Posts: 123
From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon
Registered: Jan 2017

posted 08-05-2018 02:10 PM               

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Most of the Apollo photos were taken on Ektachrome slide film. Even though slide film has a lower dynamic range than negative film.

What properties made NASA choose mostly slide film over negative film? I have always been curious about this.

Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 08-05-2018 03:08 PM            

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"Mastering Color," 1985, Kodak Limited & Time-Life Books, p.62:

Color slides produce a positive image directly on the film. Because there is no printing stage at which color faults can be corrected, color slide film has a narrower exposure tolerance than color print film and thus requires more care with exposure. But there is great gain in color saturation, and because you view the picture by transmitted light instead of reflected light, the brightness range is closer to what the eye sees.

Have found that Kodak E-6 film provided a slightly cooler image; as in better, sharper blues and a violet fullness that was preferred by some.

Also, back when I was developing my own film it was always nice to have transparencies to view straight out of the final rinse. Whereas with negative film it had to be dried, sliced into strips and then carried back into the darkroom to get printed onto a contact sheet for subsequent examination.

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Registered: Dec 2002