Landscape photography using a Hasselblad 500 c/m

It needs patients. - There is no immediate feedback control. - The photographer relies sole on a light meter, the selection of a film with specific characteristics, and on his understanding of exposure. - This is analog film photography.

Two weeks ago, it happened to be perfect fall weather in Switzerland, I took my old 1976 Hasselblad 500 c/m camera and some rolls of film, and went for some outdoor activity.

During fall and winter the low sun leads to interesting ambient light conditions. Lot of contrast, and due to the clear atmosphere also clear and brilliant colours with plenty of contrast.
The vibrant colours of autumn leaves - yellow, red, brown, and green - were just amazing.

I decided to shoot the following different film rolls.

Kodak Professional Ektar 100
The technical data sheet claims: "... is the world's finest grain color negative film ... high saturation and ultra-vivid color..." and "... is recommended for applications such as nature, travel and outdoor photography, as well as for fashion and product photography."

Fujichrome Velvia 50 Professional, and 100 Professional
The Fujifilm product bulletin says: "... is a professional daylight color reversal film..." and "... the world's highest level of image color saturation and vibrancy, this film combines superb granularity with resolving power.", "It is especially suited to subjects that demand precision in reproduction and emphasis in colors."

Hence, for the color films I was dealing with the world's finest grain, the world's highest level of color saturation, and resolving power. Both types of film are recommended - among other applications - for outdoor photography.

Spectral density curves Fujichrome Velvia 50

Comparing the spectral sensitivity curves from the film's technical specifications for both types of film shows that both films exhibit similar spectral response in blue and green wavelength area. The red area covers approximately the same wavelength range for both films with the spectral density being narrower for Fujichrome Velvia compared to Kodak Ektar.

Kodak Ektar shows a broad peak between 600 and 660 nm while the Fujichrome Velvia spectrum has a narrow peak at 650 nm.
This explains the experienced difference in color of the two film. The Fujichrome Velvia gives rather blueish results, given the lack of red and the predominance of blue and green (see spectral density charts on the left).

Spectral density curves Kodak Ektar 100

While Fujichrome Velvia is known for its saturation and strong contrast, I  am curious to see the results of Kodak Ektar.















Ilford HP5 Plus - ISO 400 black and white professional film
The package insert speaks of a "...high speed, medium contrast film...", "...suitable for action and press photography..."  - Not necessarily the first choice for black and white landscape photography. If reading through other blog posts. This film is never recommended explicitly. Recommendations go rather for Kodak Tri-X, BW400CN, or Ilford XP2 Super film.
Nevertheless, Ilford HP5 is considered to be a good option since it is a very flexible film yielding "...outstanding sharpness and fine grain under all lighting conditions". It's a medium contrast film and hence probably a good choice to reflect the nuances of colorful autumn leaves and forests in black and white.

Shooting film, time to result can be a bit longer than with modern digital technique. I am still waiting for developed and scanned films to arrive.