Agfa Agfacolor Vista 800

Review Date
April 8, 2006

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Reviewed by
WC8KCY , Intermediate

Price Paid
$2.00 at Local photo shop

Photography Experience
11-20 years , People

Summary
It's too bad that Agfa is officially out of the film biz--this is a bargain-priced ISO800 film with acceptable performance. I'll be scouring the bargain bins for this stuff!

Color rendition: Colors were displayed with a neutral and realistic saturation--you won't get eye-popping color with this film, but it's not bland, either. Under daylight and flash all colors were rendered acceptably, with especially nice reds and yellows. The only weakness I found with the film was that some available-light shots taken indoors under tungsten were much too yellow--you might be disappointed using it indoors without a flash.

Contrast: This film exhibited medium-high contrast--just enough to make prints look snappy. Details were well-rendered, too. .

Grain: This film had some fine grain evident, especially where rendering browns, but it's minimal considering the speed of the film and not bothersome on 4x6 prints. It's much, much better than the Kodak Max 800 I've reviewed.

Sharpness: My prints came back fairly sharp, about what you'd expect from a slightly grainy film. I found it more than acceptable.

Ease of use: The film did have good exposure latitude; my bracketed exposures were all acceptable.

Recommendation: This is a solid choice for use outdoors or with a flash when you need the speed, such as when using a zoom lens and/or using a point and shoot with a weak flash. It's many times better than the Kodak Max 800 I've tried.

Strengths
Inexpensive when found, accurate color rendition, medium-high contrast, easy to use

Weaknesses
Hard to find, not the best choice for indoor available-light use due to color balance issues.

Similar Products Used
Kodak Max 800, Ektar 1000, and Gold 1600; Agfa Vista 400

Review Date
November 28, 2003

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
Christian , Expert

Price Paid
$3.00 at 7dayshop.com

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Other

Summary
Having read a number of reviews about how ISO 800 films have improved over the last few years, I was a little disappointed after using Vista 800. The resulting prints lacked sharpness, and grain was clearly visible on standard size (15cm x 10cm) prints. I found that overexposing by +1 stop improved the image quality significantly, although grain was still visible. Any underexposure, however, results in murky, unattractive colours.

I was particularly disappointed with the results using flash photography. My Canon EOS tends to use the same shutter speed and aperture when using the built in flash no matter what the film speed. However, the photos from Vista 800 appeared more washed out and grainy than the same photos taken using Fuji or Tura 400 speed films.

My experience with Konica Centuria Super 800 was slightly better (less grain), but for the time being, I plan to revert back to using ISO 400 film for my winter photography.

Strengths
None that I can think of.

Weaknesses
Lack of sharpness.
Visible grain on 15cm x 10cm prints.
Needs to be overexposed to get reasonable results.

Similar Products Used
Konica Centuria Super 800, Fuji Superia 400, Tura Color 400, Kodak Gold 400

Customer Service
Good information on website.

Review Date
August 7, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Reviewed by
Canon EOS Rules , Casual

Price Paid
$4.00 at Walgreens

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Outdoor

Summary
(Note: This review is on Walgreens Studio 35 800 film-same film, just packaged for Walgreens in a different box.)

This is probably the best ISO 800 film there is available! It's got nonexistent grain, great color with "just-right" saturation, it's very sharp, and it's inexpensive ($3.49 for a 24-exposure roll). Why not try this wonderful film soon? I hope you will!

Strengths
inexpensive, great color, fine grain, sharp, BEST ISO 800 film!

Weaknesses
none

Similar Products Used
Kodak MAX (400 & 800), Fuji Superia (400 & 800), Agfa Vista 400

Customer Service
Never needed it

Review Date
December 30, 2002

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
Jeremy25 , Expert

Price Paid
$4.00 at local shop

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Sports

Summary
The grain of this film is horrible horrible. especially if you try to scan it. Since a few weeks there's an improved version, haven't tried that one and I probably won't either. I'll hurry back to Fuji.

Strengths
Price

Weaknesses
Grain, exposure latutude, weak colors.

Similar Products Used
Fuji 400 Press, Fuji 800 Press, Fuji Superia X-tra 400, Kodak Gold 400, Kodak Zoom 800

Customer Service
None needed

Review Date
August 8, 2001

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Reviewed by
Ken , Intermediate , from Colorado

Price Paid
$3.00 at B&H

Photography Experience
2-5 years , Outdoor

Summary
800 speed will never compare to an ISO 100 or less when look at the grain; However, given it's incredible flexability, comparatively rich saturation there is no other film except Fuji's Superia 800 that comes close. I enlarged a photo of a Tucan taken in the shade (135mm, 1/90, f6.7, no tripod) to 8x10" with results VERY close to that of most 100 speed print films. You can't go wrong with these NEW Agfa Vista films!

Strengths
-Gine grain, compared to other 400-800 speed films
-Unusually rich colors from a high speed film
-wide exposure latitude
-excellent value and performance

Weaknesses
none that I have found

Similar Products Used
Fuji Superia 400, 800
Kodak (all lines) 400, 800

Customer Service
excellent data at www.agfaphoto.com