Hi all, My sister's been given a date to show up in China to pick up the baby they've adopted. They've given us hardly any time to get ready, get plane tix, and, more importantly, the obligatory assorted photographic indulgences.

I intend to go, and want to document this. I think I'd like to do slides so that I can show them. Anyone have recommendations for good, fast slide film?

Yet, lots might be indoor, and I don't want to deal with tungsten color correction (altho' if it's just a filter, maybe so), so am thinking of B&W.

Tri-X is wonderful of course, but for snapshots, TCN has been great and very convenient. But something archival would be good- to give the little guy when he gets older...

I guess I'm wondering what people would do in my place.

We're also hoping to visit some great scenery- Huang San, and somewhere in Sichuan, probably in the Tibetan lowlands.

My kit: probably TTL w/35A, 90Elmarit, Hexar AF for flash and P&S, and my old Xenar Rollei. Any and all thoughts about how to prepare for this welcome.

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), March 01, 2002

Answers

It's just me, but I would shoot prints. The latitude means that your exposures will be good (dreadful to overexpose a slide of the important family event!). I would also think that your family members who aren't on the trip will all want a few shots framed later. You might choose two or three frames to make enlargements for everbody.

If you really wanted to do a slide show, you could scan the prints and make the presentation in Powerpoint, using a rented LCD projector. It might be more fun, too, because you could include a map of the baby's home region, captions to the photos, sound effects, all that stuff. You could also post it to the web. But maybe I am getting ahead of things here!

TRI-X has been used to document some of the modern world's great cataclysms. I suspect it will perform well for this new arrival to your family.

Like you, I would approach this as a journalistic assigment: shoot lots of frames, but only print and distribute the really good ones. Twenty great pictures that comprise a photo essay of the adoption would be more valuable to me than 200 4x6 machine prints. No doubt you won't be the only one with a camera. My advice is to imagine you're shooting the event for Magnum.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), March 01, 2002.

And congratulations to your sister!

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), March 01, 2002.

Congratulations indeed !

If you want to maybe combine the two threads, take a look at Agfa Scala. Its rated at ISO 200, but can be used from EI 100 right through to EI 1600

-- Tim Franklin (tim_franklin@mac.com), March 01, 2002.

I'd go along with the previous suggestions to use print film. I've been the unofficial photographer at several baptisms and first-year birthday parties, and the clamor from the parents and relatives for "pictures" meant that I had to use print film. Our own Granddaughter's baptism had over twenty adults and six teen-agers inviolved either as participants or as supporters - - and all wanted four or five prints of the ceremony and the following reception. I had to provide over 300 prints. OUCH - - - but it beat having to have all those prints made from slides. Just a thought - - it's both $$$$$ and effort.

-- George C. Berger (gberger@his.com), March 01, 2002.

Congratulations to your sister regarding the adoption.

Absent time to do your own testing on new films, you might be better off using films you are already familiar with, so as to avoid surprises or disappointments. Otherwise, my favorite general-purpose slide film is Provia, available in both 100 and 400 ISO speeds. Velvia has wonderful saturation, but is often too contrasty for many landscape scenes where shadow detail is required.

Also, if you are thinking about B&W slides, take a look at the dr5 process. Using various conventional B&W films, the process can produce either neutral or gold/sepia toned chromes that are fabulous. An example of the gold-toned dr5 is shown below.

Before making final decisions, you might also consider what processing will be available in China, so you can have much of the film processed there to avoid x-ray problems. I've never travelled there, so I don't have a clue.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), March 01, 2002.