Kodachrome - v - E6 grain

[irivlin@xxxxxxxxxxx (Ian Rivlin)]

As a very dedicated Minox (8 x 11mm negative size) afficionado, used to 
enlarging these negs to quite enormous sizes, I would suggest that 
Kodachrome 25 still has the edge (just) over Velvia. Velvia *isn't* 50asa, 
in my opinion, it is more like 35 asa. I think that its colour saturation is 
so much better than Kodachrome (and the colours more appealing) that it is 
my film of choice. Velvia, on half frame neg size is perfectly fine enough, 
when projected to a reasonable size. Grain is imperceptible in either full 
or half frame, so there is no need to let grain size intrude into the 
argument. I am told that Velvia's keeping properties are much better than 
Ektachrome (I admit that this is anecdotal, rather than scientific). It 
might interest some people to know that I left some Ektrachrome, some Velvia 
and some Kodachrome in a small glass case, exposed to the ravages of 
Queensland sunshine and it *seemed* as if the Velvia coped best, over a 
pperiod of about 9 months. I do have some Kodachrome slides, however, that 
are about 35 years old and they do look virtually new. I still use 
Kodachrome 25 when *ultimate* fine grain is called for.
I'd love to hear from other people, re. their experiences.

Ian Rivlin


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