Velvia advice req'd for newbie...

[fenderslash]

Yesterday I got my first ever Velvia slides back from the processor. I was really keen to see the result, which I was expecting to be spectacularly colourful. But all 37 photos appear to be underexposed. The film was Velvia 50 iso, and I had the camera set to 50 iso. The equipment used was a Canon EOS500 and three different Canon zooms. I used apperture priority to have control of the depth of field and relied on the camera's own metering to choose the shutter speed. The only variation on that was to use the camera's spot metering on a few frames. I definitely didn't have the camera's exposure compensation adjusted by mistake (I've done that before!!).

The only explanations I can think of are...

1. Velvia is supposed to act like this. I find this a bit unlikely, but I'm hoping any experienced Velvia users can guide me about any standard adjustments they make, such as over-exposing every frame by a stop or whatever.

2. The camera's metering has become inaccurate. I think that's also unlikely, but perhaps all the prints I've been taking for a while have been altered by the labs to cover this up. I haven't taken any slide film for over two years and that was Kodachrome which turned out well-exposed.

3. The lab might have processed the film incorrectly, thinking it was a different speed or something. I have no processing knowledge and wouldn't know if that's even possible.

4. I shouldn't have picked up my slides on Friday the 13th!

So, any words of wisdom from the experienced guys out there before I waste another roll?

I'll try to attach (if this works!) a general example of a scan of one of the slides, as well as an almost identical photo I took a couple of minutes later with my Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera. Neither photo has been altered in any way in any imageing software, apart from resizing.

I used a polarizor on all of the Velvia shots (not used on the point-and-shoot digital example of course), but the polarizor has never had this effect on my pictures before, and as far as I'm aware the camera's metering should automatically compensate for the light lost through any filters.

Thanks,
Carl

[racingpinarello]

Yesterday I got my first ever Velvia slides back from the processor. I was really keen to see the result, which I was expecting to be spectacularly colourful. But all 37 photos appear to be underexposed. The film was Velvia 50 iso, and I had the camera set to 50 iso. The equipment used was a Canon EOS500 and three different Canon zooms. I used apperture priority to have control of the depth of field and relied on the camera's own metering to choose the shutter speed. The only variation on that was to use the camera's spot metering on a few frames. I definitely didn't have the camera's exposure compensation adjusted by mistake (I've done that before!!).

The only explanations I can think of are...

1. Velvia is supposed to act like this. I find this a bit unlikely, but I'm hoping any experienced Velvia users can guide me about any standard adjustments they make, such as over-exposing every frame by a stop or whatever.

2. The camera's metering has become inaccurate. I think that's also unlikely, but perhaps all the prints I've been taking for a while have been altered by the labs to cover this up. I haven't taken any slide film for over two years and that was Kodachrome which turned out well-exposed.

3. The lab might have processed the film incorrectly, thinking it was a different speed or something. I have no processing knowledge and wouldn't know if that's even possible.

4. I shouldn't have picked up my slides on Friday the 13th!

So, any words of wisdom from the experienced guys out there before I waste another roll?

I'll try to attach (if this works!) a general example of a scan of one of the slides, as well as an almost identical photo I took a couple of minutes later with my Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera. Neither photo has been altered in any way in any imageing software, apart from resizing.

I used a polarizor on all of the Velvia shots (not used on the point-and-shoot digital example of course), but the polarizor has never had this effect on my pictures before, and as far as I'm aware the camera's metering should automatically compensate for the light lost through any filters.

Thanks,
Carl

Hi Carl,

I use Velvia all of the time, both 50 and 100. I always overexpose and shoot these films at 40 and 80 respectively. Also, you do need to make sure that your meter is accurate, and you can do a test on the camera using a slide film like Astia or Sensia. Shoot the gray card at the camera intial reading and then add 1/3 stops, and substract 1/3 stops with each frame. Pick the slide that looks the most accurate to gray, and you can tell if your meter is off according to that film. People say you need to test each type of film that you use, but if it's Fuji slide film it will be close enough.

I wouldn't use the Polarizer in the case that you showed. Velvia tends to oversaturate colors, so when you use the polorizer in bright sunlight and blue skys it tends to blacken the sky. Your meter will adjust the camera, but only if it's accurate. When in doubt, move down to 40.

Don't give up on Velvia because there is a learning curve, but the results are great. If you look at my website, most of the color travel photography is done on Velvia 50, and the Spain pictures were a mixture of 50 and 100. Awesome film.

Loren

[another view]

Velvia is very picky about exposure - alot of people shoot it at 40 like Loren said, but the example you show is a lot more than 1/3 stop of difference! If your camera was underexposing on neg film, it's possible that you didn't know it and the lab is correcting your prints.

Is your polarizer a circular or linear type? AF cameras need a circular polarizer or exposure won't be right, maybe that's a possibility.

[Michael Fanelli]

Are you experienced with shooting slide film in general? The exposure for slides is extremely picky, more so for Velvia. If you are relying on the camera's meter, you may not get what you want. If your slide film experience is spotty, you'll have to start taking more control from the camera.

[Franglais]

I agree with the other posts:

1. Your published slide looks one stop underexposed (or more)
2. Velvia 50 is actually 40 ISO
3. Consumer colour negative film is often 1 stop faster than marked on the box (i.e. a film marked 400 ISO is actually 800 ISO)
4. The lab can correct up to 3 stops overexposure on a negative film without you even noticing
5. Exposure errors on a slide film are immediately visible

So if your camera is underexposing by 1 stop then you wouldn't even notice it on negative film but on Velvia 50 it's 1+1/3 stops underexposure which is fatal.

Charles

[fenderslash]

Thank a lot for the responses. To clear up some of the questions in your posts...

The polarizer was circular, not linear.

I've shot 25 rolls of slide film prior to this one (all of them Kodachrome 64), but that's over a 13 year period so I'd have to admit that no, I'm not very experience at using slide film. However, aside from the occasional dud photo I haven't had this underexposure problem in the past with slides.

Yes, I should start taking more control from the camera, and I will, but 37 bad photos in a row has to mean it's an issue with the film or a fault with the metering. From reading your replies it seems it could be a combination of both.

I have some Kodachrome 64 in the fridge, so I have a plan! I'll run a roll through the camera, no filters, and see how that turns out. I'll also try Loren's suggestion with the grey card. If they turn out well-exposed then I can eliminate the camera as the problem and when I use Velvia again I'll experiment with it rated at 40, and maybe even slower.

I have some Velvia 100 as well waiting to be used. Is that a true 100, or does everyone agree that it should be rated at 80 as Loren says?

Thanks again for all your help.
Carl

[another view]

Better get on that Kodachrome - the places that develop it are dropping like flies. From what I hear, about the only one that does it anymore is Kodak thru their mailers. So you probably want to shoot it or it'll become a collector's item.

Shooting another, slightly more forgiving slide film (such as anything but Velvia 50!) without filters would be a good idea, that should be a good test for your meter. Use the KR64 or the Velvia 100F that you already have. Since your polarizer is a circular, that's not the problem though. The posted shot doesn't have anything unusual about the lighting, so the camera should have metered correctly, but I agree it's at least a stop under. And with the increased saturation of Velvia, Velvia 100F and Kodak E100VS, polarizers can be too much of a good thing.

Velvia 100F didn't do it for me (I'm sticking with Provia 100F for my 100 speed slide film) but alot of people like it. It has more exposure latitude than Velvia (orginal 50 speed). I haven't heard of anyone else rating it at 80, but hey - if it works, use it.

[Franglais]

I've only shot two rolls of Velvia 100F so I'm hardly an expert on it, but from what I've read it's a true 100 ISO film. I found it was very similar to Provia 100F with the colour saturation and contrast turned up and the blueness turned down. However I found the Provia easier to scan so I'm sticking with that.

Charles