Consider C-41

[drg]

One of the great continuing advances in photographic technology has been the ever improved films that are available, even in the dawn of the digital age.

Though conventional halide based b/w imagery is for many the medium of choice, for convenience and predictability, C-41 process dye films are a viable option.

As many are available in minature(35mm), medium(60mm), and large (various sheet sizes) there is the ability to make test exposure with a particular emulsion at a much lower cost, or to make comparision exposure with a variety of cameras and lens options.

Here are a few samples from a Fall Series. These images were shot on a variety of cameras and though the film emulsion is listed correctly at least one of these it may be listed as 120 when it was actually sheet film. They are all presented from scaled soft proofed shots set up for a very matte paper with ivory/cream mats.

Two additional shots in my PR gallery were taken at the same time with digital technology, but they don't appear in this mini-gallery.

I am interested to know what other are 'still' using print film for whether b/w or color. Slide or Positive film is a topic I'll reserve for later as I usually do something different with it and save it for certain color work of a particular type.



(click on image to see gallery)

[Xia_Ke]

Hi drg So far my C-41 experience is very limited. I mainly swapped to shooting film to be able to shoot b&w. I would like to shoot more color C-41 in the future but, right now the cost is preventing that. Good color film is almost twice the cost per roll as traditional b&w not to mention I have to pay developing charges. In the end I'm looking at $10+ per roll of C-41. Once I recover from the holiday shopping I will be looking more into shooting color though I haven't decided what I want to shoot for film. From looking at samples online, so far I'm liking the Portra series. I' thinking about stocking up on NC series for regular shooting and either VC or UC for Holga play. Any thoughts on which film to choose? What are you shooting primarily?

[photophorous]

Nice stuff in your gallery, drg. Since I shoot only 35mm, I find C-41 grain to be excessive in comparison to slide film. I'm sure I'd use it more if I shot larger film. In B&W, grain can be good, but my personal preference with color is to see as little grain as possible. However, I recently shot a few rolls of Kodak UC100, and I was surprised at how fine the grain was. Fuji Reala was similarly fine grain. When I shoot C-41, it's usually for high contrast lighting, which would be too much for slide films. Latitude is one great thing about C-41. It's also best for faster speeds. Provia 400 is nice but too expensive for me. My most commonly used C-41 film is probably Superia Xtra 400, because it's cheap and I like the colors.

Since I got a film scanner, I've started getting my film developed, but not cut, mounted or printed. I was surprised to find I can get a 36 exposure roll of C-41 developed at the local pro lab for less than $4. E-6 is about $6.50.

Paul

[Greg McCary]

Nice stuff in your gallery, drg. Since I shoot only 35mm, I find C-41 grain to be excessive in comparison to slide film. I'm sure I'd use it more if I shot larger film. In B&W, grain can be good, but my personal preference with color is to see as little grain as possible. However, I recently shot a few rolls of Kodak UC100, and I was surprised at how fine the grain was. Fuji Reala was similarly fine grain. When I shoot C-41, it's usually for high contrast lighting, which would be too much for slide films. Latitude is one great thing about C-41. It's also best for faster speeds. Provia 400 is nice but too expensive for me. My most commonly used C-41 film is probably Superia Xtra 400, because it's cheap and I like the colors.

Since I got a film scanner, I've started getting my film developed, but not cut, mounted or printed. I was surprised to find I can get a 36 exposure roll of C-41 developed at the local pro lab for less than $4. E-6 is about $6.50.

Paul

Paul Wal-Mart just developed some slides for me and I was charged $3.88. Not bad.....And they only charge 3 bucks to scan. But their E6 scans are not very good. It's one reason I don't shot E6 very often. No one can give me a decent scan.......

[drg]

Wal-Mart contracts their overnight/two day and special services work out to a regional lab in most areas. Some of have become 'branded' as a W-M facility, but many are just local/regional/metro area facilities that have and still do work for other entities such as grocery chains, hardward store (Menard's come to mind), etc. These are usually dip and dunk (the preferable form of development for all types of film) large commercial facilities.

C-41 and E-6 are really inexpensive to do on a large scale. When the supplies are purchased to do thousands of rolls it is a very low cost process. The management of rolls, delivery and the rest is the primary cost. The critical part though for all color process is temperature control. That has always been the hard part for color film. Printing in color either needs large expensive machines or lots of fiddly color analyzers and specialized enlargement heads.

The best way to get good scans is simply to do you own. It is a time consuming process to do them well and you may find that you only want a few images from each roll scanned anyway. There are some pro labs left that will develop, scan, mount, and print proof sets for a reasonable flat rate at the original time of processing as the rolls are still in their workflow and do not have to be inserted.

Now reasonable might be $15-25 for 36 exposures of 35mm E-6 with 1000-1500 dpi scans and the same or slightly more for a dozen 120 exposures with machine prints (from the digital scans) for the 35mm and contact sheets or strips for the 120. 220 of course wiil cost more because there's more film . Less for C-41 as it is much easier to print.

Currently I'm using Fuji Pro 400 (previously called NPH) for most color print work as it has similar grain to iso 100 print film and accurate color. Tremendous latitude film and responds very well to daylight strobes. Mixed lighting including flourescents doesn't do terrible things to it like some print film. As long as the color temp is close, it will work quite well.

I shoot Astia 100 for chrome/slides almost exclusively. Again, very accurate color and the lowest grain but you do have to watch the 'pepper' when scanning. Also is very tolerant of lighting, certainly for a positive film.

[another view]

Great point, I think C41 films in general get a bad reputation from mini labs but it isn't the film's fault. The labs don't know what result you're looking for (or care, depending on the lab) any more than auto exposure on your camera knows. Slide film gives you what you shot, and the negs from C41 can do the same.

As far as scanning goes, really it's best to do it yourself. I have an older Acer (now Benq) 2720S for 35mm. It's not bad but there is quite a learning curve. At under $100 on ebay, it's a great way to get started but make sure you get the SCSI card with it to install in your computer (PCI slot). If I were to use it enough, I'd probably consider a Nikon Coolscan V for much better results - but with some work I've been fairly happy with 8x10's from my scanner.

[danic]

Hey drg,

I still shoot C41, as its the most common type of film I can get my hands on. If I wanted to get some good stuff, I'd have to order from Hong Kong off ebay, or go into the city and get it done there.

I would love to shoot with some good film, just not sure on what type is recommended. I guess some brands are preferred for different scenes?