 Karrie Smith |
Slide Film vs. Negatives What are the advantages and disadvantages to using 35mm slide film over negative film?
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John A. Lind |
Karrie, IMO there are no advantages or disadvantages, but there are definitely differences between them. It depends on what you want to create for the photograph. Prints from negatives are actually "photographs" of the film. All manner of tweaking color balance, contrast (through print material selection) and adjusting for minor exposure error can be performed in making the print. With "slide film" (also called "chrome," diapositive, transparency and reversal), the transparency is the film that was in the camera. What you shot is what you got. Colors will be bolder and there is a "look" to positive prints made from slides that prints from negatives don't seem to have. Slide film also has a narrower latitude. This is the difference between brightness of something that comes out pure "white" withough any detail and the brightness of something that comes out deep "black" without any detail. Most of the time, exposure is set for proper mid-tones with the highlights and shadows falling where they will (with some exceptions). Because negative films have a much wider latitude, exposure is often set to preserve details in most of the shadows. (The shadows can be dark, but not so dark that detail is lost on the film.) The negative is printed to preserve details in most of the highlights (exept the specular ones). I use both transparency and negative films, in B&W and in color. Which film I use depends on who the photograph is for, the subject material, and what I want a print to look like. -- John
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Maynard McKillen |
Dear Karrie: If you overexpose a slide, you're stuck with an overexposed slide. The same is true if you underexpose a slide. You won't care to put them in a projector and wow your friends, and your lab may be hard pressed to make an acceptable print from such slides. Scanning such slides and, in Photoshop or some similar program, tweaking their levels, contrast, brightness, altering their histograms, making masks and otherwise attempting to correct for less than optimal exposure can be time consuming. This underlines the importance of metering carefully when you expose slide film, and avoiding compositions that have a greater range of brightness than the film can capture. In the old days (I'm getting old enough that I can day that!) you might take slides during a vacation, and wow (yawn) your neighbors with a slide show. The tendency of slide films to render color with better-than-real-life saturation made the Ozarks, Puget Sound, and Monument Valley look even better than they were. Those travel postcards for sale in souvenir shops were largely shot on slide film. If you submitted images to a magazine for publication they preferred them in the form of slides. Notice I use the past tense above. The advent of digital imaging has made this less so. Closets across this great nation may still contain countless slide trays full of family vacations and other milestones. Trays used to be the storage method of choice. Consider how you might store slides you've taken, and what will you do to help other people see your slides? Slide projectors work better in darkened rooms, slide viewers might have to get passed around if you care to show slides to several people at once, lupes force you to squint, and light boxes allow you to see and compare many slides at once but do not magnify the image.
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Jim Covill |
The obvious is: negative file is optimized to produce decent prints-cheaply and slides to be shown via projection methods. Slides, typically, don't print up as well a negatives - you can get first rate prints slides, but at a greater cost. At one time slide film was significantly cheaper than print film (with the prints) - this is no longer the case. When all in said and done how do you play to primarily display your photos - On the wall/in a album or at planned gatherings/large number of people. For the former, print film is a good choice, the latter - slide film. As previous posters have mentioned the exposure latitude of negative film is very forgiving. Slides (in slide trays) are harder to lose but take up more storage space. A formal slide show if properly setup can be quite fun (but don't overdo it - it can get very boring very quickly - always leaving the audience wanting more). Jim
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Robert Bridges |
slides vs color negatives: A couple of things 1) most (read 90%) of the publications and agencies I deal with still prefer to have the original image on a slide and not a print. 2) While many publishers/agencies are fine with you sending them a CD or scanned images via email if they wish to purchase they will want you to send them the original and will in that case greatly prefer a transparency. 3) While slide film does have a narrower latitude then print film the exposure you would make for a good slide is closer to the exposure you would make for a digital image then that of a print and digital. 4) Most pro labs can make excellent prints from a slide without having to make an interneg AND you can make excellent prints yourself with almost any Epson printer and some time. 5) Because slide films have a narrower range of exposure latitude then print films they force you to become more disciplined both in terms of your metering skills and more importantly your observation of the light AND the elements of the scene............print film as someone above noted with the proper incantations can still produce an acceptable image. Hence the issue is how much do you want to work? Finally 6) If you buy in bulk slide film is still cheaper then print film overall.......and yes those pesky labs will correct your poorly exposed print film so that you will have no clue what the proper exposure was unless you ask for a contact sheet which will cost you an arm. So, all things considered in mind there is little choice really for color work. Rob Bridges
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- Elaine C. Carbone Contact Elaine C. Carbone Elaine C. Carbone's Gallery |
I myself am partial to slide film because of the color saturation and sharpness . I take a lot of pictures every where I go especially on my lunch hour . I work in the city of Boston so there is a lot of photo opportunity. Lighting is very important especially shadow contrast . I do not like prints because they leave me flat. It is cheaper to have a roll of slide film to have developed than print film. I have aquired a film scanner to scan and edit my slide into prints ,but I choose what I want to print to my own satisfaction. I have not ever had any problem with the narrow lattitude ,you become more aware how to take the picture dealing with lighting,contrast ,& metering. I shoot mostly in aperture preferred mode With centerd weighted all of the time with my Nikon N80 or 8008. Matrix I find takes an all around metering ,with slide you want more control in your metering as much as possible. This is more challenging and what the art of photography is about which is creating. Yes I have had sum blunders ,but after you learn how to munipulate your camera to create the best end result. It is well worth it in the long run. Elaine Carbone
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