Re: [APML] Will a real astrophoto film please stand up.

[Philip Perkins <pgp@astrocruise.com>]

Jason,

I share your frustration about this.  Almost all films now seem to have 
gone the way of "smooth natural skin tones" which actually means they have 
rigged it to no longer respond accurately to the visible spectrum.  You'd 
think that manufacturers might have at least *one* film that tries to 
reproduce the visible spectrum accurately - there are many applications out 
there (apart from astrophotography) where the obsession with "skin tones" 
is immaterial and actually damaging.

Several of the Fuji films (such as NPS 160 and NPH 400) would be good 
candidates if they hadn't killed the red response prematurely (Fuji films 
have typically had good OIII response though that may have changed 
recently).  There may still be a film lurking in there somewhere with a 
decent response, given time to dig deep enough.  As others have suggested, 
Provia 400 may be worth trying, though since it's a slide film you may 
still get the "golf ball" stars problem.  I have been using NPZ 800 with 
some success, but only for broadband objects, and the grain may be 
excessive for some applications.

Personally I would look at the Konica range - I tried Centuria 400 a few 
years ago and results were quite encouraging.  I haven't looked at the 
range for some time though.

--Philip

At 20:55 26/05/2004 -0500, you wrote:

>I have lost track of the film choices these days.
>Still have some PPF but I used RG200 last year and
>it blew me away. This was an amazing film but I
>understand it has changed.
>
>I have been using Fuji Superia 100 in the schmidt
>camera but want to hop back into shooting with
>the 16" Lx200.
>
>Is there anything that comes close to RG200?
>Preferably medium format but interested in
>35mm as well.
>
>NOT interested in E200, star images are the
>size of golf balls.
>
>My kingdom for a MF RG200!!
>
>
>--
>  -Jason Ware
>
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Philip Perkins
<pgp@astrocruise.com>
Wiltshire UK & Luberon France
http://www.astrocruise.com

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