Tag: Colour Film

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
Flounder Brewing
Flounder Brewing · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Flounder Brewing
June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Flounder Brewing
Flounder Brewing · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 · FUJICOLOR PRO 400H
Flounder Brewing
Flounder Brewing · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Flounder Brewing
Bhavna · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Flounder Brewing
Home · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Flounder Brewing
Extra Sauce · June 25, 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Flounder Brewing
Flounder Brewing · 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
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Saturday 22 July 2023 · Nikon N2020 · AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 - Expired

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 35mm film was a colour negative film produced by Fujifilm. This film was popular with photographers seeking an affordable yet high-quality option for their 35mm film cameras.

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 offered a medium-speed ISO rating of 200, making it versatile enough to use in various lighting conditions. It produced vibrant, true-to-life colours with fine grain, providing sharp and detailed images. Its colour balance was optimised for daylight conditions but could perform well in mixed-lighting environments.

This film was designed for outdoor and indoor shooting scenarios, from portraits to landscapes. It was compatible with a wide range of 35mm film cameras and could be quickly processed using standard C-41 colour processing.

Fujicolor Super HQ 200 was also known for its high exposure latitude, meaning it could handle a wide range of exposure settings without sacrificing image quality. This made it an excellent choice for photographers of all levels, from beginners to professionals.

I grabbed the film box from the box of expired 35mm film I received from my friend last summer and loaded the cartridge into my X-700. With my MD Rokkor-X 35mm F2 lens attached, I drove off to a nearby area I know well and have photographed often, the Kingston Village Historic District.

It was early morning, and the sky was bright and sunny, giving me plenty of light to ensure I could expose the film at ASA 100. The film's expiration date indicated that it was about 20 years old. Had I known then what I know now about exposing expired film, I might have exposed the film at ASA 50.

When exposing each frame, I mounted the X-700 on my Manfrotto tripod to reduce camera shake. I first focused on the historic Kingston Grist Mill, later moving to the historic buildings around the Kingston Lock. My goal was to capture the light and shadow cast by the trees.

The Fujicolor Super HQ 200 was developed at Boutique Film Lab using the C-41 process, scanned at home using my Epson Perfection V600 and VueScan 9, and processed using Negative Lab Pro and Adobe Lightroom using my standard 35mm film scanning workflow. In Negative Lab Pro, I set the colour balance to "Auto-Neutral". This is the best setting, but I wanted to keep things simple. I adjusted the exposure in Adobe Lightroom by -1/3 EV. I also corrected for alignment and cropped in to remove the frame borders. I exposed the subject once or twice for some of the frames, just to be sure.

The results are better than I expected. While the colours may not be as vibrant as what might get from the unexpired film stock, the process produced usable results. This is my third time using expired Fuji film stock and my second success. The first success was using Fujichrome PROVIA 400F – Expired. The victory gave me the confidence to keep trying the expired 35mm film. At this success rate, I may give up buying and exposing fresh film stock unless the situation requires being sure I captured an image. But if that's the case, I would use my Fuji-X camera system. Digital is significantly less likely to fail1.

I got 22 usable frames from the 24-exposure cartridge. I have uploaded the ones I think are the best of the 22. I have three more cartridges from the box of expired 35mm film I received from my friend.

Name Fujicolor Super HQ 200
Format 35mm
Features vibrant, true-to-life colours with fine grain
Native ISO 200
Price FREE
Exposed ISO 100
Lab Boutique Film Lab
Process C-41
Scanner Epson Perfection V600
Software VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom
Kingston Locktender's House · Minolta XD-11 · ·
Kingston Grist Mill · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Grist Mill · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Grist Mill · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock Tollhouse · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Lincoln Highway (Route 27) · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Grist Mill
Kingston Village Historic District on the Millstone River · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock Tollhouse · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
Kingston Lock Tollhouse · Sunday 5 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 100
  1. I have six batteries for my Fuji, which can shoot at ASA 80-12,800, with a maximum shutter speed of 1⁄32000 second at 22 frames per second. I have a 64GB memory card in the two slots, and the camera is configured to save a duplicate RAW image to each card. I can safely record 2000 images before the card is filled. ?