[Leica] Some film questions

[Stephen Kobrin <kobrins@wharton.upenn.edu>]

I went looking for the new Ektachrome 200 that several LUGers have raved
about and all I could find in Philly is what I am told is a new
"professional" Ektachrome at about $10 a roll.  Is this it, or is there a
new version of the "consumer" Elite II 200 ASA??  The film sounds great and
I would like to try it, but I do want to make sure I am buying the right
version.  

On another tack, I just returned from a holiday trip to Vermont and while
the 60+ degree weather here today makes it hard to believe, there was about
2 1/2 feet of snow on the ground in Stowe last week.  I took my M3
cross-country skiing with Kodak's new TCN400 film (the XP-2 comparable).
Even though I used a medium yellow filter and opened up two stops -- one
for the filter and one for the snow -- I was disappointed with the lack of
surface detail in most of the negatives.  Part of the problem was that the
light was rather flat most days, but I do wonder if TCN400 (and XP-2)
respond to filters differently.  I have had great luck with similar shots
using conventional B&W film and a yellow filter.  Given the tremendous
latitude of TCN400, I wonder if compensating for the filter factor is over
compensation and thus washes out the white surface??  I should note that
with the exception of the snow surface, most of the prints (and negatives)
turned out beautifully, with a lack of grain, wonderful tones in the trees
and the sharpness one would expect from my 40 year old Summicron.  I can
pick out individual slender detailed tree trunks almost as far back a the
eye could see into the woods.

Any ideas about filters and TCN400??  Again, it could be the flat lighting.
 It snowed on and off which was great for skiing, but not so great for
contrast and details.

Steve