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PHOTOgraphic Film Review, January Issue
I always like reading Petersen's film surveys, even though over the
years they seem to leave out more and more films (eg my old, weird favorite Konica Impresa 50 was often overlooked..) and have become less and less truly critical - do all magazines eventually become slaves to their advertisers, I wonder? PS - yes, I do still use film (surprise!!), and where good posts are made, I will fully support them, no matter who is the author... (O; PPS - But, sadly, the actual article referred to is NOT yet on the website - only in the magazine. As soon as they put it on the web, perhaps someone might be so kind as to resurrect this. |
#2
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"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message k.net... wrote: I always like reading Petersen's film surveys, even though over the years they seem to leave out more and more films (eg my old, weird favorite Konica Impresa 50 was often overlooked..) and have become less and less truly critical - do all magazines eventually become slaves to their advertisers, I wonder? I'm afraid all the photo magazines are guilty of not paying enough attention to the Konica films. I've been using several for a number of years now, yet rarely see Konica films mentioned in the magazines to the same extent as Kodak or Fuji films. Agfa is another film brand mentioned less often. Having said that, Petersen's does a fairly good job of being inclusive in their annual film survey. I haven't seen the latest issue to see if your Impresa 50 is mentioned. I like Agfa Ultra 100 film for some applications. The Konica consumer films I have used have been utterly horrible. The online reviews I read also thought that same. |
#3
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grol wrote:
I like Agfa Ultra 100 film for some applications. Agreed. But maybe not for reality! The Konica consumer films I have used have been utterly horrible. An awful lot depends on who develops and prints them. Konica film on Konica print paper - not bad. Konica film on Agfa papers - not bad. Konica film on most Fuji papers - not good. Konica film on Kodak paper - very good. Konica film in Fuji Frontier - very good. However a poor operator or bad 'channel' choice can easily wreck the last two as well. I used to do my own scanning and printing, and found the Konica films a litle grainy, but sharp and contrasty, with good colors (and easily balanced). They seem to be very well suited to daylight photography, and do some of the nicest blues around... Konica used to be the only manufacturer with a 3200 color film (and it was surprisingly good), but I think they may have even dropped their 1600 now.. Konica Impresa 50 is (was? - I'm not sure if it is still made) an incredibly fine-grained pro-level film, with slightly muted but very 'clean' colors (I don't know how else to explain it), and incredible sharpness. It was very good with tanned complexions, not quite so good with pink ones. A great film for the tripod, and photographing 'things'. Landscapes, cars, buildings, beach portraiture. Again, much better suited to Kodak developing than Fuji, and a dream to film scan, with Fuji Reala being the only film as good, IMO. The online reviews I read also thought that same. And you will find just as many dissenting opinions. I've certainly had bad experiences with some films, but most often it is the little guy in the labcoat that is the real problem.. |
#4
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wrote in message oups.com... grol wrote: I like Agfa Ultra 100 film for some applications. Agreed. But maybe not for reality! If your friend asks you to photograph his car, Agfa Ultra 100 is the ticket. Like Velvia, don't shoot skin. :-) The online reviews I read also thought that same. And you will find just as many dissenting opinions. I've certainly had bad experiences with some films, but most often it is the little guy in the labcoat that is the real problem. For sure. It's an interesting factor. The lab I go to seem to favour exposure on the slightly over-exposed side. I guess it depends on what the lab guy thinks looks good. They manually correct each photo, as opposed to the overnight drugstore labs where everything is auto-correction and poorly exposed photos end up like that on the print. :-) |
#5
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If your friend asks you to photograph his car..
Funny you should say that, because I know a couple of car show photographers/car fanatics who love Impresa 50 for exactly that purpose! And there's a thread here you might want to read - check out Scott Eaton's comments. Scott is fairly well known over there for his.. er.. `colorful` comments about films and processing. But he also seems to know his stuff pretty well, despite the `attitude`. (O; http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-...?msg_id=0077tn |
#6
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"grol" wrote: I like Agfa Ultra 100 film for some applications. The Konica consumer films I have used have been utterly horrible. The online reviews I read also thought that same. Well, I certainly didn't intent to get into a debate about Konica films, so I'll just say my experiences are different than either yours or the online reviewers. Stewart |
#7
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"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message ink.net... "grol" wrote: I like Agfa Ultra 100 film for some applications. The Konica consumer films I have used have been utterly horrible. The online reviews I read also thought that same. Well, I certainly didn't intent to get into a debate about Konica films, so I'll just say my experiences are different than either yours or the online reviewers. Not trying to start a debate. Out of interest, what Konica films do you recommend? I had poor results with their consumer film, so never ended up considering any of their pro film. grol |
#8
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"grol" wrote: Not trying to start a debate. Out of interest, what Konica films do you recommend? I had poor results with their consumer film, so never ended up considering any of their pro film. I like three of their print films - the VX-100 for the rare occasions where print film is used for items shot with studio flash, the Centuria 800 for print film with location flash, and the Pro-160 for print film used for portraits and people in general. For slides, I tend to use a mixture of Agfa, Fuji, and one or two speciality Kodak films. Stewart |
#9
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"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message nk.net... "grol" wrote: Not trying to start a debate. Out of interest, what Konica films do you recommend? I had poor results with their consumer film, so never ended up considering any of their pro film. I like three of their print films - the VX-100 for the rare occasions where print film is used for items shot with studio flash, the Centuria 800 for print film with location flash, and the Pro-160 for print film used for portraits and people in general. For slides, I tend to use a mixture of Agfa, Fuji, and one or two speciality Kodak films. Thanks for that info. grol |
#10
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grol wrote:
http://photographic.com/film/167/ I see that Agfa Ultra is number one this guys review, and that Konica also appears in the list twice. You're going to believe a review that ranks a discontinued film (Supra 100) in third place, and shows a sample of Agfa Portrait 160 without a person in it? I am a fan of Ultra 100, but not for people. Unless Fuji recently revised Superia 100, it has one of the worst speed/quality tradeoffs of any film on the market, IMO. Reala blows it away. No objections to most of the films on page 2 (400UC, Portra 800, NPZ, Centuria 1600). All are great for specific uses, with 400UC being the most general-purpose of any film in the top 10. |
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