Comparing Kodak Ektachrome 100S, E100G (which replaced 100S), E100VS, Fujichrome Provia 100F, Velvia 100F, and Fuji Astia 100F.
My overall favorite was the Kodak E100VS for photos where the interest in the image was lit with strobe.
For red sponges, the VS showed a brighter red than all the others, even the Velvia 100F. For the entire scene, the VS had more color brilliance than the others, although not by very much; all of the films had brilliant color, except the more muted, neutral Astia. The Velvia has a stronger yellow component that made the coral background look less blue; but, at the same time, the Velvia 100 showed a tinge nicer blue background. I personally like my blues to be a little deeper (which means that they have a bit more magenta to avoid them looking too cyan.) I have no idea why these ideas seem contradictory. (I leave today for the Solomon Islands, so I’ll try to figure it out better when I get back.)
The Astia was noticeably the most neutral--skin tones were quite plain and realistic, and pink vase sponges were pale tending to a (more realistic?) grayish pink, while films like the VS rendered them a prettier pink. I am not sure under what conditions underwater the Astia would be a film of choice.
In upward photos, the 100S and G had a smooth, continuous gradation from the dark water near the bottom to the bright surface water. This means that you can shoot and print in more contrasty situations where the bright ball of sunlight may otherwise cause problems with exposure and printing. Higher contrast films, such as the VS and Velvia, which showed a stronger gradient, may produce images that are harder to control when printing. (The Velvia 100, however, seems to have a less abrupt color banding than the Velvia 50, that I generally find excessive. Although I could not include the Velvia 50 in this comparison, in the past I have taken photos that appear to have bands of dark, average and light blue rather than a smooth continuum of color.)
None of the films had much latitude at all. Bracket by half stops with these films.
In conclusion
I am going to use the VS when I want the bright color from strobe lighting to really pop in my wide-angle photos (which is most of the time.) I’ll use the G for wreck photos when subtle shadows are critical. I’ll use the old style Velvia 50 for my macro when I prefer the slightly wider and sharper apertures of f-/16 or even f-/11, or anytime that I have too much strobe light in close. In reality, any of the films, (except the Astia, if bright colors really count), would look absolutely fantastic underwater. All of the films show saturated, brilliant colors, certainly more so than the films I had to shoot with when I started almost forty years ago.
How the test was done:
I took six Nikonos cameras, each with a Nikon 15mm lens, loaded with Kodak Ektachrome 100S, the new E100G (which replaces 100S), E100VS, Fujichrome Provia 100F, the new Velvia 100F, or the new Fuji Astia 100F. I shot all photos with an attached US90 strobe that fired a YS120 slave strobe on a tripod at a fixed measured distance from a colorful coral head and nearby diver. Light from the strobes on each camera did not affect the exposure—thus all photos had the exact same lighting.
Kodak Slide films:
Kodak has discontinued their amateur slide films and now has only four Ektachrome films--all professional. The Kodak Ektachrome E100VS (vibrant saturation) is the professional version of the recently discontinued Elite Chrome Extra Color (EBX); E100G replaces the discontinued E100S; the E100GX (warm) replaces the E100SW. Kodak still offers the E200, which I did not compare here—I ran out of 15mm lenses.
