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My Last roll of FUJICOLOR PRO 400H

Fujifilm discontinued the Fujicolor Pro 400H film in January 2021 due to raw material shortages, ending an era for this beloved film stock.

Fujifilm announced they were discontinuing the Fujicolor Pro 400H film in January 2021, citing difficulty sourcing the raw materials required to produce the film. Fujicolor Pro 400H was a professional-grade color-negative film produced by Fujifilm. It was highly regarded for its unique colour reproduction, wide exposure latitude, and fine grain. The discontinuation marked the end of a widely appreciated film stock, particularly among professional photographers specialising in portraits and weddings.

This decision led to a surge in demand as photographers and enthusiasts sought to stock up on the remaining supply. Fortunately, I snagged two film cartridges of this film stock before eBay scalpers bought up all the stock and started charging exorbitant prices for a single roll. I exposed the first roll in October 2020. This is the last of my two rolls. I exposed it in June 2023. It sat for a month before I developed it at Boutique Film Lab, and then it sat until mid-November before I finally scanned it using VueScan and my Epson Perfection V600.

Flounder Brewing · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Pro 400H is known for its distinctive colour palette, particularly its rendition of greens and skin tones, which made it popular among portrait and wedding photographers.

This film stock handles handle varying levels of exposure well, making it forgiving for photographers in challenging lighting conditions, like inside the brewery. It performs well in natural light.

Head Brewer, Doug Duschl (in pink) · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Despite its higher ISO of 400, Pro 400H maintains a relatively fine grain structure, contributing to its ability to produce high-quality images with a smooth texture. I've used Pro 400H only twice, and I regret that this was my last roll.

Flounder Brewing — Head Brewer, Doug Duschl (in pink) · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

ORWO Wolfen NC 500

The heavy grain and muted colours disappointed.

ORWO, short for "Original Wolfen," is the trademark of ORWO Net GmbH, a company based in Wolfen. They're well-known for their black and white film products, crafted in Germany and sold under the ORWO brand.

ORWO recently introduced a color-negative film called Wolfen NC500, an ISO 400 film. This film lacks a remjet layer, which can be processed in any standard C-41 colour film processing lab and is available in 35mm canisters of 36 exposures.

I wish I'd come across James Tocchio's experience report on ORWO Wolfen NC 500 before I used it. Sadly, I stumbled upon James' post several months after I had already loaded this film stock into my Nikon N2020. James' thoughts on his ORWO Wolfen NC 500 experience closely align with mine, so I'll let his words do the talking.

... let’s look at the grain structure. It’s heavy and exaggerated, and it does tend to diminish some of the detail of the film. Color films from Kodak’s Pro line certainly render sharper and cleaner images, and even ORWO’s own Wolfen NC400 has finer grain. Recall, however, that sharpness and cleanliness are not the intended goals for Wolfen NC500. Wolfen NC500 is not a true-to-life film. Not even close.

The de-saturation is certainly a "vibe". Colors are muted across the range, but especially so in the blue tones. Believe me when I say that the skies of Florida and the waters of the Gulf are all far bluer than images from this film indicate. Plants are greener, too. For those seeking to simply document the colors of the world as it is, Kodak’s color films are much better in this regard.

I'm with James on this one. I scanned the negative myself. I thought I'd messed up somewhere when I first saw the scans. So, I went back to Vuescan to check my settings. I also tinkered with the white balance for the images I brought into Adobe Lightroom. The images were not to my liking.

But it finally hit me after I checked out some sample photographs on the Lomography website. I had had a bit of a misconception about how this film stock would turn out. Personally, I'm a fan of the fine grain and more true-to-life colours you get with the Kodak Porta 400 film stock. ORWO Wolfen NC 500 doesn't do it for me.

Lastly, ORWO’s new color film is not cheap. Pricing ranges from shop to shop, but NC500 typically costs in the area of $17 per 36 exposure roll. Compared with some other color films, ORWO is pricey.

I burnt through the whole roll in just one day. Most of the shots were taken outside at the local farmers' market on a sunny July day.

Over at Analogue.Cafe, Dimitri thinks that if you're willing to put in extra work, you can find a use for this 35mm film. ORWO Wolfen NC 500 is pricier than Kodak Portra 400 film stock, and honestly, it doesn't look as good. Why bother?

ORWO is gearing up to release a new 200-ISO color negative film called NC 200. Hopefully this will be better than ORWO Wolfen Color NC 500. I can't recommend the ORWO Wolfen Color NC 500. I have zero plans to use it again.

Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Ilford HP5 400 - Expired

Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a black and white photographic film that gained a reputation as a versatile and reliable choice for both amateur and professional photographers.

We have had very little snow this winter. One morning in early March, we had snow that lasted more than a few minutes. It was early morning, and I had no pressing meetings. I grabbed the Minolta X-700 and loaded an unlabeled black cartridge from the box of expired 35mm film. The film cartridge was inside a smaller box labelled Ilford HP5 400. I went outside for a quick walk along Salisbury Road.

I have not exposed snowy scenes with any film stock. Snow confuses the camera's exposure meter. It will most likely underexpose your shots because it can't recognise the brightness of the snow. The X-700 doesn’t have the advanced "WYSIWYG" preview features of my Fuji X-T3, so I expected that my exposure would all be shit.

Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a black and white photographic film that gained a reputation as a versatile and reliable choice for both amateur and professional photographers. This film has been a staple in the photography industry for decades, known for its fine grain, high contrast, and excellent tonal range.

The ISO rating of 400 made this film suitable for many lighting conditions, including low-light situations. It was ideal for capturing sharp, detailed images with a high level of contrast and emphasising deep blacks and bright whites. This made it particularly well-suited for portraits, street photography, and documentary-style photography.

Ilford HP5 400 was also known for its wide exposure latitude, which means it could handle a wide range of exposures without sacrificing image quality. This made it an excellent choice for photographers who needed to work quickly in changing light conditions or who wanted to experiment with different exposure settings.

The film was sold in 35mm format, one of the world’s most widely used film formats, and came in 36 exposure rolls. It was processed using standard black-and-white processing techniques and was compatible with various developers and fixers.

Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a classic black and white film that has stood the test of time. Its current iteration, HP5 Plus, continues to be famous for black-and-white photography. Its versatility, reliability, and high-quality results have made it a photographer’s favourite for decades. It remains a popular choice for those who value the timeless beauty of black-and-white photography.

To compensate for the number of years that have passed since the film expired, I overexposed this cartridge of expired Ilford HP 400. I exposed it at ASA 50 and sent it to Boutique Film Lab for development. The cartridge was listed for 36 exposure, but I got 38 usable frames from the cartridge. The negatives were scanned with VueScan 9 on my Epson Perfection V600. I added meta-data using Exif Editor and imported the images into Adobe Lightroom, where they were converted to viewable images using Negative Lab Pro. I asked my regular lab, Boutique Film Lab, to pull the film -3 during development. At least, that’s what I have in my notes. I’m not sure if they did that or not.

Name	Ilford HP5 400
Format	35mm
ASA	400
Features	High contrast. Wide exposure latitude.
Camera	Minolta X-700
Lens.	Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm F1.7
Exposed ISO	50
Price	FREE
Lab	Boutique Film Lab
Process	B+W, pull -3
Scanner	Epson Perfection V600
Software	VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom

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