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[pct-l] Fuji vs. Kodachrome, Prints vs. Slides

Fuji vs. Kodachrome:  I recently showed some slides of my '93 Wonderland
Trail hike to a group of fellow long distance hikers in Portland.  One of
them told me the colors in the photos were great.  The film?  Kodachrome.  I
suppose the excellant scenery and sky conditions helped, also.  But I used
Fujichrome on the PCT in '95 and '96, and they came out pretty good also.
Typically, in any market for mass-produced products, the only difference
between the #1 and #2 products is the marketing (my opinion, of course).  In
this case, Fuji seems to be priced a little higher because it is
manufactured in Japan.  I have always wanted to try Agfachrome, which is
typically available only in specialty photo shops.

Prints vs. Slides:  The images of your slides will turn out just the way
your camera produced them because your camera is the only thing that
measures and controls the amount of light that hits the film.   With prints,
this exposure to light happens twice...once when your camera takes the
picture, and again when the film processor creates the print.  With typical
film processors, the amount of light coming through a negative is measured
and the exposure to the paper is based how the machine is programmed.  If
you photograph a subject with a light background, the print machine will
detect this over-abundance of light and reduce exposure time to compensate
for this.  That's why a lot of prints turn out looking somewhat washed out,
or your subject much darker than you intended.   Slides don't lie.  If you
take a good photo, your slide will look great.  If you take a bad photo, the
slide will look equally as bad.  With prints you have less control over the
results.  Sometimes I check to see what film the experts are using for
outdoor landscape photography.  In most cases they use slide film, and later
have the print produced by a custom photo lab.  

Roger Carpenter

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