Tips for shooting Fujichrome Provia 400X

[Tim Gray]

Darn! I bought it for use in fairly poor light. What is it like with indoor window light and\or under normal bulb lighting such as a 100W bulb?

If it's window light, it should be fine (was in my experience). Fluorescents and tungsten are correctible if you are scanning. If not, then it can get a bit ugly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgray1/3797097478/

[Poisson Du Jour]

My use of 400X was outdoor in evening sun with shadows. The RangeFinder Forum images referred to by KeithW yesterday had a peculiar, not entirely unpleasant colouring about them from the light (with a progressively less impressive overall result from EI800 to EI3200), so I think 400X is more of a natural light film for the best result, I don't know for sure. Getting more to continue tests.

[keithwms]

Yes I have never tried 400x except in natural light. Never even occurred to me to try- I use other films for that.

For most applications with 400x (and any slide film for that matter), I would simply aim not to mix color temps or you're probably going to get a mess. So... if you have nice ambient incandescent and want to make that dominant, then you'd use a flash gelled for 3200K or whatever. Then at least you get a slide which can be generally cooled or warmed.... I don't know, maybe there's even some way to amend the development to effect overall warming or cooling. If you're projecting then you could put a warming or cooling filter on the projector If you're scanning, well we won't discuss that here....

If you use 400x with fluorescent lighting then beware that Fuji-san may send a band of ninjas to take you out. Some things just shouldn't be done. This is an issue of respect and recognition that it is a high privilege to use this film.

[ME Super]

I've seen "daylight" balanced compact fluorescent bulbs in the store. There are some with a color temperature of 3500 K and some with a color temp of 6500 K. My guess is the 3500 K bulbs would be too red for 400X. Has anyone tried 400X with the 6500 K bulbs? They have a CI rating of 82.

ME Super

[Tim Gray]

Low CRI ratings can get pretty green on film. I'd stick with a CRI > 90 if I could find one.

[keithwms]

I've seen "daylight" balanced compact fluorescent bulbs in the store.

Even daylight balanced fluorescents have the big, sharp mercury ~488 and ~546 nm spikes, which cause problems even if the overall colour temp is 5000K. Those spikes can wreak havoc on the white balance.

By and large, 400x really likes ~5000K light. If you are really concerned about colour fidelity and have mixed lighting, 400x is simply not the way to go. And neither is velvia or provia or even astia (although astia does fare quite a bit better in mixed light).

[Poisson Du Jour]

Definitely right there Keith. Velvia and Provia (don't know about Astia) loathe mixed light or particularly fluoro/incandescent light. Provia 400X results for me should be interesting as they were made in warm sunset light with a furiousgale blowing, enabling a higher shutter speed to hedge against the 67's dreaded mirror whack. Gotta love the beast for making a noise that can be felt, much less heard...

[Brandonium]

I love this film at night. I've pushed +3 and it does very well. I see where some say it does well in sun. Well, I suppose I've not had the correct lighting conditions but when I did use it in full sun I was unimpressed. I tend to use it at night.

[keithwms]

I love this film at night. I've pushed +3 and it does very well. I see where some say it does well in sun. Well, I suppose I've not had the correct lighting conditions but when I did use it in full sun I was unimpressed. I tend to use it at night.

Please post images!

[Brandonium]

Will do. I'll attach some shortly.