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Rangefinder
Magazine A Pro’s Pro Looks
at… by Jack
Dykinga
We thought it would be fun to get a pro’s pro to give us his take on this new film. Jack Dykinga has been a devotee of Fujichrome Velvia since its introduction (see the June 2003 Rangefinder cover by Jack and the article inside by Lou Jacobs, Jr.) and is well known for his amazing landscapes and scenics. Here, then, are his comments about Fuji’s new flagship product in the professional film line. For anyone who has waited for the wind to stop in order to accommodate an f/45 lens opening or just needed an extra stop to freeze action in dim lit situations… your wait is over! I just processed my first sample 120 rolls of Velvia F100 that were exposed during a Joe Van Os Photo Tour I lead along with my friend John Shaw. We toured the northern coast of California. Using a Horseman 6X12 roll-film back on my Arca Swiss F-Field camera, I was able to put the new film through its paces. If you have ever photographed in the redwoods, you’d know that it’s dark—really dark—and 15-second exposures are not uncommon. Using the new film proved to be a real asset, cutting my exposure times in half. In fact, after processing the film, I believe it’s really about one and a half stops faster than its venerable predecessor. I normally rate the Velvia 50 at ISO 40 and I will rate the Velvia 100F at 125 in the future. I’m told that the grain is absolutely the finest possible and the new “gold standard” for fine-grain color transparency film. I also noticed while reading the tech sheets accompanying the film, that there is no real reciprocity failure for the first minute of exposure. At two minutes of exposure the charts call for a modest exposure increase of one third stop. To correct the modest shift in color during longish exposures from 2 to 8 minutes, a CC 2.5 Blue is recommended. In other words, this film gets “warmer” instead of “cooler” as the exposures become longer. That’s the opposite of other standard E-6- process films that need warming filter corrections and a welcome change for those of us needing long exposure times. In general, the new Velvia seems a bit more yellow and less magenta than Velvia 50 and much less magenta than Provia. One of the few problems with the older Velvia was its problem in rendering yellows. The new film seems to do a better job here. The greens are not as vivid as the old Velvia, but the whites seem more neutral. The contrast is still punchy, but the new film seems to be more forgiving, allowing photographers more latitude in exposure ranges.
For those of us committed to film-based photography with our digital involvement limited to fine art print output, it’s gratifying to know that Fuji is very committed pushing the film quality to new levels while simultaneously developing non-film digital capture. Frankly, I’m tired of people speaking of photography’s future as being solely digital. They refer to photography as an “either or” proposition. I need the ability to use what the situation dictates. Expressions like: “it’s almost like film”, or “it’s as good as film” to me, mean that film is still very much alive and kicking. Great photography has always resulted from someone with vision using the best product for the job at hand. This new film is a great step forward and it’ll be in my cameras! Jack Dykinga is a well known scenic and nature photographer
and the author of the best selling book, Large Format Nature Photography.
Jack can be
reached via his web site, which is: http://www.dykinga.com/biography/index.html/. |
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Shooters of transparency film are elated by the introduction
of Fujichrome Velvia 100F Professional (RVP 100F), the first new Velvia
film introduced in more than a decade. Velvia has long been known for
its intense color saturation and sharpness and now it’s a full
stop faster.
