Fuji Pro 400H – The Last Rolls of Film
The colourful gate marking the entrance to London’s China Town. 1/250s 150mm F8.0.
I’ve mentioned it before on this blog that the varieties of film available today pale in comparison to what was on the market twenty or thirty years ago. While we are seeing the emergence of a few new varieties from boutique manufacturers, the rolls we have left to us from the big two (Fujifilm & Kodak) are important and remain mainstays for film shooters. Therefore, it was all the sadder when I saw the news earlier this year that Fuji announced that their much-loved Pro400H will be going out of production. This is not because of a lack of demand but due to difficulties in procuring the raw ingredients required for this film’s special fourth layer.
The gilded Albert Memorial that sits across the road from the Royal Albert Hall, on the edge of Hyde Park. 1/250s 80mm F10.
The gates of Buckingham Palace, tourists are often peeking through to see the guards marching up and down. 1/250s 150mm F11.
The Victoria Memorial outside of Buckingham Palace. 1/500s 150mm F10.
This was the only professional grade colour film Fuji sold outside of Asia (the other being Pro 160 which can only be bought into the West through imports), and the only colour negative film they sold in medium format (120) which will make its loss more keenly felt. It’s greener and more magenta tones offering something quite different to what else was on the market and many people swear that it is much better for shooting portraits of people with darker skin tones than compared to Kodak’s ever popular Portra series.
The Guards Memorial at the edge of St James’s Park. 1/500s 150mm F8.0.
The Japanese Garden Island that sits in the middle of Regent’s Park. 1/60s 80mm F11.
The first arch of Tower Bridge. 1/125s 80mm F16.
Boats moored up at St Katherine’s Docks. 1/125s 80mm F16.
As you can imagine when this news was first announced there was a bit of a buying frenzy with people snapping up as much as they could. This was especially pronounced for the 35mm rolls as they went out of production and out of sale with immediate effect at the time of the announcement. Luckily even though I was late to the party, I managed to snap up five rolls at normal prices before the last few rolls rocketed up in price to about double what they were before. The expiry date isn’t until 08/22 and I haven’t decided what I want to do with them yet. I’d like to do something special with them, but nothing has come to mind yet. In an ideal world I’d take them with me on a trip to Japan, but I can’t see that happening anytime soon.
The underside of Blackfriars Bridge, you can see a small light leak in the top right hand corner. 1/4s 80mm F16.
The London Eye, one of the city’s most iconic attractions. 1/500s 80mm F10.
In the meantime, I’ve been shooting it on my Bronica SQ-A as Fuji had enough left and still being made in 120 to be able to sell it throughout 2021. The final batch has now been created with an expiry date of 06/23 so there will still be plenty of time to shoot what is left on the market. Funnily enough despite is going out of production it is currently still very cheap to buy in this format, especially when compared to the prices of Portra 400 which was gone up a lot in the UK over the last six months. Looking at the ebay stores as well, the remaining stock seems to be shifting fairly slowly. Perhaps everyone who wanted to stock up has already done so and now it is back to business as usual, a good sign that this film will remain cheap and easy to buy for a good few months yet.
Long Horned Cattle, thankfully they stayed still long enough for me to get a shot on my Bronica as well as my Nikon F100. 1/125s 150mm F16.
The yellow of the oilseed rape really pops out, however the stems appear slightly blue as the conversion software struggles with such a contrast of colours. 1/500s 150mm F5.6.
The fields turn into a mass of vibrant yellow in the spring. 1/60s 150mm F22.
I intend to shoot as much of it as I can whilst it is still available (especially while it is much cheaper than Portra 400!), and it will feature in an upcoming blog all about my new 110mm F4.5 macro lens for the Bronica SQ-A. It is difficult for me to say how much I like this stock as I haven’t shot that much of it and others to compare it against. I do like the results it gives, with great levels of detail for a film of moderate speed. Whilst, as I said before, the colour palette is more magenta and greener than Portra I still feel it renders colour in an accurate true to life way.
One of my attempts to photograph at sunset, the large dynamic range of colour negative film is well suited to this. 1/15s 150mm F8.0.
My campsite during the trip to the South coast. 1/8s 150mm F8.0.
There are some who remain hopeful that we could see a new version of this film stock produced in the near future. Fuji had originally discontinued its Acros black & white film for the very same reason – difficulties with procuring raw materials. It then re-emerged at Acros II shortly after with characteristics that were almost identical. However, these are made in partnership with long standing black & white film manufacturers Harman (responsible for the Ilford line of films). Unfortunately, there’s no one suitable to fill this role for colour negative film. Though I guess there’s no harm in being optimistic. Hopefully Fuji can find a way to bring this or a similar professional grade film back to the market, especially as the interest in analogue continues to increase.
Durdle Door - I was impressed with the fine details that the Bronica captured with this film stock. 1/250s 150mm F8.0 with Polariser.
Dorset’s Jurassic Coastline, you can see more of the film’s magenta qualities in this photo. 1/60s 80mm F16 with Polariser.
The remote Start Point Lighthouse. 1/15s 80mm F16.
What’s your experience using Fuji Pro400H? Is this a film stock you will miss? Let me know in the comments down below.
The dramatic sky I saw on the walk to the stones of Stonehenge. 1/250s 80mm F11 with Polariser.
A macro shot taken using my extension tube. I am looking forward to showing you the results from my newly acquired macro lens in an upcoming blog. 1/60s 150mm F11 with S-36 Extension Tube.
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