Colour Slide Film

The emulsion on the slide film is similar to the colour negative film. As the latent image is positive, a few more steps are required during processing. The chemistry is slightly different as the silver halide crystals create a negative image in all three layers during the standard chromogenic development process.

Slide or transparency film is intended for projection onto a screen or wall and is therefore not made into prints. As the final image on a slide film is positive, the orange mask that is used for negative film is not required.

Slide film produces images of a higher quality in comparison with negative film due to greater colour saturation and finer grain and as a result slide film also generates sharper resolution reprints. But slide film is less forgiving than negative film for errors and is not so user-friendly for the beginner at photography due to the precision required for correct exposure. The bracketing technique may be used in these circumstances to render a correctly exposed image.

The term bracketing is used for making different exposures above and below the indicated exposure to ensure that one of the frames will be a well-exposed image. In particular when shooting slide film the brackets should be made so that the stops are one half or one third as opposed to a full stop. This is necessary due to the narrow exposure latitude allowed by slide film. A full stop or greater could be used for negative film.

Common slide film manufacturers again are Kodak, Fuji and Agfa. In this module I have used Kodak Ektachrome ISO 100 in 120 format and Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Colour ISO 100 in 135 format.