Buying Fuji Natura 1600 film is expensive!

It's a really really good film for what it does. It has great latitude and gives great colors in low light. I've used some Superia 800 and Superia 1600 in the past and the Natura film has a bit more saturation. I rate it at ASA 1000.

I'll post a few examples when I get a chance!


Downtown Santa Cruz Fire Department - Santa Cruz, CA by kzamani, on Flickr


Downtown Santa Cruz Public Bathrooms - Santa Cruz, CA by kzamani, on Flickr

Both of these photographed with a 50mm Hexanon f/1.2 wide open @1/60th.
 
kzphoto said:
I've used some Superia 800 and Superia 1600 in the past and the Natura film has a bit more saturation.
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Sweet, but Natura 1600 and Superia 1600 are the exact same thing. Just different naming.
Officially, Fujifilm stated that it was renamed to go inline with their new line of Natura film cameras.
 
I agree with Tim Gray: pushing 400 color film to 1600 makes no sense at all... I'd use Portra800 even if I was given for free a freezer full of superia or natura1600, just because of how great portra800 is...

And pushing color film is different from pushing B&W film: it's little what color film can be pushed: with a "PUSH2" by a pro lab, you gain less than half a stop of real speed... And with that PUSH2 you're about to start to lose your blacks and degrade color...

I find for direct sun it's better to give color film a +1 from incident metering, but for soft light, N is fine...So: for fast color negative film use, when light is low, the best option is shooting portra800 with fast lenses, giving the film the incident metering at box speed (800). For great results, but only if really necessary, you can underexpose some frames at -1 (1600) and ask the best possible lab (a Kodak Q-certified Pro lab) for a PUSH2 on that roll, and you'll get the most out of those underexposed frames while the other correctly exposed frames won't suffer at all because of the push... But shooting 800 at 1600 without a carefully done push2, will give you bad colors and grain. Color film needs the light it needs: it's not as simple as B&W film...

No doubt portra800 shot at 800 or at 1600 with a push2 development give MUCH BETTER TONE than superia800&1600 & natura1600 shot in any good or bad way, because they are inferior products compared to portra800.

Any test comparing those films with the same image will show it...

Cheers,

Juan
 
Either use high ISO B&W film or go digital.
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@ Raid - The fact that I recently acquired an Epson RD-1 means I can easily shoot high ISO. I'm finding it's great for those low light situations that need a high ISO.

@ kzphoto - Thanks so much for sharing those images shot with the film I'm wanting my nephew to buy when he's in Japan. I had read somewhere that it's best at ISO 1000 or 1200 or something like that.

@ posters who suggested using Portra 800 - Thanks for opening up my eyes to using this film. I've never used it before (even though I've used plenty of Portra 400 but I think I'll try some and expose it at 800 for starters.

Thanks everyone for sharing your input!

Ellen
 
Hi Ellen,

perhaps you may have a look at German suppliers.

Fuji Superia 1600 is very easy to get in Germany. Almost all online retailers have this film in stock.
And it is quite cheap here in Germany, about 6€ (film is in general very cheap in Germany compared to other countries).

Here are some sources:

www.macodirekt.de
www.nordfoto.de
www.fotoimpex.de
www.fotomayr.de
www.allesfoto.de
www.technikdirekt.de
www.fotokoch.de
www.oehling.de

Alternatives to Superia 1600 are
- Superia X-Tra 800
- Portra 800
- Fuji Provia 400X pushed to 800 or 1600 (this film is excellent pushed one or two stops, much better than 400 color negative films).

I can't recommend Portra 400 for push processing to 1600.
Results are bad compared to Superia X-Tra 800, Portra 800 and Provia 400X.

Cheers, Jan
 
Though I use Fuji Superia 800 sometimes, I generally use a digital SLR in handheld low light or artificially lighted situations. It is just easier for me to get satisfactory results.

In better light or with a tripod, I almost always prefer using film over a digital camera.
 
Superia X-Tra 800 works quite well, and it's somewhat cheap. I bought a 20 roll pack and it has been my default film since early this year. pleasing results and when properly exposed will deliver pretty well. haven't tried pushing it though. haven't tried portra 800 so far but will give it a try as well.
 
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