Dear all, I agree with Craig that 400F [RHPIII] has more grain (about like Kodak Elite Chrome 200/Ektachrome E200 Prof.). But 100F has less grain than Kodachrome 25 had and Velvia has. Thats a unique selling position. *=* BUT: I noticed that grain depends on the printing lab/machine!! I would recommend a large lab, original FUJI-LAB for slide printing (they scan and print with much higher resulution than KODAK labs.)
Furthermore those Digiprint(TM of Agfa) labs have hair lines visible on a 20x30cm print by the way. ex&le: they scan the slides and SHARPEN them and more...
regarding ASTIA [RAP]: it does bias white skin tones to "flamingo red/pink" how much it does bias depends on the E6 processing lab, again!
If you really want do a shoot out slide film you must print on Ilfords CIBACRHOME. It is a high-gloss fine-print paper with metallic effect. 2x to 3x as expensive but great.
If outdoors weather is just bullshit (rainy & grey & depressing) If you need more punchy colors you can push develop Provia 400F and expose as E.I 800 ASA w/o any bad grain. Alternative use Kodak E200 Prof. pushed 1 stop and expose E.I. 320 to get the colors
Last but not least: I once got grainy & unsharp pictures from Kodak Ektar 25 negatives from a swiss cheapo lab. I complaint about it and the reprinted without grain and sharp as hell. I couldn't believe my eyes! --Rainer ------ Craig writes:
With Provia 400F the grain can be noticed at all print sizes, but it isn't objectionable. It's not an ugly grain, like some films, but a smooth, even, and small grain. As for the colour, it looks accurate but it lacks "punch". 400F is a good "documentary" film, but not a "beauty" film, in my opinion.
I use Astia 100 rather than Provia 100F because Astia is better for skin tones. According to the spec. sheet, Astia can reproduce more subtle gradations of tone, and is more tolerant of varying lighting conditions, unlike Provia 100F which I found to be too "honest" in that it exaggerates the blue cast in shaded locations. Astia is more saturated than Provia, and just looks better on the light box to me. Astia slides kind of jump out from the light box and look "beautiful".
I shot some Provia 400F recently, and posted some s&le images on one of my web sites. You can see them at
http://alkiratech.tripod.com/photogallery/id34.html
The bottom shot of two motor scooters was on Astia 100, the other shots are all on Provia 400F.
Kind regards,
Craig (in Hong Kong)