Film Sorting and Selection Spreadsheet

by Michael K. Davis

Download the Film Sort Spreadsheet (Excel 5.0+ spreadsheet - 37 kbytes)

[Ed. note: The graphic EXCEL table below gives you a view of the overall spreadsheet...]

Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2000
From: "Michael K. Davis" zilch0@primenet.com
To: rmonagha@post.cis.smu.edu
Subject: Film Comparison Spreadsheet

Bob,

Please have a look at the attached MS-Excel 5.0+ spreadsheet, filmsrt2.xls, and consider hosting it. Using film performance data compiled by Bill Tuthill, I got carried away one night sorting things this way and that. I hit on the idea of allowing a user to specify which performance characteristics are most valuable, expressed as percentages. The spreadsheet averages the data for each spec and then normalizes the values before applying the user's subjective weighting to produce a composite score for each film.

The normalization is done to equalize the magnitude of all the specs' values - i.e. the average resolution at a contrast of 1000:1 is about 120, so I multiply all the Grain RMS values (averaging about 4.5) by a factor that will elevate the average Grain RMS value to a value of 120. The same is done with the other criteria, normalizing their values so that the user's weighting percentages become meaningful.

Enough of the internals. The neat thing is that when you start playing with it, you might find it really validates some of your thinking about which film is "better" than others. Personally, I found the composite scores of color negative films in the ISO 400 and up range to be a real eye-opener. I shoot chromes exclusively, so it was a shock to see how much better the print films are in the higher speeds.

Enjoy!

Mike Davis


  Performance Data for several Print and Slide Films
  with User-Definable Weighted Composite Scoring
               
  by Michael K. Davis   zilch0@primenet.com
  Using Data Compiled by Bill Tuthill   tut@altavista.net
          http://creekin.net/films.htm    
               
  Print Films:            
              Weighting
  Change Weighting Percentages, then Sort Must Total
              100.00%
  Specify Weighting %:   33.33 16.67 16.67 33.33 100.00
      v v v v  
      Grain lp/mm lp/mm Sharpness Weighted
  Brand PRINT FILMS RMS at at <100% Composite
        1.6:1 1000:1 (MTF) Score *
  * Do not compare these Composite Scores with scores outside this table.
  Kodak Royal Gold 25 4.0 80 200 18 148
  Konica Impresa 50 4.0 63 160 20 138
  Fuji NewSuperia 100 4.0 63 125 20 131
  Fuji NPS 160 4.0 63 125 20 131
  Fuji Reala 100 4.0 63 125 20 131
  Fuji NewSuperia 200 4.0 50 125 20 124
  Agfa Portrait 160 3.5 60 150 11 116
  Agfa OptimaII 100 4.0 50 140 16 113
  Fuji Superia 100 4.0 63 125 15 112
  Agfa Ultra 50 4.3 50 140 18 112
  Agfa HDC 100+ 4.0 50 130 15 107
  Fuji NewSuperia 400 4.0 50 125 15 106
  Agfa HDC 400+ 4.5 50 130 18 105
  Agfa OptimaII 400 4.5 50 130 18 105
  Fuji Superia 200 4.0 50 125 13 99
  Agfa HDC 200+ 4.5 50 130 14 92
  Agfa OptimaII 200 4.5 50 130 14 92
  Fuji NPH 400 4.0 50 100 11 86
  Fuji Superia 400 4.0 50 100 11 86
  Fuji NHG II 800 5.0 50 100 7 57
  Fuji Superia 800 5.0 50 100 7 57
  Konica 3200 @1600 9.0 40 80 7 28
  Fuji HG 1600 10.0 40 80 8 26
               
  Averages:   4.64 53.70 125.00 14.61 100
              100
  Composite Multipliers:   7.18 0.31 0.13 2.28 4.9993E+01
               
  To re-sort after making changes to weighting or data, highlight only the
  data rows, then do: Data, Sort, by Column H Descending (No header row)
               
               
               
               
  Slide Films:            
              Weighting
  Change Weighting Percentages, then Sort   Must Total
              100.00%
  Specify Weighting %:   33.33 16.67 16.67 33.33 100.00
      v v v v  
      Grain lp/mm lp/mm Sharpness Weighted
  Brand SLIDE FILMS RMS at at <100% Composite
        1.6:1 1000:1 (MTF) Score *
  * Do not compare these Composite Scores with scores outside this table.
  Fuji Velvia 50 9.0 80 160 25 218
  Kodak Kodachrome 25 9.0 63 100 26 200
  Fuji Provia F 100 8.0 60 140 15 167
  Kodak Kodachrome 64 10.0 63 100 16 131
  Fuji Provia 100 10.0 60 140 11 114
  Fuji Astia 100 10.0 55 135 10 106
  Kodak Ektachrome 100s 10.0 55 125 10 103
  Kodak Ektachrome 100sw 10.0 55 125 10 103
  Agfa RSX 100p 10.0 50 125 9 96
  Fuji MltiSpeed @200 11.0 55 135 10 96
  Agfa RSX 50 10.0 55 125 8 94
  Agfa CTprecisa100 10.0 50 130 7 87
  Kodak Ektachrome 100vs 11.0 50 100 9 82
  Fuji MltiSpeed @400 13.0 55 135 10 81
  Kodak Kodachrome 200 16.0 50 100 16 78
  Kodak Ektachrome 100+ 11.0 50 100 8 78
  Agfa CTprecisa200 12.0 50 120 8 75
  Kodak Ektachrome 100 11.0 50 100 7 74
  Agfa RSX 200p 12.0 50 110 8 73
  Kodak Ektachrome 200 12.0 50 125 5 64
  Fuji Provia 400 15.0 40 125 5 48
  Fuji Provia 1600 25.0 40 100 7 30
               
  Averages:   11.59 53.91 120.68 10.91 100
              1.0000E+02
  Composite Multipliers:   3.47 0.37 0.17 3.69 4.9993E+01
               
  To re-sort after making changes to weighting or data, highlight only the
  data rows, then do: Data, Sort, by Column H Descending (No header row)
               
               
               
               
  Print and Slide Films:            
              Weighting
  Change Weighting Percentages, then Sort   Must Total
              100.00%
  Specify Weighting %:   33.33 16.67 16.67 33.33 100.00
      v v v v  
    PRINT Grain lp/mm lp/mm Sharpness Weighted
  Brand AND RMS at at <100% Composite
    SLIDE FILMS ** 1.6:1 1000:1 (MTF) Score *
  * Do not compare these Composite Scores with scores outside this table.
  ** Slide Film RMS has been divided by 2.5 for comparison with Print Film.  
  Fuji Velvia 50 3.6 80 160 25 198
  Kodak Kodachrome 25 3.6 63 100 26 179
  Kodak Royal Gold 25 4.0 80 200 18 158
  Fuji Provia F 100 3.2 60 140 15 153
  Konica Impresa 50 4.0 63 160 20 149
  Fuji NewSuperia 100 4.0 63 125 20 142
  Fuji NPS 160 4.0 63 125 20 142
  Fuji Reala 100 4.0 63 125 20 142
  Fuji NewSuperia 200 4.0 50 125 20 135
  Agfa Portrait 160 3.5 60 150 11 124
  Agfa OptimaII 100 4.0 50 140 16 122
  Agfa Ultra 50 4.3 50 140 18 121
  Fuji Superia 100 4.0 63 125 15 121
  Kodak Kodachrome 64 4.0 63 100 16 120
  Agfa HDC 100+ 4.0 50 130 15 116
  Fuji NewSuperia 400 4.0 50 125 15 114
  Agfa HDC 400+ 4.5 50 130 18 114
  Agfa OptimaII 400 4.5 50 130 18 114
  Fuji Superia 200 4.0 50 125 13 106
  Fuji Provia 100 4.0 60 140 11 106
  Agfa HDC 200+ 4.5 50 130 14 99
  Agfa OptimaII 200 4.5 50 130 14 99
  Fuji Astia 100 4.0 55 135 10 98
  Kodak Ektachrome 100s 4.0 55 125 10 96
  Kodak Ektachrome 100sw 4.0 55 125 10 96
  Fuji NPH 400 4.0 50 100 11 92
  Fuji Superia 400 4.0 50 100 11 92
  Agfa RSX 100p 4.0 50 125 9 89
  Fuji MltiSpeed @200 4.4 55 135 10 89
  Agfa RSX 50 4.0 55 125 8 88
  Kodak Ektachrome 100vs 4.4 50 100 9 76
  Fuji MltiSpeed @400 5.2 55 135 10 76
  Kodak Ektachrome 100+ 4.4 50 100 8 73
  Kodak Kodachrome 200 6.4 50 100 16 71
  Agfa CTprecisa200 4.8 50 120 8 70
  Kodak Ektachrome 100 4.4 50 100 7 69
  Agfa CTprecisa100 4.8 50 130 7 69
  Agfa RSX 200p 4.8 50 110 8 68
  Kodak Ektachrome 200 4.8 50 125 5 61
  Fuji NHG II 800 5.0 50 100 7 61
  Fuji Superia 800 5.0 50 100 7 61
  Fuji Provia 400 6.0 40 125 5 45
  Konica 3200 @1600 9.0 40 80 7 30
  Fuji Provia 1600 10.0 40 100 7 28
  Fuji HG 1600 10.0 40 80 8 28
               
  Averages:   4.66 53.80 122.89 12.80 100
              6.2101E+01
  Composite Multipliers:   8.79 0.38 0.17 3.20 3.1046E+01
               
  To re-sort after making changes to weighting or data, highlight only the  
  data rows, then do: Data, Sort, by Column H Descending (No header row)
                




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