Which 400 ISO colour print film?

R

rayfoxlee

Raymondo
Local time
11:24 PM
Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
258
I am about to restock for the winter months and wonder what members favour for general work at 400 ISO? Available light (or available dark here in the UK winter months). Images are scanned with Nikon Coolscan V ED. Has anyone tried the new Fuji Pro 400H, which sounds very nice.

Thanks one and all.

Ray
 
Fuji Pro 400H is my first choice for color film.

Great in summer:
C1005-25Ahome.jpg


And great in winter:
C845-26A.jpg


And great indoors in whatever light:
C926-35A.jpg
 
I got surprisingly good results from Rite Aid-brand film, which came to about $2 a roll.

Fine grain. Colors seem very accurate. Overall, it produced some excellent results. I'll need to do some scans.
 
I have a Coolscan V and I had a little trouble scanning the one roll of Fuji 400H that I've shot. When it came out right it looked great, but sometimes it looked excessively grainy for a 400 ISO film. Maybe I under-exposed it. I've been meaning to try it again to see if I have better luck. On the other hand, I've never had trouble scanning the cheap Fuji Superia Xtra 400.

I don't have any 400H examples, but here are some examples of Superia:

518601670_2feb93beaf_o.jpg


518624779_5a152dacb0_o.jpg


Not exactly your typical UK winter scene, but it's all I've got. :)

Paul
 
If sharpness is your main concern, it is hard to beat Fuji Pro 400H.

h4zk7dZUpo4mxiq67pmRWCwo


Here's a huge crop from the centre:

h4zk7dZUpo4mwp7m2fLHAaQB


Keep in mind that this was scanned with an $89 Epson v300!
 
Well, superia 400 and 200 are the only film that can be found easily here, so I always use superia (400 or 200).
Bob
 
Fuji 400H is easily the best I've used, better by a long shot than X-tra. However, it is not sold in India, so I have begun to go the relatively economical route of Kodacolor. Its ASA 400 version is now as good as the Fuji/Kodak ASA 100 which I began to use twenty years ago.
 
I love 400H, but for cheap color print film nothing beats Superia. With patience you can get fresh 36exp rolls on ebay for little more than a buck each. Locally, any drugstore film that's made in Japan is most likely Superia (Walgreens for example).

Fuji Pro and Kodak Portra films are at least 3x as expensive...I find that variations in exposure, development, and scanning make more of a difference than the kind of film you buy. I have some nice Superia shots that I could pass off as 400H, Portra VC, or UltraColor and nobody would be the wiser.
 
I've not used fuji 400H since a single roll loaded into a holga nearly 3 years ago, so I can't say if it's any better, but my own personal favourite would be kodak portra 400 VC. Colours aren't as natural as you'd get from the fuji, but I really like how it renders for night stuff, 'specially when there's funky coloured lighting. It's what I've been packing any time I've travelled along with fuji 160C, and it's come to every festival with me in the last 2 years. If I'm going on a more civilised trip to a pub I'll usually load this if not black and white. I've none of my scans on this computer, hopefully I'll remember to attach some examples tomorrow.

It's far from cheap though, I pay 7 euro a roll in my chosen supplies shop, I think the fuji is only something like 4 euro a roll there.
 
I have been quite disappointed with Fuji Superia 400.
I got much better results using Kodak Ultramax 400.

Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom