>I don't know what people are taking pictures of that inspire them to rave
>about the fine grain of this film, but personally I find the grain in the
>faces on this snippet offensive. I must confess that I have little
>experience shooting 400 speed transparencies, since I have shot 100 and
>slower all my life without giving the fast speeds much of a chance. So
>maybe
>I just don't know what people find acceptable. If people experienced
>shooting 400 speed slides think the grain in this example is perfectly
>fine,
>then I guess I just will never shoot with that speed film.
Oh, what a luxury:) You generally don't use 400 slide film for shooting
beautiful scenics or flowers and suchlike (unless you want that "look"), and
if 50 and 100 speed is what your used to, then the grain may well suprise
you. ( +, note, we are talking about Provia 400F not Provia 400?).
But for photographing people - in the Canadian Arctic in winter when there
is no daylight, or street children in a dingy market in Nicaragua, or
photographing in some poorly lit bar or shop floor, when flash isn't an
option, 400 iso is needed, at least. Even with an f2 or 1.4 lens, shutter
speeds are 15th, 8th, 4th of a second (and/or film is pushed to 800 as
well).
In these circumstances 400F excels based on the rolls I have exposed so far,
as well as those of a number of colleagues. One sports photographer has just
swithced from 800 print film to ProviaF @ 800 for his hockey shots - sharper
and much better blacks and shadows..
I'll send you a roll of older generation 400 transparency I have in the
fridge and you can run some tests if you like! I can assure you, put this
side by side with 400F and it's like putting Delta 100 next to Tri-X pushed
to 800 (well, not quite, but getting there!).
As for bad reviews on one site - picking the one bad out of the 3 or 4 good
ones there is pretty selective...
Tim A
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