Film Photography Reviews

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Steve Anchell  |  May 01, 2007  |  0 comments

It is interesting that as digital imaging began its ascendancy film reached an all-time high in quality: hue, saturation, and sharpness, all of which meant digital had to try harder to be better. One of the films that stood out were the Kodak Professional Portra color negative emulsions, which in the last 10 years have become a favorite for photographers worldwide.

 

So...

Roger W. Hicks & Frances E. Schultz  |  Mar 01, 2007  |  0 comments

The name says it all: Rollei's ScanFilm 400CN Pro is an ISO 400 color negative film (Kodak C-41 compatible) for scanning, rather than for wet printing. The big difference is that the orange mask, incorporated in almost all color negative films since the 1950s, is omitted: it just isn't needed if you are scanning.

On the other hand, the orange mask is no...

Frances E. Schultz  |  Jan 01, 2007  |  0 comments

Walking through some of the halls at photokina, you could be forgiven for thinking digital photography has taken over. But look again and you can find plenty of silver halide waiting to be discovered: new films, chemicals and papers, updated enlargers, a new cold light source, and a new archival washer. Old friends, companies like Paterson Photographic, Condor, Tetenal, and...

Frances E. Schultz  |  Jun 01, 2006  |  0 comments

While digital, as expected, dominated the show, silver-halide materials were still to be found. These included three new films; faster films in single-use cameras; a new 35mm film support to reduce static (and therefore dust); new archival storage materials; the promise of new papers; and even--somewhat to my surprise--a lonely enlarger on one of the Chinese stands.

Dave Howard  |  Dec 01, 2005  |  0 comments

There's no question that enlarger manufacturing is, shall we say, no longer a growth industry.

Ironically, it's the most technically advanced enlarger models that have been falling by the wayside. Their complements of sophisticated on-board electronics and baseboard analyzer/control modules have been superceded by desktop and laptop computers running...

Shutterbug Staff  |  Nov 01, 2005  |  0 comments

Chemistry--especially black and white chemistry--remains defiantly buoyant. Although chemicals for color printing are unmistakably in decline, and although domestic processing kits for slide film (Kodak E-6 compatible) and negative film (Kodak C-41 compatible) are harder and harder to find in large packages (5 liters and above), monochrome chemicals continue to flourish.

George Schaub  |  Oct 01, 2005  |  0 comments

Many moons ago I was granted a few test rolls of the then-new Fujichrome Velvia 50. I happened to be in Las Vegas at the time, and curious just how saturated this touted high-saturation film might be I hiked around red rock country and exposed a few rolls. Having been a dedicated slide shooter and film tester for another photo mag I was pretty familiar with slide films and how...

Stan Trzoniec  |  Sep 01, 2005  |  0 comments

Now doesn't it seem ironic that just as we're in the midst of the digital revolution that slide films are at the peak of performance and quality? While all sounds like doom and gloom when it comes to silver-based products, around my circle of friends I find that most are still shooting film at a rate close to or even sometimes more than they were shooting before. Sure...

Peter K. Burian  |  Sep 01, 2004  |  0 comments

Until recently, all of Kodak's professional color print films were marketed under the Portra logo, understandable because portrait and wedding photographers make up the primary market for such products. That changed earlier this year, when the company...

Dave Howard  |  Sep 01, 2004  |  0 comments

For readers who are unfamiliar with the Holga camera, a bit of background is in order, lest you wonder why I would bother to review a $100 enlarger, with its inevitable compromises.

The plastic-lensed Holga, and its glass-lensed sibling, the Woca, are...

Steve Bedell  |  Jul 01, 2004  |  0 comments

Regular readers will note that my articles are usually about techniques, not test reports. But when there's a new film out there for portrait photographers, that's right up my alley. The majority of my work is portraiture and I've long...

Roger W. Hicks  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  0 comments

Maco is not a name that is particularly familiar to most zphotographers--and those who do know the name are inclined to say "great products, shame about the documentation." Examples of the shortcomings of the latter are easy to find. For example, the same film-developer...

Frances E. Schultz  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  0 comments

Dateline 1940: "The fastest film in the world is the new Tri-X, with twice the speed of Super-XX." If you want the numbers, the British Journal of Photography Almanac for 1940 (actually written in 1939) reckoned it was 7000 H&D.

That's right. Tri-X was...

Peter K. Burian  |  Nov 01, 2003  |  0 comments

Agfa manufactures a full line of 35mm films of all types, with the Vista series being their most popular consumer-grade product. In 2001, Vista was chosen as "European Color Print Film of the Year," by EISA, a group composed of some 50 magazines. Since that time, Vista 100, 200...

George Schaub  |  Oct 01, 2003  |  0 comments

When Velvia first burst on the scene more than 10 years back it created a revolution in the way photographers related to slide film. I remember getting my first roll into a camera in Las Vegas and immediately beating a path to Red Rock Canyon. I made a series of bracketed exposures and got...

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