The pictures in this post  come  from a short  experiment using an expired  roll of Velvia 50 color transparency film to check  if the Leica M4-P rangefinder  and lens were working ok. The pictures  show  that both  Leica's repairs to, and renovation of, the salt water damaged  M4-P body plus  the second hand 50mm Summicron lens that I had purchased  whilst in Tokyo,  are working perfectly. Great.

I did this quick experiment  whilst  I was waiting  for the 35mm Kodak  Portra  400 ASA  film order  from B+H in New York to arrive. The   roll of  expired Fujifilm's Velvia 50 had been gifted by a friend. It had been frozen for around 10-15 years.Thanks to this gift  the only expense for me to check out the renovated rangefinder would the cost for the lab to  process the roll of Velvia 50.      

I knew nothing about Velvia before the experiment.    Subsequent research informed me that it  was created in the early 1990s [when it was known as Velvia (RVP)]  and that it was subsequently rejigged/redesigned by Fuji  in 2007.  It is now known as  Velvia 50 (RVP 50). My  expired 36 roll of film  was Velvia 50 -- the current version.  I have never used this transparency  film,  but a quick search indicated that those who have used it love it for its vividness and brilliance.

I was  was curious about  Velvia 50  in the sense of wondering  what kind of poetic images could result,  if any. How different would the seascapes  be from the seascapes using Kodak Portra 400 ASA? So I just made some snapshots whilst I was on the daily poodlewalks. 

I was taken back when I picked up the processed  film from the lab in Adelaide   as most of the pictures on the expired 36 roll of Velvia 50 were underexposed.  The images looked as if I didn't bother to meter, even though I was careful metering. They also had a strong magenta hue. Post processing the scans  was basically  a salvaging task to obtain some  reasonable pictures.   I was able to get the odd one to come out ok. 

An example is  the above pictures of light and clouds  over Encounter Bay in the  early morning before sunrise with the  off-colour saturation and high contrast.They   look suitably dramatic and  suggest  poetic  possibilities associated with the vibrant colours of the early morning pre-sunrise and/or  stormy  winter conditions.

Unfortunately,  many of the seascapes that I  made in low light (ie., prior to sunrise)  with  the expired roll of film looked as if they needed to be over exposed ie., exposed at a lower ASA than  the 50 ASA.   I also noticed that  the expired film  added  red to warm colors,  yellows become slightly redder,  and  oranges turn toward red. Most of the seascape  pictures were rather ordinary  after the post processing,  but  the  odd  seascape with its more muted colours looked reasonable.  

The picture  above  for instance,  bought out the greens of the sea in contrast to the majority oil the other seascape pictures  that  had an all blue palette. 

An example of an  all blue seascape is below and it is nothing special. Despite  the  subtlety of the early morning  light  amongst the  clouds over the sea it is rather ho hum and ordinary.   Disappointingly so.     

The vivid colours and the high saturation that people have traditionally associated with Velvia 50  did  come  with  this seaweed photo in the late afternoon sunlight. The mass of seaweed  actually looks okay.   

That's a few sample pictures  of the  quick experiment. It  indicated  to me that  Velvia 50 is  more tricky to use than colour negative film (such as  Kodak  Portra  400 ASA). Pictures of rocks in deep shadows with just a touch of light in the sky did not work at all. The quick experiment shows  that Velvia 50  comes into its own when the subject matter  has intense  vibrant colours and good strong  light.  

The 35mm Kodak  Portra  400  film order  from B+H  arrived during the experiment.   For the moment I'm just relieved that the rangefinder is working, for  finally,  we are  back in business.  I may post the odd Velvia 50 picture  on a latter  blog post once I have had time to look at them closely and after spending more time  post processing them. 

 I'm not  sure  that Velvia 50 would provide much in the way of poetic possibilities that would be  different to what colour negative film ,does,  unless I change my current photographic approach.  Or supplement it.      

It does look  as  if Fujifilm  is slowly  moving away from supporting film photography given the perspective of recent history.   Whilst  the world was getting rid of film products galore in the early 2010s,  there was also a noticeable trend amongst millennials to return  to photographing with film. In 2024, it’s not a trend anymore. It’s pretty common. 

The economic reality facing Fuji is that  analogue photography  is a niche market.  The current film  situation is one of a scarcity of many colour films, little in the way of innovation,  and continually rising prices. Thankfully it  is still possible to process colour film in labs in Adelaide, but how long will that last? There is a noticeable decline in the  quality of the processing of large format colour sheet film. 

I won't be buying any new 35mm rolls of Velvia 50 as it's just too expensive. A 36 roll of Velvia 50 in Australia is around $33  and that is the  discounted price. It is US $33 at B+H. That is a $1 per exposure!  Payment  for the lab processing is additional.  This makes this kind of analogue photography increasingly  for the monied  few.  I am happy to experiment further  with expired transparency film though.