at ISO 500, with the appropriate push processing, and the results are very nice -- color palette is rich but muted, sharpness is good, and grain is large but pretty. It will cost you, though, since the film is relatively expensive and push processing costs more than regular, usually.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), November 01, 2001.


Rather than strain an E6 film into going where it wasn't designed, why not use an 800 ISO C41 colour neg film? Fuji 800 Press or Kodak Supra 800 or Fuji NPZ 800 - all these are designed to work in low light and will give you finer grain, greater sharpness, greater dynamic range etc.

If you really, really, really need slides for projection, then you can always have a lab made projection dupes of the keeper shots.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), November 01, 2001.


I haven't seen the book in question, but a lot of Dave Harvey's work in Spain (rampaging stallion, e.g.) dates back to the 70s when THE high speed film was High Speed Ektachrome (iso 160) pushed 1 1/3 stops to 400. He was shooting Nikon at the time - the stallion was with a 180 2.8.

I don't believe K200 came in until the early/mid 80s.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 01, 2001.


Hi, Peter:

Let me congratulate you for your new M6 in the first place.

Peter,I had an experience related to your subject that could be of some help: I bought this nice OM1 in Sweden right before leaving (it was in my pre-Leica years), loaded a roll of Kodachrome 100 in it and forgot about the camera in my way back home. I continued shooting with my FM2n but run out of film in Madrid late at night with incredible Christmas lighting and closed stores. Though I didn't want to use the "new" OM1 before being familiar enough with it the only film left was in it so I continued shooting Olympus. And suddenly I noticed the camera was still set at ISO 400 the way it came from the store . . . too late to do anything but continue shooting and tell the lab what happened once back at home.

And that was the way my nice grainy slides of Madrid at night in available darkness with muted colours were born. But perhaps it only happens in Spain . . .

Cheers and enjoy your new magic box.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), November 01, 2001.


Peter, unless there is something about K200 that makes it attractive to you, you might try Fuji Provia 400, either at 400 or pushed. I find it to be finer grain than K200.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), November 01, 2001.

Thanks for all the answers. I guess I was wrong about the Sevilla- pictures being shot with Kodachrome 200, since the film hadn't been invented then...

Well, there is no shortage of suggestions and I'll have to try most of them! I'll start with a roll of Fuji 800 negative film from my freezer. Last time I used it it seemed to be more like 600 than 800 so I might ask for a push when having it developed.

Ivan, thanks for the welcome to Leica-world. Where did you go when you left Sweden?

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), November 06, 2001.



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