Sensia is gone

Sad stuff. But there's some good news in there as well:

"...we will continue to support E6, C41, B&W and RA4 services for our customers.”

One can only hope they're telling the truth...
 
From the British Journal of Photography article, I thought this quote from Jonathan Eastland was particularly relevant/priceless:

"The gradual demise of the use of film is a great shame in my opinion, but there it is. It's the world we live in. In my humble estimate, there's a huge lack of appreciation out there for the wonderful aesthetic look that film of all types can lend to an image. Sadly, that doesn't seem to count in a world that is rushing nowhere like a lot of headless chickens."
 
One of the underdiscussed issues is with slide film. Slide was a means of "broadcasting" pictures, if you will. Roll out the slide projector and show your pics to your family or business associates. Now it's done via Flickr, emailing files, etc...
 
Sensia is one of my favourite slide films. It's a shame, and it will be sorely missed, but I guess it's a sign of the times. I can see both Kodak and Fuji cutting down their selection of fine-grain, high-quality film.

Boo.
 
I never used Sensia a whole lot, prefer Provia, but I hate to see the selection continue to dwindle. Moral of the story is to shoot lots of what you like, while you can. Especially in the E6 realm.
 
I started with Sensia because it was cheaper but I switched to Provia because the color is better.
Hopefully this decision will lead to more film shooters switching to Provia or other films and strengthening those sales. I see this as consolidation.
 
Never did like sensia. I thought it's only saving grace was that it was cheaper than provia. I hope fuji dosen't mess with velvia (again!!)
 
Sensia 100 was the amateur version of Astia. If you liked it, buy Astia. It'll cost you more for the 'professional' name, but its the same film. Years ago, Sensia was the same as Provia 100. They changed it to Astia when Provia 100F came out. I never liked Astia so I stopped using Sensia when it ceased to be the original Provia 100.
 
Slide film in general, and films like Kodachrome in particular, have been the proverbial canary in the coal mine for the last few decades. It's a tiny niche of the film market, and almost always has been. I've long marveled at how many different transparency films there were on offer for so long.

I still contend the the advent of digital film scanning started the decline for slides, which might sound funny, since for me, the film scanner was my entreé to finally being able to properly print from my slides without the rigmarole of, say, printing Ciba/Ilfochrome in a makeshift darkroom. However, this development also put negative film on equal footing, and the siren song of more-controllable dynamic range was too strong to resist: up to about 1999 (a year after getting my first film scanner, a used Nikon LS-10), about 70% of my shooting was still with slide film; it quickly fell to about 5-10%.

Between Kodak BW400NC on the b/w end, and Ektar, various flavors of Portra, and the occasional roll of Gold 200 for color, C41 is covering most of the bases for me. High quality, easy access for both purchase and processing, and also reasonably priced on both counts. That's a lot to like these days.

Besides, I have such a huge archive of slides yet to be properly edited, it's not as if my slide projector will be out of a job anytime soon.


- Barrett
 
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kdemas said:
I never used Sensia a whole lot, prefer Provia, but I hate to see the selection continue to dwindle. Moral of the story is to shoot lots of what you like, while you can. Especially in the E6 realm.
Click to expand...

You wrote exactly what I would have written.
 
I have to admit the only slide film of Fuji's I use in any great amount is Provia 400X, but these days I am more than happy with Kodak Elite Chrome -- but as already said I really hope Kodak don't go chopping that out of their catalogue too. I would expect Elite Chrome 200 to disappear at some point but I really hope Elite Chrome 100 and Elite Chrome 100 Extra Colour are safe (seeing as E100G and E100VS are still current, E200 is not.)

I must have jinxed it this morning when I was looking at Fuji UK's site thinking, "Well we still have all the Sensia speeds..." :eek:

Admittedly, most of my shooting is now done on Kodak film, although I still really like Reala in 120, and Pro 400H is wonderful in 35mm and 120.
 
I will miss Sensia 400 so much as I like it way over Provia 400x.. There will be no more decent 400 ASA slide film on the market any more..
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Sensia 100 was the amateur version of Astia. If you liked it, buy Astia. It'll cost you more for the 'professional' name, but its the same film. Years ago, Sensia was the same as Provia 100. They changed it to Astia when Provia 100F came out. I never liked Astia so I stopped using Sensia when it ceased to be the original Provia 100.
Click to expand...


I tried it years ago, and never liked it. The fact that it was Provia back then makes sense now, as I love Astia.
 
Well curiosity got the better of me and I just googled in Japanese for information on the demise of Sensia. My searching turned up nothing, nada, zip.

According to Fujifilm's Japanese language website, Sensia III 100 is still alive and well. The current slide film lineup is at the link below. The two films at the bottom of the list (Trebi 100C, CDU type II) are discontinued as indicated by the 生産終了 characters! The others are still available.

http://fujifilm.jp/personal/film/reversal/index.html

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I noticed from the Fujilab UK website a few days ago that the most first 10 most popular sale items were Sensia in its various options. That has now changed though. I used to use Sensia II but haven't shot much 35mm recently as I had gotten into 120, but have reverted from my digital SLR body back to film.

More worryingly, Mailshots, one of UKs film distributors only shows Elite Chrome 200 Extra colour as the only Kodak 35mm slide film available. I don't know what Kodak are up to. I want to try 100G but Kodak film is not readily available and Kodak prices can be up 50% or more than the equivalent Fuji in any format depending on where you buy from. I think Kodak are trying to price themselves out of the market.
 
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