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Re: [OM] Kodachrome and OTF and other musings.

Subject: Re: [OM] Kodachrome and OTF and other musings.
From: "George M" <gma@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 14:39:07 -0800
Ken;

I too recently shot some KC25 after a long time with just fuji and ekta.
Forgot how incredible sharp the stuff is.  And it was so clean and
pastel-looking on some of the shots. Velvia might have looked circussy on
the samee shots.

As for the Provia, just one comment on the color casting - could also have
been due to E-6 chemistry or temp not being spot-on.  I know someone who
tested 1/2 doz diff type chrome films and the Provia was his choice for most
nuetral color.  As usual YMMV.

George


-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Norton <image66@xxxxxxx>
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 2:22 PM
Subject: [OM] Kodachrome and OTF and other musings.


>I've had the opportunity to shoot several rolls of Kodachrome 25 and 64
>again.  It had been a long time since I had used the Kodachromes, having
>been a Fujichromaholic.  What has made this experience "special" is that I
>happened to shoot many of the same subjects on Kodachrome as I did on
>Provia and Sensia using the same camera and lens combinations.
>
>I've come across and been reminded (board hitting side of head) of an
>interesting characteristic of the Kodachromes that ended up destroying a
>number of what would have been beautiful images:  If there is an extremely
>bright object in the scene, such as the sun during a sunset or sunrise,
>there is far more reflectance off the film hitting the OTF sensor than with
>the Fujichromes.  (don't ask about Ektachromes as I rarely shoot them).
>This resulted in auto exposures AT LEAST 2-3 stops underexposed.  My manual
>exposures were right on, but the auto exposures (using OM-2S) were way off.
> What was showing on the meter scale prior to exposure was NOT the exposure
>executed.  Whenever there was a huge contrast range, the auto exposure
>always underexposed.  In this case, I know it was the film and not
>technique as I can usually trust the camera with the Fujichromes.
>
>I was shooting a barge going through Lock and Dam 21 back at the end of
>November and finished a roll of K25, shot a whole roll of Provia and a roll
>of K64 in the OM-2S primarily using the 24/2.8 and Tokina AT-X 35-70/2.8
>lenses.  I compared nearly identical images from the K64 and Provia and
>made the following observations:
>1. Provia is slightly ruddy in comparison to the Kodachrome.  The sky is
>more dramatic but has an ever so slight magenta tinge to it.  The
>Kodachrome had a cyan bias in the sky, but the whites, greys and silvers
>were neutral.
>2. Kodachrome had nuetral shadows and the blacks were blacker.  The Provia
>shadows were deeper than the Kodachromes' but not as color neutral.
>3. Gray colored items remained nuetral in the Kodachrome, but picked up a
>slight magenta in the Provia.
>4. Yellow painted objects and lines on the Provia went full saturation and
>jumped off the film, but the Kodachrome's yellows were muted and dull in
>comparison.  However, gradients did show up in the Kodachrome that
>disappeared in the high contrast Provia.
>5.  Apparent sharpness was a complete surprise!  I thought that the Provia
>would appear sharper with the higher contrasts and edgeness, but the
>Kodachrome won out in this case because the manmade objects were rendered
>more accurately and the shadows didn't block up.
>
>Overall, the gradients in the Kodachrome were a little better than the
>Provia and metallic objects were rendered in a much more pleasing manner.
>However, the color saturation of the Provia makes the images conform to the
>now current standards for "color-pop."  Had I been using a polorizer the
>Kodachromes would have looked a lot more saturated.
>
>I shot both sunrises and sunsets with the Kodachromes and had one
>unbelievable morning with cloud formations lit on the underside by the
>rising sun.  These sunrises I used as a backdrop for photographs of TV and
>Radio towers.  The gradients in the clouds were outstanding and I know from
>experience that Velvia or Provia would have gone too saturated and lost the
>minute details in the clouds.  I feel fortunate looking at the slides that
>I had Kodachrome loaded instead of Fuji films.  I spot metered the
>exposures and didn't use auto, but bracketed wildly.  (all bracketed +-1
>shots were usable in this case)
>
>Ken
>
>Kenneth E. Norton
>Image66 Photography
>
>image66@xxxxxxx
>(217) 224-5004
>
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