Provia 100F has been considered the ultimate quality slide film since Fuji introduced it. Its reign as the king of slide films is probably now coming to an end because several new slide films have recently come to the market.
The purpose of this review is to give my own take on Provia 100F. To find out the detailed specifications for this film, visit the Fuji website: http://www.fujifilm.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/Products.jsp?nav=1&parent=PRODUCT_CATEGORY_234668&product=
As I said before, the buzz on Provia 100F has been that it’s the sharpest and finest grained slide film that you can buy. I haven’t used every single slide film, but I have used both Provia 100F and Fuji Sensia 100. Sensia is supposed to be a consumer film, while Provia is a professional films. This means you are more likely to find Sensia at Walmart or Ritz Camera, while Provia you may only find at stores that cater to professional photographers.
Compared to Sensia, everything they say about Provia 100F is true. The grain is much finer on the Provia. There’s really no comparison. The Sensia grain is as big as ISO 200 print film, while the Provia grain is practically non-existent in comparison. Provia wins!
But that’s not the whole story about grain. Provia has extremely fine traditional grain. But there is a phenomenon that has been written about at various websites on the internet, and that I have personally experienced. It’s called “pepper grain”, and it’s caused by tiny bubbles in the film emulsion. Film scanners enhance the bubbles and they appear as tiny black spots on your scan, especially noticeable in highlight areas. The black spots are very annoying and ruin your ability to make large prints from scanned slides. Some scanners have greater difficulty with the pepper grain than others. Unfortunately, my scanner, the Canoscan FS4000US picks up the pepper grain. Read my review of that scanner here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_104539917956
As I said earlier, there are several new films that have recently been introduced. Fuji has introduced two new films, Velvia 100F and Astia 100F. These are new and improved versions over the old Velvia 50 and Astia 100. These new Fuji slide films are supposed to have the same fine grain as Provia 100F. In fact, Astia 100F is now supposed to have even finer grain than Provia 100F.
Velvia is supposed to have the most saturated colors, and Astia is supposed to have less contrast and less saturated flesh tones to make it ideal for portraiture. Provia falls in between. I very much liked the colors of Sensia, which is the consumer version of the old Astia. So if the new Astia 100F is similar, it’s probably a pretty nice film, and it might be the best Fuji slide film to use. But whether you prefer the colors of Astia, Provia, or Velvia is going to be a matter of personal preference. The bad news is that all the Fuji films might have the pepper grain.
Kodak has also been busy making better slide films. The result is the new E100G, supposedly Kodak’s best slide film ever. You may notice I used the word “supposedly” a lot in this review. Unfortunately, I haven’t used all of these films, so I’m limited to reporting what I’ve read elsewhere. Nevertheless, E100G looks like it’s a very good film, as good as Provia 100F but without the pepper grain problem. I definitely intend to give it a try the next time I buy slide film.
I only give Provia 100F three stars, because the pepper grain really annoyed me a lot, and I am sorry I bought three rolls of the stuff, because after seeing the pepper grain on the first roll, I want to move on to something else.
