Encounter Studio: experiments + journeys

brief notes on experimental photographic journeys

Nostalgic pleasure #2

The photo below is another one  from my little experiment   in  nostalgic pleasures: ie., using expired 35mm Fuji Velvia 50  film  exposed at 20 ASA, handholding  a  reconditioned  1960s  Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex Super SLR with its inbuilt light meter,  a 35mm f.3.2 Zeiss Pro-Tessar lens,    and  having the  film processed  with  E-6 chemistry  in Adelaide. 

Nostalgic pleasure in this case is pre-digital analogue technology that  was disrupted by digital technology in the early 21st century.  The digital camera industry collapsed between 2010-2012 due to the emergence of the smartphone killing off  the entry-level camera market ( point-and-shoot cameras) which shrunk nearly to nonexistence.

The photo is a cloud study at  Waitpinga  in the late afternoon  during the winter months:

On this occasion I  continued  making  several  cloud studies as the storm clouds rolled in from the south-west,   the light was  fading  and dusk was falling.  The photos that work the best are those  with colour whilst  the starker light/black ones made  as the light faded were flat and dull.  That minor experiment highlights how Velvia 50 needs vivid colour (color saturation and vibrancy) for it to come into its own. 

  I've put  a couple more  photos on Flickr.

I am finding    Velvia 50  a tricky  film to use.  It's not good in low light,  often has unnatural colours,  and it does not have the dynamic range of my digital Sony A7 R111. There is also  not much leeway in bringing up detail in the blacks with  post-processing in contrasty light.  On the other hand,  though Velvia 50 is  less technically perfect than digital,  it has deep contrast and it can bring a photo to life that would be flat or ho hum in digital.

It's ironic. I am learning the best situations  when to use Fuji Velvia 50 film (I'll try flat light next)  at a time when B+ H advises  that it is  temporarily out of stock, back orders have been suspended, and Fuji can no longer  provide an accurate time frame for its availability.  Apparently Fujifilm has largely been focusing its analog production efforts on Instax  as this instant film is very popular.  

Velvia 50 was discontinued  in large format in 202 for 8x10 and 2023 for 5x4.   It now  looks like it may be going to be  discontinued in 135/120 formats very soon ---just like Fuji Astia 100F has been.