I sent three rolls of film off to Richard Photo Lab at the beginning of this month, and because it was E6 film and because I choose to scan with Frontier, I just got the scans back today. I opened them and I was immediately incredibly happy. I knew one roll was shot with my Holga, and I wasn't all that happy with those. They were pretty much all out of focus, and it was just something fun for me to try out. I also knew one roll was Velvia, because it was VERY Velvia looking. To find out for sure what the other roll was, I had to call the lab to ask- and found out it was Provia, which makes sense in the context of my reaction. I loved my first Provia scans so much, and I love these too. It is really nice when the lab names the file folders with the film stock used. I was relieved to find out it was slide film, and was afraid that I would have to totally switch to RPL because they had created magical Portra or 400H scans. I can also say that I am going to commit to shooting primarily Provia when it is practical. Velvia is a little fun and funky, but I will happily shoot it every now and then! I am trying out some consumer film as well (Fuji Superia 800, and I LOVE Agfa Vista and need to buy some more of that). I think I will be selling a lot of my excess film soon, because there is no point to me in shooting through what doesn't really work for me. Portra and 400H leaves me feeling confused, and I have never felt super over the top happy with those scans.
The photos though! I am so excited to share the photos I got back today. These first three are from the Holga, Portra 160. You can see I created a triple exposure, totally a result of my disbelief that the shutter was really working. It is very quiet.
And then these are the Velvia- not necessarily suited for portraits, but I think the one I got of my daughter is pretty awesome.
And finally, Provia.
The extra days waiting on these, the extra money for E6 development, all worth it for me. I didn't have to edit these, except for straightening and tiny HSL panel tweaks for skin. I'll be sending off three rolls tomorrow, and will keep updating the results of my film journey...