Re: filmscanners: Good neg stck on Scanwit

["Mark T." <markthomasz@ozemail.com.au>]

At 12:42 PM 7/08/01 +0700, Geoffrey wrote:
>I normally use trani stock but need to do some photography using neg film 
>[35mm]
>and seek your opinion as to which neg films to use through an Acer
>Scanwit 2720s.
>
>I have a number of locations to film and will be shooting available
>light interiors under fluoro and fill flash, daylight and daylight 
>overcast.....
>For available light interiors is 800 iso [Kodak Fuji Konica Agfa] OK these 
>days
>for grain size and colour reproduction or do I need a lower ISO
>stock?

(non-professional opinions follow!)
800's are a lot better than they used to be, but you will have problems 
with grain-aliasing on the Acer (and that may become an issue if printing 
to high-quality 10 x 8's).  And they still have a bit of that fast-film 
'look'..

I think Fuji Reala 100 runs rings around everything, although Superia 100 
is pretty close..  Superia 400 is very good for a fast film, and if you 
really need 800, the pro's recommend Fuji NHG II 800 Pro.

If film cost is an issue, Konica Centuria 400 is very close to Superia 
400.  (And I have heard the new Agfa Color Vista 800 is very good - anyone 
tried it?)

Whichever, I would strongly recommend you try a couple out to see if they 
will make the grade.

>The stock needs good colour reproduction and [reasonabely] little grain 
>evident when
>scanned on the Scanwit. I have both Vuescan 7.1.7 and Miraphoto v2 
>[Vuescan is a
>mile in front IMHO].

My experience is that grain-aliasing becomes an issue with anything over 
100ASA on the Acer (and even some 100's, esp. older emulsions)

>Also which neg films in the 200, 100 or 50 iso range give good 
>reproduction under
>fluoro, daylight, overcast and flash [would I like a dishwasher as well;].

Pretty well all of them, but I think the Fuji 4-layer emulsions cope much 
better with mixed lighting.  Others on the list will tell you any colour 
cast can be corrected, but I find it is MUCH easier with the 
Fuji's.  Having said that, I don't find fluoro's as hard to balance as 
tungsten - but then I'm partly colourblind (grin).

The new Agfa's are also supposedly strong in this area.

>One bottom line question is - Are the current generation of neg stocks so 
>good as
>to rival trani for repro work?

If you have a 4000dpi scanner, probably.  But I find with 2700 dpi, the 
grain-aliasing makes it harder to get good enlargements (8x10 and up) off negs.


mark t.