James P. Jones || Photographer

I had the great experience of sneaking off to see Pats practice the other day. It was an afternoon practice on a beautiful day. Never having been to a Pats practice; I didn't know what to expect, but it was just fun. I didn't want to carry a tripod (wasn't sure what was allowed), so I took my 300mm f4.5with a tc-201 2x telephoto multiplier. Technically these aren't recommended for each other, but I wanted to see how it would work.

I grabbed a handful of film out of the fridge and jumped in the car. I only caught an hour of practice and as you may realize I was shooting slide film, not digital. The reason is simple - when I have time to compose and I'm shooting for myself, I find film to provide superior results. Well exposed pro-quality slide film with good lenses gives high-end digital a run for its money in sharpness, but really runs away with the field in the realm of character. Film just stinks like film. I like it.

Now, I decided to hand develop this film, my first foray into e-6 slide developing. It takes 7 steps in a temperature tub and about 30 minutes of watching and agitating (agitating being the word for shaking the developing tank). I haven't experienced the kind of "wow" moment like I did with the slide film in a long time. The moment I pulled that film out of the final rinse and put it to the light it was just "wow." It was so cool.

But, when I went to scan the film I realized I had a problem. At first I thought it was the scanner, but when I finally put the film under the loupe, it became obvious that this was a film related issue. Obviously, this could be a processing problem. But, one major factor that discounts this is: I developed two rolls of film at the same time. The pats rolls was Provia 400. The other roll of film is Fortia SP 50 (a Japan-only specialty fujichrome). The fortia looks fantastic (it has a little color shift I associate with Fortia - I find the shadows and blues to be a touch magenta). So, I lucked out. The Provia must be a film error. I have no idea how old the roll was, I didn't look. I do know it was out of date and it had been kicking around for quite a while. I don't think it has been refrigerated the whole time. That and it is Provia 400F (not the newer X). So, sadly I have wasted some film, but learned a lesson. Still, I'm looking for outside opinions. I don't know if I'm looking at some film issues, coupled with tele-extender bokeh, and processing or what. Let me know what you think.