Problems With Fujicolor Reala 100

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Shot a roll of Fujicolor Reala 100 through my R6.2. I've never used this film before. It was a bright, sunny day with minimal clouds. Shot various subjects which were primarily neutral gray and I made sure the meter was set to ISO 100.

Most pictures developed with a washed-out, over exposed look. This was especially true with lush green grass, which developed looking brownish as though there were a severe drought. As a test, we shot a roll through my wife's point-and-shoot which reads DX coding to set the meter. Same thing happened. In addition, the skin tones on her pictures had an overly rosy, pinkish tone. We even developed her pictures at a different processing house to eliminate that as a cause of the problem. The film expiration date is not until Nov. 2003, so the film was definitely fresh.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so, could you give me some advice? Thanks for the kind help you all provide on this forum.

-- Michael (mjsinnj@earthlink.net), June 06, 2002

Answers

Do you have a secondary handheld meter? If you do, use it to verify that the meter in the R6.2 functions correctly. If you don't have one you can probably rent one. I don't know about the point and shoot camera scenario. Is the film use in the P&S the same batch as the one you use in the R6.2? If it is, it might be the film. Just my guess, sorry if I am wrong.

-- Phillip (pp12302@nospamyahoo.com), June 06, 2002.

It could be that your lab is not using the correct settings for this film. Reala has a pretty well earned reputation. When I lived in Japan, I shot this film as my primary print film, and the results were great. My current lab (in the US) is optimized for Kodak Porta, so I shoot that now.

Correct color under various lighting is the hallmark of Reala, but the lab has to come into play here to assure good reults.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), June 06, 2002.


There are many discussions about Reala at photographyreview.com in the discussions - Help area. There seems to be a true problem with the film and NOT with your set up.

-- John Lake (travellingnomail@none.com), June 06, 2002.

Strange indeed. I almost shoot this film exclusively for my color print film, and have never had problems with it. On the contrary, I find it a fantastic, high contrast, high grain color film. Were both rolls done by the same lab?

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), June 06, 2002.

Ive also used this as my main print film and have had no problems

-- Karl Yik (karl.yik@dk.com), June 06, 2002.


Me too, zero problems, so I guess it's neither the film nor my M6TTL here.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), June 06, 2002.

High Contrast? I have found the opposite to be true, and although my scanner really likes the film I have given up on it except in really brightly lit (open sun) shots. I have also had some inconsistencies with the film. I was travelling when I took the following shot & got it cheaply developed. I blamed the proccessing, but several weeks later got another roll with this wierd grainy off-color thing going as well...

Hexanon 28mm


-- Nick (nicholas_rab@hotmail.com), June 06, 2002.

I would suspect the processing, especially if two rolls in different cameras had the same result. Reala is an excellent medium speed medium contrast film with great color. I love the results I get with this film.

-- Rascal (rascal@tellink.net), June 06, 2002.

Odd, my latest batch of prints from Reala looked like junk, printed on a frontier machine on crystal archive professional. The lab is still "investigating".

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

Thanks for all your comments, everyone. To Phillip - I took your advice. I don't have an accurate hand meter but I used my M6 meter to verify the accuracy of the R6.2 and both meters were in agreement. I must have a bad batch of film. It surprises me, because I like using Fujicolor NPS 160 and have gotten great results. I must have gotten a bad batch of film. For those of you who asked, both rolls were developed by two separate pro labs. I've got two more rolls in my fridge but I think I'll toss them and give this film another try from a different dealer. I've heard great things about this film!

-- Michael (mjsinnj@earthlink.net), June 06, 2002.


Michael,

You don't say anything about the negs. Are they overly dense? How do they compare with your other negs? Can you get one scanned,or prints done at another lab for comparison?

I use Reala a lot with very good results (processed in England). The most common problem I've heard is labs not being set up for it.

-- Robin Barnsley (rb@jet.uk), June 07, 2002.


Robin,

Where in the UK do you get your film processed.

-- bubble (bubblegrass@yahoo.com), June 07, 2002.


I've been using "Club 35" for about eight years, and have found them to be consistently high quality. I give neg films plenty of exposure, rating Reala at 60 ASA, and they always print them at a good density, with no overexposed look. Turnround is fast too.

They have a web-site at www.club35.co.uk.

-- Robin Barnsley (rb@jet.uk), June 07, 2002.




-- Steve Belden (otterpond@adephia.net), June 07, 2002.

Hi Michael, I have always had good luck with Reala. I use it as my main wedding film. I rate it at 100 ISO and process it normally. One problem may be it is not stored or handled like a Pro film ie. not refrigerated. Be sure the fim you are buying has not been siting around in a less than good environment. Regards Steve

-- Steve Belden (otterpond@adelphia.net), June 07, 2002.


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