North Vietnam

In May 2018 me with few friends, we have decided to visit North Vietnam. We were about to travel through little villages in the mountains close to the Chinese border. After research where I have found out that this region is being inhabited by multiple tribes, I have decided to do all the photos there in color. It was a great opportunity not only to test my new Hasselblad but also to make a little comparison of different photographic materials (both 120mm and 35mm). I took for this trip

• negatives: Kodak Ektar 100, Kodak Portra 160
• cinematic negatives: Kodak Vision3 250D, Kodak Vision 320T
• slides: Fuji Provia, Kodak Ektachrome

Sometimes you will notice light leak. It is because I have extra magazine for 120mm film. Seems it has to be fixed (if that is possible).

While looking at those photos you may notice that fuji provia reproduces colors better than kodak portra. Color palete is a bit different and feel more “real”. Only problem with provia is that sometimes I have some violet color cast. Bigger issue is the dynamic range. You should really be careful while light measuring. One stop too much or too less and photo may be hard to save.

One film was taken with expired Kodak Ektachrome slide. And I must admit that in my opinion those colors look even better than Provia.

Nice surprise is Kodak Ektar. It is clearly visible that film is very saturated, and in some situations it looks too unreal (look below at comparison of provia and ektar – Girl and a tree – where provia came way better), but in some cases pictures taken with this film really rock (Two girls with baskets, or comparison of provia and ektra – Wedding dance with umbrellas).

And on the end there are two Kodak Vision films. Some photos taken at night (with neon tungsten lights) in Hanoi were taken on old Kodak Vision 320T film, and those look suprisingly good. I have bought hundreds of meters of this film, and self roll them, so in future you will see here many photos taken with it. And on the end photos in Halong Bay, that were taken with Kodak Vision3 250D. This film is not the sharpest but that is what I like in it.. this organic look, like from old movies. And colors. Look a bit like Kodak Porta… however slightly shifted (In good direction). Those two elements set together give you this character of old photographs.