Slide film for indoors w/ M6 and f2.0

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What is the best slide/dia film for indoor candid photography with an M6ttl and 3 f2.0 lenses? I would like to capture the moments of going out to each with my wife and friends, and have had good results with Provia100f, but maybe something a bit faster will make my work easier! As most of the places have halogen, flourescent and metal halide lamps in some mix, I don't thing that "T" balanced film is helpful. Thoughts?

-- Al Z. (alziari@aol.com), March 06, 2002

Answers

The new Provia 400. WOW!!

-- Albert Knapp MD (albertknappmd@mac.com), March 06, 2002.

I like E200 for its palette over Provia 400

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), March 06, 2002.

How much better is the new Provia 400F than the old version? I was very disappointed with the old Provia 400. Too much grain.

-- enrique munoz (dem331@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

Another vote for the E200 colours. I also expose it @320 and push it +1, when needed.

-- George (gdgianni@aol.com), March 06, 2002.

I used Sensia 400 (the last generation) and was very impressed by the results. Could hardly see any difference with provia 400F. When looking at the data sheets, I was wondering if it was maybe the same emulsion. Lots cheaper than the provia!

Cheers,

-- Joop Mes (mes@nat.vu.nl), March 06, 2002.



An addendum; E200 is marketed in the amateur version as EliteChrome 200. Practically no difference for working purposes. I have no Leica lenses that are faster than f2.0 and this slide works fine for my purposes indoors. But I usually work in well lit (by daylight) interiors.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), March 06, 2002.

I'd go with Provia 400F. Impressively low grain and you have a stop over E200. I now use this as my fast slide film, skipping all the 200 speed films altogether.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 06, 2002.

I use Provia 400F a lot. I expose it at 640 ASA and push it one stop. It's grainier than Provia 100F but not more grain than E200 even pushed one stop. Best Michael

-- Michael Wildi (michaelwildi@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

I believe that Sensia 400 is the amateur version of Provia F400. A lot less money generally for the same result. Cheers.

-- Don (wgpinc@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

As most of the places have halogen, flourescent and metal halide lamps in some mix,

If you're bent on shooting slide film, there is no film or technique that will allow you to balance for the above mix of light types. Shooting print film, especially one like Reala that is known to handle mixed lighting relatively well (and "relatively" is the key word here), might be easier. However, what I do in such situations is just shoot Sensia 100 and use bounce flash to a) bring up the light levels and b) overpower any mixed lighting sources, at least the ones in immediate vicinity. With a relatively low and neutral- color ceiling (white or beige), I've usually been able to get good results with a hotshoe-mounted Sunpak 383.

-- Anon Terry (anonht@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.



Provia 400F pushes very nicely. I've had success pushing it to 800, and my friends have pushed it to 1600 rather nicely. Of course, we're all photojournalist types, so we're not too picky about color palettes and such--we're more concerned about film that exposes well with the least grain possible, so we like Provia 400F over E200 because of that extra stop we can squeeeeze out of it.

Mixed lighting is a headache no matter what, though. I like the idea of using a bounce flash, but with the M6's slow sync speed, wouldn't that be a bit of a problem?

Wishing for a mixed lighting filter, ;-)

-- Rich Fowler (richfowler@mindspring.com), March 07, 2002.


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