March 22, 2009
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Fujichrome RVP50... It's been FAR too long...
It has been WAY TOO LONG since I have sung the praises of film. Yes, film, the stuff you all donated to archaeology last year when you bought your 5D mk2's and D700's? That camera that doesn't have an LCD screen on the back so you can immediately check your exposure and your histogram?
This roll of Fuji Velvia 50 passed through my '82 FM2. I shot mostly with my 24mm prime, sometimes I shot with my other prime - a 50mm.
All images are STRAIGHT from the scanner, with three clicks of black point compensation.
I'm not foolish enough to think that 35mm is *better* than digital. I just lament that digital will never hold the same magic a slide can. Not for me. There's just *nothing* like holding that positive up to the light and having those colors, real and true, take your breath away...
I know that someday I will own a 24 megapixel D700X and it will become the only camera I can ever take a *serious* landscape photo with. But nothing will replace the SOUL of film.
"LONG LIVE VELVIA!!!"
=Matt=
Comments (16)
That last shot is...
Just...
So...
EPIC.
I miss you bro.
And I still have a roll of 50speed Velvia... Wedding Gift?
These are....awesome. I especially love the last two. Where on earth IS this magical location?
"HORSES".. for courses!
haha.. very symbolic there... i saw what you did
Those are so great Matt!
I pretty much love shots 1,3,6... Especially 6, fantastic job with color, light, and composition.. wonderful job *clap* I will have to keep that photo in mind if I ever get some money to buy stuff, definately put it up on your smugmug so I can see it later on
has dSLR improved so as to be equivalent to the quality of film cameras?
@chrispycrunch -
Crispycrunch, ever since I bought my D70 I have been realizing that I can get more out of those image files than I can out of one 35mm exposure... Sure, it would take a lot of RAW work to get an image looking as good or better than Velvia 50 straight off the scanner, but I could tell it was possible. And the resolution comparison was always a toss-up for me...
Now with 12, even 24 megapixels, and the other technology advances, quantitatively digital is a hands-down winner. More dynamic range, more color gamut, more resolution... Film is finished, compared to a digital sensor the same size as that piece of film.
But digital will *never* be able to replace the way film looks. The way it makes me feel to see a slide in the light...
=Matt=
I just scanned all my Trans, from 35-6X6-4X5... I must say after handling almost 300 transparencies over the last couple of months i kind of miss film... Thanks for posting those scans, now if i ever find the time to actually go through them, now. I will post some too... PEACE
nice shooting. yeah film has it's own special quality.
i've got lots of film equipment that i've been wanting to use again. but the cost of film and the limits of shooting it, (no chimping, unable to change the iso on the fly, too few images per roll, etc...) have kept me away. i'm going to look into it again possibly even develope my own film/slides and find a decent scanner. i'd like to be able to do some digital editing before it goes to print.
i've heard that some use digital with film. you use the digital camera (even a point and shoot) to experiment and get the lighting and exposure right then shoot the same scene with the film.
Where did you take these lovely images. Film...wow, remember when shooting 36 images was a lot!
Great photos, Matt! I miss shooting film a lot. In fact, I still have some from a couple of years ago. I wonder how bad they would turn out if I shot them. And what are you using to scan the negatives/chromes? I have a bunch that I'd love to scan.
@my. - Hey Michelle! I'm actually just paying the extra $5-10 that they charge to have a CD made of the whole roll. They do some auto-scan of the whole roll, and deliver ~6 megapixel scans on a CD. Nice and easy. That way I can blog the images low-res and make medium sized prints, and I only have to pay / scan the super-high-res, super high quality when someone wants a HUGE print. (Which has happened a grand total of zero times...)
=Matt=
@broncomom - @briantammy - @broccardophoto - @chrispycrunch - @my. - @AKB_Photography - @SkyL1ght - @hxpham - @Heidi Ryder - @Av8tqr -
Thank you all so much for commenting! I love it when I can blog about film and not start a geek war.
For the record, these images were made mostly in Mountain View, CA. (Between San Jose & Stanford. Home of Smugmug HQ!!!)
The one of the pumpkin however was actually made here in So Cal, in Oak Glen. (Yucaipa) Beautiful place in the fall, we should plan a (Facebook) photo adventure some day!
Take care all,
=Matt=
Your totally right. The colors film can produce takes the breath away.
I really love your last shot. Great work!
Hey that pumkins face looks familur. You should have put some black rimmed glasses on it then I might remember who it looks like! LOL!!!!!
Randy
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