As a photographer of extreme and unusual weather conditions, I take film quality, grain and color accuracy very seriously. Across the board, Provia 100F delivers, almost flawlessly. This is the most balanced, true, sharp and versatile 35 mm slide film ever produced; and in nearly 20 years of shooting, I have used 'em all.
After nearly 10 years of great performance from Sensia and Velvia emulsions, it was going to require a major improvement to compel a switch to Provia 100F. I tried it on one series of extraordinarily difficult exposure conditions, under thunderstorm bases and in snow, and haven't looked back. I have used Provia exclusively in 2002 and 2003, except for a roll or two of Sensia when I was caught short.
I won't waste time replicating much of what Mr. Creech said so well about slide shooting in his helpful review (below). Instead, I will pile on still more testaments to the usefulness and value of this particular film. The grain is extremely fine, ideal for enlargements up to 11x17. Scanning Provia slides with my new Epson Perfection unit has proven a most rewarding experience, with less Photoshop color and hue restoration needed than in any other scanner-film combination I have tried (including the Nikon Coolscan series of dedicated slide scanners).
Though not as "bold" in rendering warm colors as Velvia, this emulsion is more authentic, resolving tone and hues astoundingly well all across the color spectrum, day or night, on land or on water. Provia 100F does not "oversaturate" the reds and yellows like Velvia, and truth-in-scene matters more to me than stunning the audience with a chromatic boldness which wasn't really there in person. Further, upon very close examination, Velvia sometimes paints color bands into the edges of nighttime lightning strikes, and adds unnecessary reds and purples to the ambient sky; whereas Provia is more crisp and closer to the blue-black truth.
Slide film is notoriously unforgiving; but as they go, Provia is the most versatile. I can bracket apertures and exposure times with widest possible latitude using this film, and get away with exposures which might otherwise yield subpar results. On several occasions, I have gotten a roll back from the lab, only to be pleasantly stunned with multiple commercially viable shots, almost indistinguishable from the "best" of the bunch. Using the same camera and personal techniques, this seldom happened with Kodachromes, Ektachromes, even Velvia.
I shoot severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, first and foremost, along with winter storms, floods, hailstorms, lightning, atmospheric optics and dust storms. [See http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/rogersky.htm when finished with this review.] Yes, I carry at least two cameras and a lot of equipment, as all photographers should. That said, in the field, I often deal with violent and sudden changes of potentially dangerous shooting conditions. I simply don't have the time or concentration skills to move from one camera to another, from one film to another, when the storm is bearing down fast. And when shooting all-manual, as I do, it is hard enough just to change lenses on and off and change film without letting in rain and dust, much less remaining vigilant enough to avoid a direct hit from a lightning strike. The scene can change in a fraction of a second, and all the while, my life and livelihood are at risk.
Under such duress, I can't be fumbling around! I need one film and one camera which can give me professionally marketable and aesthetically powerful results. There must be one film that I can trust with bright white clouds or hailstones, black tornadoes, light blue sky, fiery red sunsets, dark slate-blue storm bottoms, sharp white lightning strikes, green wheat fields – and often more than one of those in the same scene. Provia 100F, in my old Minolta all-manual SLR, does this. I recommend Provia 100F as the primary film of choice for any pro or serious amateur outdoor photographer, with Velvia in another camera dedicated to warm-color, lower ISO shots, and Sensia as a trusty backup in the film bag.
There is a darn good reason why Provia 100F shots are becoming more and more prevalent in publications such as Nature's Best and Outdoor Photographer. Use this film and you will learn them for yourself. [No, Fuji isn't paying me to say all this; though they certainly are welcome to! :-)]
Provia 100F can be purchased for around $4 per roll when the big online camera houses are having bulk sales. I usually buy 20-packs every winter from B&H in New York (www.bhphotovideo.com) to toss into the freezer for my spring and summer storm shots.
