first ever slides: grand canyon w mamiya universal

[rbelyell]

these are the first slides i have ever taken, and the first time i used the mamiya universal with 100mm/3.5 lens and 6x9 back, shot mostly at f8.0 on fuji velvia, metered with my canon 5d (which i used a lot with a newly acquired canon 17-40L lens, will list some pictures separately). as i am a newbie to slides i welcome c&c!
PLEASE, YOU MUST CLICK ON EACH PHOTO FOR BEST RESOLUTION AND COLOR!!!!

[Attila]

Strong light was there all are over exposed in my opinion, next time need to use graduated ND filter to keep details on ground and sky both. What a place !

[rbelyell]

attila, do you feel the same way when you click on the photo? when i do the color and resolution change quite dramatically, though i do see what you mean...

[Attila]

[rbelyell]

yes, it is still somewhat washed out. i think a graduated nd filter wouldve been a good way to go. as these were my very first attempts with the camera and the format and the film, i thought it good to leave all the filters at home and just see what they could do in the 'pure' state. in the future i will be sure to keep that filter, and a polarizer, in my bag!

[Attila]

Yes, filters are very important. I still looking for good graduated ND filters and blue and yellow graduated ones. I am happy with my polarizer B+W 55mm I bough incredible cheap on US Ebay, I thought it is fake due low price

[cooltouch]

I must disagree. I don't see much in the way of blown highlights. There's still good details in the clouds in all photos. Maybe 1/2 stop off, but no more than that.

With slides, because of their narrow lattitude, often you have to expose for the shadows and let the highlights fall where they may. The only way around this predicament is to use a strobe to fill in shadow detail, which is not possible with this sort of scene. Slides take practice. Keep it up, you're doing fine.

Quite a bit of atmospheric haze that day -- you can see rain falling in the distance in one of the shots. It might have improved things somewhat if you would have used a polarizer.

Did you scan the slides, or have a service do it?

[rbelyell]

hey michael, thanks so much! there were so many super bright patches fronted by shadows etc that proper metering for any camera, even my 5d, was pretty difficult. typically i just try to meter for my main subject and let the chips fall where they may! i really do think a polarizer wouldve helped though.

as for scanning, before i left i stupidly bought an epson v300 thinking i could scan slides. i scanned some 35mm film which was great, and shot a roll of slides with my pentacon, but then found i couldnt scan them on the v300. so long story short, i still dont know how the P6 pix came out, and i had these from the mamiya developed on the road by a random camera store in santa fe! they scanned tiff files to disk and i uploaded to my computer.

that's why i posted the thread about what mail order services to use for slides. i have 2 undeveloped rolls from my trip that, along with the P6 roll, i will be sending to Dwayne's for scanning.

once i find someone who wants to buy a brand new v300 i will buy a v500 and do it myself!

[cooltouch]

You could also look for a used 4490 or 4990. I don't know offhand what a V500 sells for now, but I believe Epson is blowing them out right now, clearance priced, because the V500 has been superceded by the V600. Epson also has 4490s in stock, priced reasonably.

I paid $200 for my 4990 used. I wanted one because it'll scan large format, and I couldn't afford a V700/750.

[visualopsins]

Overexposed. Not horrible, but Velvia is capable of soooo much better. All the colors and details would have been much richer had exposure been less.

[rbelyell]

seems to be a real difference of opinion on my exposure levels! i think they were probably a little off, but i also think the intense light and shadow presented much more difficult metering choices than people may realize. poilu made an excellent point about the difference in dof with medium format, and i think the lack of punch may also be a result of using too large an aperture setting...

[Scheimpflug]

[visualopsins]

Wow, great big . First please let me apologize for my harsh words. I did not intend that at all.

These photos of the canyon are among the best composed from the most well chosen vantage points I've ever seen.

The harsh lighting at that time of day makes photography most difficult; the compromises in exposure that must be made are brutal. You did real well imho. I doubt anybody could have done as well. Early morning light would have been easier, but then the canyon is often too dark. By evening when the light is again much better, same problem, plus more haze. Generations of photographers have been trying in vain to capture the essence of that in-person stunning and mind boggling view; it may well be impossible.

A little less exposure would have made portions darker, but have allowed the superb Velvia colors to show over more of the scene. Of course then the slides would look best projected; scans just cannot do slides like those justice. My personal preference of course. I also agree stopping down would have added more 'punch' to overall sharpness and detail.

[cooltouch]

I visited the Painted Desert in Arizona almost 21 years ago, just off Interstate 40, east of the Grand Canyon a bit, and found a similar overlook. I got lucky that day. Bright and sunny, absolutely no haze. It was in December. Probably also real close to mid-day, but I think the winter sun is a little friendlier.

You can see a couple of the shots I managed here, one medium format, one 35mm:

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,187753.html

[rbelyell]

[cooltouch]

[rbelyell]

they're cool but HUGE michael! i took a camera backpack from nat geo. it had the universal, 6x9, 6x7 backs, canon 5d, 17-40L, schneider 135 and 85mm, zeiss planar 50/1.5, 2x converter and it weighed like 40 lbs!

the thing i really like about the universal, besides the yellow rangefinder, is that i can shoot polaroid film as well as the 120. i am really having a lot of fun with the polaroid stuff. and now that ive overcome my fear that shooting 120 would yield only blank black frames, i think im really going to enjoy that format. this weekend im going to shoot a party with my pentacon.

btw, if i like high contrast/small grain b&w 120 film, what would you suggest?

[cooltouch]

You know, even though its ISO 400, I love Kodak's Tri-X Professional 400TX. Grain is not much of a concern, but the warmth and total range is just fantastic. I develop it using regular old D-76 developer.

Here's a link to a thread of mine where I took some shots using the 400TX and my Yashica Mat 124:

http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,206050.html

[ManualFocus-G]

Over exposed or not, the quality is superb!

[rbelyell]

graham, thanks so much, really appreciated and glad you liked the shots.
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[PaulC]

It's the lighting, not the exposure. I think people are maybe mistaking haze and low contrast for an exposure problem.

I've taken the liberty of doing some selective adjustments on one, whether people prefer it or not is up to them, but for the middle distance I have increased the brightness and added some contrast and saturation, so that should make over-exposure worse. I darkened the storm cloud a bit just 'cos I felt like it for dramatic impact.



Unfortunately, an ND won't let you do this. A polariser might help, maybe even a UV filter, but I think the exposure is about as close to accurate as it could be given the difficulties. Unless, of course, I am wrong about what the middle ground needs.

[pich900]

[rbelyell]

@paul: thanks for doing that. i really thought the exposure was as close to spot on as could be given the lighting conditions, especially since i had never metered my own scenes before with a fully manual camera.

i have also been fooling around with PP and increasing the mid contrast has done a lot to improve the look.

@pich: i posted 5d grand canyon pix taken with my 17-40L lens, which i am now selling on the forum btw. here is the link:
http://forum.mflenses.com/first-shots-with-canon-17-40l-grand-canyon-t30792.html

[PaulC]

It's an interesting opportunity to compare the digital and slide output. The white balance of the film and the digital is different, so I've adjusted that, and I've "Velviafied" the digital output to get this:





With the bottom one being the slide. So it is possible to mimic slides quite closely. One of the most significant differences is that the slide appears to have picked up UV haze which digital has cut through, most obviously on the citadel like formation above the river (or is that just because the sun has lit it? Still, in other parts I think the haze is less on the digital). I still prefer the slide, though, but if it wasn't shot with a UV filter it might be a good idea to use one.

[rbelyell]

paul i have to agree, i like the slide better also. with appropriate lack of modesty for my equipment, i think it is difficult to get better digital combination (or more expensive combination) of 5d and L lens (of course there is 5dii which could make a big difference!), but i still find much more detail coming from this 60 year old mf camera and 100mm 'kit' lens!

btw, i do need to start thinking about shooting with filters like polarizer etc. my thought has always been, you have an incredibly expensive lens like an L series, why do you want to degrade that glass by shooting through a $50 filter? but i guess i need to reevaluate that philosophy.