Fujichrome Velvia 50 to be available in 120, 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 4x5 quick load

[Ryuji]

In the press release dated 15 March 2007, Fujifilm announced to make Fujichrome Velvia 50 Professional available in sheet and roll sizes. They will be released on 15 April 2007 in Japan. They didn't announce to release new Velvia in 35mm format. Instead, they said they wait until the stock of current Velvia exhausts before they'll release the new Velvia 50 in 35mm.

They previously announced discontinuation of Velvia 50 due to difficulty of obtaining some ingredients but decided to revive this product after considering reactions of many enthusiastic users to the discontinuation announcement. They sought alternative sensitizing dyes and dye couplers in the development of the new Velvia 50.

 

[Rlibersky]

Hooray!!!!!!

 

[braxus]

With different dyes, does that mean the look of the film will be different?

 

[Ryuji]

That was the major complaint with the current Velvia, which doesn't look quite like the old Velvia 50. So I assume Fujifilm did the best it could in searching for the photographically closest alternative ingredients. We have to test when we get some in April, I guess.

More of a question is when it arrives in North America.

 

[braxus]

It makes me wonder if they couldnt match the dyes with the 100 speed variants, or didn't try to, then how could they with the new 50 speed? I will be interested in seeing how the new version pans out.

 

[Ryuji]

It is plausible Fujifilm tried to make the 100 version generally more usable to broaden the market, but the Velvia 50 users actually liked the quirks of Velvia not just color saturation and didn't like 100 version.

I looked at the technical bulletins of Fujifilm R&D division, but there was no article describing the R&D aspect of new Velvia 50. That would be an interesting story to know as well.

ADDENDUM

The development of Velvia 100 and Astia 100 is described in their older (I think 2004) bulletin of Fujifilm Research and Development. There, one of the major feature of the newer 100-speed version was completely new set of color couplers. They developed couplers suitable for slide films based on what they found to be successful in color paper, to improve image quality as well as image permanence. I'm more curious if Fujifilm simply reversed their technology or made a new technology that just mimics the old look. Hope the latter is the case.

 

[reub2000]

So is this like coke classic coming back on the market?

I'll have to try some. I've used the 100F and 100 film, and I love the slides.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I saw some new Velvia 50 slides at PMA. They are very saturated and fine grained, but they didn't have any old Velvia comparison slides, so I couldn't say how well they matched the old version.

 

[Ryuji]

I'm not a big slide film user but I'm willing to tolerate slight difference from old Velvia 50, as long as the new Velvia 50 is significantly more similar to the old version. They admit that the film is not identical but they tried hard. Plus, the market is so small but they are making a new film, and they are also extending the support of single 8 (Fujifilm's 8mm movie film, for which camera wasn't manufactured for more than 30 years), so we can't ask much. I don't want to discourage manufacturers by excessive criticisms at this point...

 

[Ryuji]

http://fic.fujifilm.co.jp/news/article/20070315/03/index.html

This is the link to the press release. I missed 220 format. They'll make this in 220.

Another thing I noticed is that this press release is not linked from their news release listing page but it is released from the sidebar of the film camera pages. Maybe they only want film enthusiasts (but not investors) to know it?

 

[Ryuji]

Another finding. The new Velvia is listed on this page:

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

The PDF data sheet linked therein is basically the document they created in 1999, and the PDF edition was made in 2000, and the actual PDF file linked therein was last edited in 2005 (I don't know what was changed, though...probably dropping some available sizes or something like that).

So the curves and specifications like diffuse RMS granularity of 9 did not change at least on the data sheet since the old Velvia. No new layers introduced with Velvia 100 and 100F are there. The emulsion technology is also probably (not mentioned) sigma crystal technology not uniform sigma crystal technology.

Based on the limited information I gathered so far, I don't have anything more certain than a rumor on the street, but my guess is that this new Velvia 50 is going to be fairly close to the old Velvia. It may even be the same thing and difficulty of obtaining the ingredients was just a business oriented excuse. Who knows.

 

[naturephoto1]

Well, looking forward to the new film. But, will have to wait and see if any is released here in the US as through Badger Graphic before my trip to Oregon for 3+ weeks of shooting starting on May 1 . I do have some stock of Velvia 50 (140 sheets of QL) on hand and some Velvia 100 (QL) as well as some Velvia 50 and 100 in 120 and 35mm. I know that I will make one last order for Velvia about 1 week prior to the trip and possibly a bit of Acros in QL form. Will get some Velvia 100 QL and if available some Velvia 50 II QL.

Rich

 

[sanderx1]

That was the major complaint with the current Velvia, which doesn't look quite like the old Velvia 50. So I assume Fujifilm did the best it could in searching for the photographically closest alternative ingredients. We have to test when we get some in April, I guess.

More of a question is when it arrives in North America.

I for one really like Velvia 100F which a bunch of very vocal landscape shooters hate (for whatever reason). I am yet to try velvia 100 but I'm not sure I would not like it. IMHO a whole bunch of landscape shoorters need to get a life and a bit of creativity and adaptability beyond "only ever give us more of Velvia 50".

 

[copake_ham]

Just saw this news and it's great to hear. I do hope they "run through" the supply of 35mm "old style" soon as I only have about 4 or 5 rolls of it left in my "stash"!

BTW: I have used the 100 and found it very nice (a couple of scans are in my Gallery here). But under the right light conditions etc. I'd still prefer the 50.

 

[wirehead]

I for one really like Velvia 100F which a bunch of very vocal landscape shooters hate (for whatever reason). I am yet to try velvia 100 but I'm not sure I would not like it. IMHO a whole bunch of landscape shoorters need to get a life and a bit of creativity and adaptability beyond "only ever give us more of Velvia 50".

I've never tried 100F but I am quite fond of Velvia 100. Velvia 50 doesn't have the reciprocity I need for my long exposure work and Provia 100F doesn't have the colors and contrast.

 

[dreisenberger]

FujiFilm UK has just launched a site Dead Link Removed, which is already gaining a strong following. In a thread on this site [titled: Velvia50], a representative from FujiFilm UK made the statement about the likely release dates of Velvia 50 in Europe and the USA.

The new Velvia 50 will arrive in the UK late May or early June 2007. The product is only at the final development stages in Japan, so contrary to many reports is not available in any country as yet. It will be a similar release time for the USA and most other European countries.

Product spec indicates a true replication of the original RVP emulsions’ characteristics and a slight increase in overall sharpness. We’ll be running tests at our technical centre here in the UK in March.
[endquote]