Fuji Velvia: Shoot like a pro, or else.
Written: Jun 26 '02 (Updated Jun 26 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: colour saturation, sharpness, contrast
Cons: speed, colour fidelity
The Bottom Line: Not an everyday use film. Useful for specific product and landscape type shots, and only with great forethought beyond that.
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| gbraun's Full Review: Fujichrome Velvia 50, 50 ASA (2301254) |
Description
Velvia (RVP is the Fuji code that you’ll see on the edge of the film) is a daylight-balanced, reversal film designed to be Processed E-6. That is to say it’s Colour Slide Film.
From the FujiFilm website:
“An ISO 50 professional color reversal film with ultra-fine grain and outstanding sharpness and color saturation.”
It’s available in 36 exposure 35mm, 120, 220, and large format sheets.
Strengths
Strong colour saturation
High contrast
Weaknesses
This is slow film at ISO 50 (and many rate it ISO 40). Bring your tripod.
Colour boosting not suitable to all applications
Weak with skin tones
Contrast may be more than you’re looking for (and although it’s true that for the intended subject matter you want all the contrast you can handle, if prints or scanning are part of your use, then Velvia can be tough to handle – not impossible, just tough.)
Contrast and Colour
Velvia has black blacks. That’s good on a projector or light table, and tough in a lower end scanner. You can pull shadow detail out of a Velvia slide because the transition to black is smooth.
The other colours are more interpretive… and Velvia is often referred to as the original Disneyland film.
Clouds may tend to get a bit of pinkish purple in them, and mid-greens don’t always separate well, and blue could get muddy if underexposed, but in general the look is for strong emphasized, slightly shifted colours, and the smooth colour transitions and strength of colours will leave you smiling at your obvious talent for photography.
The contrast is huge. If you put together an image that bounds the upper and lower limits of this film, you will make people’s jaws drop.
It’s arguable that the Velvia look is rather “done” at the moment, but there’s a good reason for it: it’s powerful film. If you take a picture of a famous scene by reusing tripod holes and shooting Velvia like the pros, then, no, you won’t have a terribly distinctive shot in the marketplace (though you may be very pleased with it for yourself) but if you’re taking innovative frames, then Velvia can help you maximize them. For distinctive difference consider using E100VS or W and consider digital manipulation. Time and again I’ve seen an image I liked where internal the dialog went like this:
“Wow! What an image. Cool (idea, composition, perspective, etc.) I wonder what film was used. I’d love to be able to say that that kind of quality was in my portfolio.”
“Oh it was Velvia – well that explains the funky strong colour. It’s so typically Velvia”
“Wow! What an image.”
This is usually followed by the sheepish realization that I loved the image, and couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that it was Velvia before I peeked, and that it doesn’t affect the shot’s impact negatively in any way, and that in fact Velvia probably had a hand in the impact that first drew me to the shot… end of rant.
Grain/Sharpness
Velvia has very tight grain. Beyond that, it has pleasant grain. If grain is ever a problem for you with this film, you’re doing something wrong or right, and need to email me so that I learn something.
Colour transitions are smooth (as noted above) and so edge contrast may not enhance apparent sharpness, but make no mistake, the resolving power and sharpness are present. Again, I don’t think I can imagine the situation where isn’t enough, but if you can, let me know and I’ll add it here.
Reciprocity
No exposure or color balance compensation is required for exposures within a 1/4000 to 1 second shutter speed range. However for exposures of 4 seconds or longer, reciprocity-related color balance and exposure compensations are required.
Not only do you need to increase exposure time in longer exposures (see the fujifilm.com website and click on support for full tech. specifications) but you also lose Magenta (i.e. colour shift). In late night cityscapes and fireworks type shots, this really won’t work against you much, but in late day landscapes the colour corrections may be called for.
Push ability
Fuji rates this film as pushable to ISO 100, and I suppose it is, but I don’t see much use for it there. You would probably be happier with Provia 100 for tight grain (although you give up the colour accentuation) or Kodak E100VS if you want big saturation at that speed (while giving up a bit of grain from Provia, and saving you the extra development costs of pushing).
Exposure Latitude
Well, this is a bit tough for me define in a simple way; so let me throw out a few concepts.
Most people shoot Velvia rated at ISO 40 to reduce contrast and the garishness of colours. At 40 you might get better shadow detail, but your highlights will be near the top. It’s only a third of a stop, but in a wide-ranging scene your exposure will be critical.
It’s possible to say that the exposure latitude is so small as to force you to learn to expose properly, but I must say that it’s probably a little too small even for that.
Bracket your shots.
In Use
In other than studio situations where you have plenty of light, you’ll need a tripod, but since you won’t choose this film for portraits, hand-holdability is a bit of a non-issue (maybe you’re doing pet portraits, but then you’ve specialized enough to have your own epinion on this film). You could get away without a tripod at high noon in the sun, but then the contrast is overwhelming and harsh, and since you’re doing landscapes (with or without pets) I simply must ask: Where’s your tripod, anyway?
Portraits
Velvia is not generally considered to be a portrait film. I’ve seen some great environmental portraiture where the scene’s lighting and contents look great and the person is de-emphasized in scale sufficiently to make the enhancement of skin-blemishes less problematic. Seeing every wrinkle and blemish can be a part of good portraiture, but not often with this kind of colour abberation.
Casual People/Snapshot
This is the wrong film. Too slow for snap-shotting, rough looking if people get in frame, too specific for such general use.
Landscape, Still Life
Superb. Learn about evaluating the total range of a scene, and try and limit yourself to about 4 stops useable, and you’ll be happy every time.
Mixed, unusual lighting
This is not the film for mixed lighting situations. It’s slow (have I mentioned that yet) and it will overemphasize colour differences. It’s a great film for architectural work, but lighting control becomes very important.
Scannability
Well, if you have a great scanner that really penetrates the shadows, you’ll really get something out of this film. If not, you might remain a little frustrated that subtleties you carefully captured (and can see on the light table) are not available to you. I leave the definition of “great scanner” for another exercise, but will suggest that short of a Howtek or Imacon scanner you won’t take full advantage of Velvia.
Compounding your possible frustration will be the need for some careful calibration to bring the colours in correctly. Kodak’s E100VS is almost a natural to scan, but Velvia can be trickier. Try it for yourself, as the results can be worth it, and you may have a better talent than me. I find it a little difficult and keep doing it anyway.
Rolling it up
Velvia is wonderful. I don’t always have a roll in my bag, but I always have some available at home. It is, for me, a project film: when a specific assignment calls for it then it can’t be beat. I would never drop it into a camera without plans for all 36 exposures (well at least some vague ideas).
Set yourself an appropriate task, buy a roll and check it out. You may be quite pleased, but above all:
Take some pictures today!
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Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gbraun
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Location: Cambridge, ON, Canada
Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
"I think not," said Descartes, and promptly disappeared.
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