Color Reversal Film and Slide Film Types for Film Photography

Color reversal film, or commonly called slide film, creates the opposite of color negative film or black and white film. Instead of creating a negative to be printed to a positive, the slide film is a positive of the image. As such, the slide film produces extremely rich and vibrant colors that come closer to the actual colors and tones present during exposure. Alternatively, slide film is not nearly as flexible as color negative or black and white film.

Exposure must be precise and areas of high contrast are much more difficult to properly expose with slide film. Slides can be printed in the darkroom, but the process is generally more expensive.

Slide film can be used for 35mm film cameras and medium format film cameras. Modern day color reversal film is processed with the E-6 processing. The major film brands for color reversal film are Kodak and Fuji. The ISO film speed of slide film is typically slow film that results in extremely fine grains to produce sharper images.

How Color Reversal Film Works

As the name reversal suggests, slide film works the opposite of print film. In print film the red, green, and blue emulsion layers are exposed and leave a negative dye of cyan, magenta, and yellow. Slide film is a subtractive process that starts with layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. When the film is exposed, the dye is subtracted to reveal red, green, and blue colors. Thus, when processed the film reveals the actual, positive, colors of the image.

Color Reversal Film Types and Brands

Note: As of March 2012 Kodak has discontinued all color reversal films.