Re: filmscanners: Color Negative Film Poll

["Preston Earle" <PEarle@triad.rr.com>]

"Herb Bauer" <herb.bauer@attglobal.net> asked:
I'm leaving for my vacation soon, and although I'd like to evaluate my
camera equipment against various films, film processing and digital
post-processing, there's really no time. I'd like to solicit this
group's recommendations for the "best" out-of-the-box color negative
film to use with a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 and PolaColor SprintScan or
Vuescan. I have read good things about Kodak Supra 400 and Fujicolor NPS
160, and the purpose is mostly hand-held travel pictures under various
lighting conditions."


My 2¢: You aren't limited to one film. Why not take a variety. I try to
match film speed with what I'm going to be photographing. If indoor or
limited light levels, I try to use 400 speed (and on occasion 800 speed,
though not very satisfactorily). If most of the next roll's shots are
outdoor or flash, I use 200 speed. Sometimes I have the "wrong" film in
the camera, but since there is just one stop of difference in the two,
it isn't a big deal. For limited light levels, I'm usually using a 35-mm
f/2 lens and the extra stops of film speed and lens speed (over an f/2.8
or slower lens) are worth the trade-off in film grain. For brighter
conditions, the too-slow shutter speed issues aren't there, and I go for
the perhaps finer grain.

I usually buy 24/27 exposure rolls rather than 36-exposure rolls to give
me more choices.

By the way, the difference in an artist and a photographer is that an
artist can talk for several minutes about his work without mentioning
what brand of brushes he uses.

Preston Earle
PEarle@triad.rr.com