For the seventh episode of the Film Simulation Challenge, I chose Ritchie's Fujicolor Pro 400H Film Simulation Recipe. The goal of the challenge is to use the same settings for 24 or 36 exposures, similar to shooting a roll of film. This particular film simulation recipe is intended to imitate the look of Fujicolor Pro 400H film. I “loaded” this “film” into my Fujifilm X-T2, and exposed 36 frames at the Ironbound Farm in Asbury, Hunterdon County. Not all the frames are shown.
This was my first visit to the farm and also the first time using my newly acquired Fujinon XF27mmF2.8 lens which coincidentally was delivered from KEH as we were leaving the house. I'll write more about that lens in another post. According to Ritchie, Fujicolor Pro 400H is a popular portrait photography film. I've never used this film, so I'll let Ritchie give you his overview of Fujicolor Pro 400H film.
Fujifilm Pro 400H is a color negative film that was first introduced in 2002 (originally named NPH400). It’s a popular print film that has survived the digital era, as Fujifilm continues to manufacture Pro 400H to this very day, while many other films have seen the chopping block. It’s a fine-grain (for ISO 400), natural-color, versatile film that’s especially good for weddings and portraits.
The first part of the "roll" was shot with the lens at f/8 and ISO400. While that worked well for the outdoors once we entered the farm building, I realised that my shutter speed had dropped down under 1/25s. I switched to auto-ISO but after a few shots realised that while my shutter speed was better, the ISO had jumped to ISO 12,800. I then switched the lens to full auto-mode. The images captured on the inside of the building all have a very shallow depth-of-file.
The later part of the "roll" was exposed in the beautiful outdoor space. Despite blue skies and near midday sun, the sky was full of fluffy clouds. Most of the scenes were covered in soft light with weak shadows. I don't think the lighting conditions indoors gave me a true sense of this film simulation, but I like how the outdoor shots were rendered.
I need to experiment more with this particular film simulation and perhaps try an actual roll of Fujifilm Pro 400H when my Pentax ES II returns from being repaired.
Ritchie offered some advice that I might have paid attention to had I not been so gung ho to start taking images.
The X-Trans III sensor has a lot of dynamic range, but it cannot hold up to a three-stop overexposure. I found that DR200 is a good setting in many circumstances, but in high-contrast scenes, DR400 might be a better option.
The photographs are all straight-out-of-camera JPEGs captured using my Fujifilm X-T2, Fujinon XF27mmF2.8 and Ritchie's Fujicolor Pro 400H Film Simulation recipe. I think the Fujicolor Pro 400H Film Simulation recipe produces a convincing analogue film look, delivering pleasing results. If you want to see my RAW edits, I have another blog post detailing my trip.
Other entries in this challenge series.
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 1: Kodachrome II
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 2: Velvia
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 3: Tri-X Push
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 5: Kodak Portra 400
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 6: Kodak Portra 160
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 7: Fujicolor Pro 400H
- Fujifilm Film Simulation Challenge Roll 8: Vintage Kodachrome
