PHEW - GEE, DEAR, DEAR!!

By Kevin Crask (C.R.C. Technical Advisor)

If you haven't noticed that Fuji has released a new colour reversal film, where have you been these past few months? Fuji has launched a massive advertising campagne to promote their new film Velvia - a colour reversal film to follow their new print film Reala. Who thought up these names I do not know but perhaps the idea was that the name should be as new and a departure from the tradition just like the films themselves. But what about the film?

Velvia is available in all the usual formats from 35mm to 10x8, the trouble was that when it was released in 35mm it was the usual story, you try getting it, the dealers were GIVING it away as a promotion, problem was they then had none left to sell. I was lucky(?) in that I received a complimentary film but when I wanted to experiment further I could not get any for two weeks. Well the first thing you will probably notice is the figure on the till when you go to pay for it. It retails at our local independant photographic shop at about 90p dearer than Ektachrome - that's the first blow, I chose the pricing of our local dealer as large chains may have a larger turnover and could arrange a particular advantageous price on a particular film. To soften this, it is packed in a rather nice box in, as Fuji put it in their product information sheet, "New exclusive design", Blue and Gold - must be good.

The product is described as CR-56 which is Fuji's E6 equivalent and is rated at ISO 50 and can be processed to approximately push 1 stop i.e. ISO 100. This is the first thing to note. A lot of the E6 compatible films can be pushed 2 or even 3 stops, this is not recommended for Velvia. Where does it differ from the rest. It is here that we have a look at the product information sheet to see what it is all about and try and decipher just what Fuji are talking about. New technologies are claimed to be used in Velvia and these include Sigma crystals. The crystals have a dual structure, this has been standard with Fuji for some time. One structure is cubic, the other tabular, the combination of these two structures improves the light absorbtion and the generation of the latent image. Velvia uses an advanced form of this structure and in particular the internal structure of the crystal is very precisely controlled. This results in the position which the latent image is actually formed in the crystal to be precisely controlled. Also the fineness of the crystal particle has been increased compared to former particles which would normally reduce sensitivity but it is claimed that the sensitivity has been adequately maintained. Irradiation has been reduced because of the finness of the grains. No this is not the nuclear irradiation but the effect of instead of light being absorbed by the crystals to form the latent image, they are irradiated thus reducing apparent sensitivity and loosing definition. Well. That is a mouth full, but you can see that a lot goes into it all. I just thought that you might be intersted. Now for the next bit. DIR Technology (Developer Inhibitor Releasing Compound). You have had these for many years in colour negative films but this is the first time that they have been used in colour reversal films. Tura has DIR couplers but according to Fuji that is another thing. Their function is to release developer inhibitors in response to image density during processing, this has the result of enhancing the edge and interlayer effects to improve image sharpness. DIR's are a complex subject and this is deep enough as it is already, will you just believe me on this one?

Next - there is more you say! Solvent-free Coupler Dispersion Technology. One way to improve image sharpness is to reduce the thickness of the emulsion layer. The colour couplers in the emulsion have to be dispersed in the emulsion in an even way and they have to stay put. Over the years two systems were used. There was the 'Agfa' sytem shall we say, where the couplers were made up of very long chain molecules - because of their length they just did not wander about in the emulsion. The other way was to disperse the couplers in an oil. As technology progressed it was found that the long chain method was impeding further improvements and all went to the oil method. The unfortunate effect of the oil is that the emulsion thickness is increased. The new couplers used in Velvia have a stable dispersion characteristsic it is said and, thus smaller amounts of oil can be used and so the emulsion thickness is reduced and so intra-emulsion irradiation (its that word again) is reduced and thus blur is decreased and sharpness increased. Does this mean that they have gone back to long chain molecules. No. Now there is a knock on effect. Less oil, higher density of packing of the coupler, so higher image density.

Now to the practical point of view. As a processor I am interested in many things but some of which I will not be able to asses untill enough material has been through the line, and at this price one would suspect that not many amateurs are going to clamour for it. I have found that all Fuji colour reversal films are very tolerant so far as processing variations are concerned. When running a processing line the chemistry has to be kept within certain prescribed limits. This means that the chemistry may not be absolutely correct but is acceptable. Differing films react in different ways to these variations from the ideal and I have found that Fuji is often the least affected. Not much to say about the processing really exept that different films dry differently. If there is going to be drying problems so far as drying marks are concerned then pick Konica every time. It is usually a pain at the best of times with spots or streaks present. Fuji always dry well and Velvia is no exeption.

Hanging up next to Ektachrome, Konica and other Fuji film you can certainly see that there is something about Velvia. The colours are a bit more saturated without having that 'flourescent' appearance and just seems to be 'cleaner'. These comments are purely subjective and have no scientific backing, just my impression. On projection the slides seem to have a certain clarity. If anything the colours are bright but soft if that is at all possible. Grain does seem to be exceptionally fine, as promised.

There is a problem so I have heard which does not affect me but apparently could affect magazines. When you send your trannie for publication it is scanned to convert to a suitable medium for printing. Now Velvia has a really deep black, more than any other film. Scanners are set up to interpret a certain depth of black as black and anything lighter is not black and you cannot get anything darker. Now, the shadow detail in Velvia is at or below this threshold of the usually expected black. The slide, compared with others shows shadow detail at a depth of black where other films are saying it is black. Velvia then shows black as even darker. However, the scanner sees the shadow detail as black and records it as black. When it looks at the black of Velvia it cannot get any blacker than black so it records this as black as well. The result, a loss of shadow detail and clogged up solid blacks. If the scanner is adjusted for Velvia then other films will appear muddy as everything will be lighter. This might mean that on aparticular page of a mag, Velvia only would be printed or any other slide except Velvia. I knew black and white had an advantage. There it is, a long lengthy very technical article, but some people seem to like to know a bit more about what goes on. There is only one way that you are able to judge however and that is to take out a morgage and buy a roll youself. All I can say is that the exercise is worth doing as the film certainly has some merit. If you do not like it it is only down to personal preference or the pain in the wallet.