It had been quite some time since I last shot slide film. In fact I rarely use any film below iso400. The already unforgiving nature of slide film paired with the slow speeds, difficulty scanning etc always kept me away. This is still the case but one thing has changed in the slide film world, ektachrome e100 is available in super 8 as well as 16mm film. For several years the only way to shoot reversal super 8 and 16mm was to use repackaged or expired film. I have always wanted to shoot a film on, well, film and project the finished work. Using reversal film for this project would be a lot easier, and a hell of a lot cheaper.

But first things first, I had to see what the film looked liked. The easiest way to do this would be to shoot a roll of 35mm. I was able to shoot a roll in Osaka with a few different lighting situations. All photos were taken on a Leica mp witha 35mm summicron asph v1 scanned with an epson perfection v750 pro and SilverFast software.

Frame 1 taken in a kissaten. It was dim but you get a good idea of what ektachrome is capable of. In classic reversal style the brightest highlights and darkest shadows have no information, but the colors are punchy and accurate. I was surprised that the tv wasn’t blown out too.

I started shooting as the sun was going down so I knew there was not much time and tried to get as many photos as i could to really test the film.

I tried to give an accurate representation of what the photos look like, but this photo in particular surprised me with how much information was still in the shadows.

I was able to capture these photos on the way to a fire works show/festival. The light was still good and the results are nice. Relatively easy to shoot and retain the slide film look.

Once at the festival the light was begging to fade. I rarely use f/2 on the summicron and speeds lower than 1/60th but I was pleasantly surprised at the results. Not necessarily the ideal street photography setup, but I gave it a shot.

Even as the light turned to dark, there were a few areas that had some light. Honestly I did not expect to get usable results once the sun set but quite a few of the photos were more than usable.

The results are quite pleasing and on the light table look even better. That being said, I am not an expert on slide film. In the past I tried provia and velvia as well as some outdated kodak. The reversal look and photographing process is not for me, but when it comes to filming it might be right up my alley. I did shoot about half a cartridge of super 8 in Osaka and when I can will digitize the footage and make a video talking more in depth about ektachrome. When I get the chance and decide on a subject matter to film I definitely want to give ektachrome a shot on super 16!