Fuji Neopan ISO 400 film question

butterflydream · Dec 10, 2006

I bought two different names of Fuji films.

One is "Fuji Neopan 400 Professional" bought in Korea.
The other is "Fuji Neopan 400 Presto" bought in Japan.

Are they the same films in different names?

butterflydream · Dec 10, 2006

And how good is it with Rodinal?

Jerevan · Dec 10, 2006

In short: yes. And I've used it in Rodinal 1:50, it's grainy but I like the look.

coriana6jp · Dec 10, 2006

Its the same film. I have processed in Rodinal 1:200 semi stand somewhat grainy, but very sharo. Also it looks really really nice in Perceptol 1:1 and 1:3, alot less grain.

Hope helps.

Gary

titrisol · Dec 10, 2006

Ilfosol S gave decent results, DDX gave astonishing results though
I'd assume Xtol or Rodinal +C should work very nicely.

butterflydream · Dec 10, 2006

Just to be safe, I have bought also Fuji Super Prodol (SPD) here in Japan that Fuji recommends for this film. The pack reads it contains less than 10% Hydroquinone. I expect SPD would give finer grain according to the description. I will test both Rodinal and SPD when I return home.

I like grain. (I like lens flare, too.)

Thanks for the replies.

srs5694 · Dec 10, 2006

butterflydream said:
Just to be safe, I have bought also Fuji Super Prodol (SPD) here in Japan that Fuji recommends for this film. The pack reads it contains less than 10% Hydroquinone.

That's a peculiar statement. For comparison, D-76 contains (by the published formula) 5g of hydroquinone per liter of stock solution. That's approximately 0.5% hydroquinone at stock strength. Even ignoring the water, there are 104g of other dry ingredients in D-76 (depending on the forms used), meaning that hydroquinone accounts for about 4.6% of the dry ingredients in D-76. Some developers, such as XTOL and Rodinal, contain no hydroquinone. I'm not about to compute hydroquinone content for lots of other developers, but the claim of "less than 10% hydroquinone" doesn't make the developer unusual. It could be it's just an advertising ploy, particularly if people are concerned about hydroquinone exposure in Japan -- sort of like "contains no cholesterol" on peanut butter jars.

firecracker · Dec 10, 2006

srs5694 said:
It could be it's just an advertising ploy, particularly if people are concerned about hydroquinone exposure in Japan -- sort of like "contains no cholesterol" on peanut butter jars.

We take (people here eat) a lot of MSG stuff, though.

For your health concern, you can always use by Fuji's Korectol E vitamin C based paper developer for printing.

momonga · Dec 10, 2006

-Just to be safe, I have bought also Fuji Super Prodol (SPD) here in Japan that Fuji recommends for this film. The pack reads it contains less than 10% Hydroquinone. I expect SPD would give finer grain according to the description. I will test both Rodinal and SPD when I return home.

SPD is a PQ type film developer which Fuji recommends for normal and push processing. The pH of 9.0 is higher than standard developers like D76 or XTOL, and accordingly it is noticeably grainier (but still smoother than Rodinal). I dislike SPD: it generally gives an exaggerated s-shaped curve. And despite the PQ formula, it gives no more film speed than D76.

butterflydream · Dec 11, 2006

Thanks. It's not fine grain developer.
Sometimes it's confusing because the film and chemical maker always say fine grain to all the products.

don sigl · Dec 11, 2006

I recently ran some test on Fuji Neopan 120 in Pyrocat. Film speed was 300. The results were very nice. Very very sharp. I didn not notice any excessive grain when compared with HP5. These are inital tests only, but i was very impressed with this film.

butterflydream · Dec 13, 2006

Thanks for the further feedbacks.

I came back home and developed.
Rodinal makes much coarser grain than SPD.
But as said it's not ugly grain.

The data written on SPD (1:1 7min at 20 deg C) made a bit strong contrast.
I think I reduce a little bit time for next.

Tom Stanworth · Dec 13, 2006

titrisol said:
Ilfosol S gave decent results, DDX gave astonishing results though
I'd assume Xtol or Rodinal +C should work very nicely.

DDX gave me great speed (full box speed using ttl metering on eos 3) fine grain, but the grain was not as crisp as I like...a bit mushy somehow. Very good overall tho. I was thinking of trying it with FX39 or something similar to provide more bite to the grain which is commendably small. Overall tho I still prefer TriX.

butterflydream · Dec 13, 2006

The result:

1. SPD 1:1 6min 30sec
2. Rodinal 1:50 10min

Film scan

P C Headland · Dec 14, 2006

I just developed a roll shot at box speed in Edwal's FG7 using the 1+15 dilution - very nice results.

Ryuji · Dec 14, 2006

Neopan 400 is best with Dimezone S-ascorbate type fine grain developers, such as XTOL 1+1 and DS-10 1+1. It gives very nice S-shape curve and very usable speed of 400, good accutance and nicely fine grain. Other developers may offer some additional advantage (such contrast boost suitable for push process) but in my experience they always come with price in grain.

petecam · Dec 14, 2006

Best 400 B&W film I know of!

I've been using fuji 400 35mm and 120 for years and it's superb. One of the few 400 films that's actually 400 and also very smooth grain. I use XTOL 1:1 and D76 1:1. Both great combinations. I wish I could get fuji 400 in sheet film but I've never found it. Anyone ever seen it?

Tom Stanworth · Dec 14, 2006

FWIW I have found Neopan times are very simlar to FP4+ so a good partner for this film as you can get away with developing the two in the same tank altho they are not exactly the same. I love APX100 and TriX as both have the same dev time for me in D76.

I have run neopan thru pyrocat HD, DDX and ID11/D76 and am sure that it does not have the same cripness of grain as HP5 and TriX films but is is less conspicuous for sure. I can imagine that it is a real smoothie in Xtol, but for me it needed more bite ironically because of the larger enlargements where grain just became a bit fluffy.

Oldtimer Jay · Dec 14, 2006

Hi,

I like Neopan 400 a lot in 35 MM and have experimented with at least 10 developers for it. Of the more commonly used OTC ones, Xtol at 1:1 is excellent and seems to be the best compromise. If however you brew your own developers and don't mind its rather short shelf life, FX 15, to my eyes, is noticably better in 11X14 or bigger prints. Slightly finer grain, true 400 speed, great acutance and lovely tonality. Just my 2 cents worth.

Jay L

momonga · Dec 14, 2006

Neopan 400 Presto was once available in 4X5. I still have the now empty boxes. Unfortunately, some years ago it was discontinued. A shame.

3opkuu · Jan 27, 2007

For what it's worth.
I'm not a darkroom 'fondler' - however, a Pro friend has tested all the 400 b&w films on the market in Australia, and Neopan 400 has the clearest 'film base plus fog' of all of them.

Fuji Neopan ISO 400 film question

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