A New Project - Fuji Velvia 100 slide film

I'd been promising to treat myself to a roll (or 2!) of Fuji Velvia 100 for some time now.  Fuji is notorious for stopping production of it's films at a moments notice (which reminds me that I have to stock up on some Acros 100!) and I want to try some of their colour slide film.

Fuji Velvia 100 has a reputation for super fine grain which gives great sharpness and, excellent colour representation.

This is a colour positive film, and used mostly for slides (remember?  those things that need a projector to view!)  It produces a positive image on a transparent base i.e. the film looks exactly like the scene.  What people are most used to are film negatives.  Now, these are called negatives because when you look at the film, the image is reversed; the lightest areas of the photo appear darker and the darker areas of the photo appear lighter.  Also, in the case of colour negatives, the colours are also reversed into their respective opposites.

The Fuji Velvia 100 has a couple of drawbacks that I have to remember.  It does not have the exposure latitude of a negative film.  Negative film has a lot of give and take when it comes to getting a correct exposure (about 3 stops) but with this film the latitude is only 1.5 stops.  It is also more contrasty than colour negative films I have used.  I have been doing some homework and there has been a trend to shoot this ISO 100 film at ISO 125 (that is about one third of a stop) to bring out more detail in shadowy areas that otherwise may turn out dark.  I think that because this is my first Velvia 100 film, I will shoot it at box speed to see how it turns out.  

A slight drawback with this film is that it does not develop in normal C-41 chemicals.  It requires E-6 chemicals and I will probably have to send it away or drive and drop it off (I think there is a place on the Central Coast that develops in E-6).

One other thing I look forward to is some long exposure photos.  I've read many reviews and all say that this Velvia 100 allegedly has a low reciprocity failure and can be exposed up to 3 minutes without a colour compensation filter.

This is not a film that I am going to go out and willy-nilly click through all exposures.  I want to plan my shots and record the settings.

Keep an eye out for the finished products!