Fujifilm discontinuations announced: 120 Velvia 100F, B&W Art Emulsion

mooseontheloose · Dec 16, 2014

Oren Grad said:
At least in the home market, it's the film itself. The five-pack was the last available packaging for this product in 120.

In the product catalog pages on its Japanese website, Fuji does not list any 120 film in single rolls any more - all of its product listings for 120 are 5-packs.

Yes, you're right.

RattyMouse · Dec 16, 2014

Well, with this out of the way, it would be REALLY nice if Fujifilm could go a whole year without discontinuing a film. Any chance of 2015 being that year?

Sal Santamaura · Dec 16, 2014

RattyMouse said:
Well, with this out of the way, it would be REALLY nice if Fujifilm could go a whole year without discontinuing a film. Any chance of 2015 being that year?

The probability is non-zero, but likely no larger than that of my winning a lottery jackpot.

Xmas · Dec 16, 2014

RattyMouse said:
Well, with this out of the way, it would be REALLY nice if Fujifilm could go a whole year without discontinuing a film. Any chance of 2015 being that year?

Don't forget to hang your stocking up on Xmas eve and stick a tooth under the pi
llow for fairy.

benjiboy · Dec 18, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
Go Ferrania!

Ferrania will never produce a slide film that can hold a candle to Fuji slide films.

georg16nik · Dec 18, 2014

benjiboy said:
Ferrania will never produce a slide film that can hold a candle to Fuji slide films.

Your crystal ball might let you down on that one

benjiboy · Dec 18, 2014

georg16nik said:
Your crystal ball might let you down on that one

I very much doubt it, I.M.O. even Kodak with all it's vast resources never produced a range of professional slide film to rival Fuji, and I include Kodachrome.

Roger Cole · Dec 18, 2014

benjiboy said:
I very much doubt it, I.M.O. even Kodak with all it's vast resources never produced a range of professional slide film to rival Fuji, and I include Kodachrome.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. (And I don't mean Kodachrome. I mean E100G among others.)

StoneNYC · Dec 18, 2014

benjiboy said:
I very much doubt it, I.M.O. even Kodak with all it's vast resources never produced a range of professional slide film to rival Fuji, and I include Kodachrome.

You're w very brave man... Bold statement

Roger Cole said:
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. (And I don't mean Kodachrome. I mean E100G among others.)

I agree that Kodachrome had its own distinct look that was undeniably appealing to many, but the more I work with E100G the more I like the look for normal size prints and I'm sure it was good with Ilfochrome/Cibichrome printing, but honestly it scans horribly and looks really grainy using smaller formats. It's just no where near as fine grained as the fuji offerings.

So in that right, it might be that FILMferrania may not be able to produce anything quite as "good" as fuji in terms of granularity and "sharpness" and that will be hard to compete with, and prior are grain peepers with a slide film that is mostly scanned these days. So E100G was a nice film with a nice look, but it's like comparing FOMA400 to TMY-2... Both are great and give a look that is beautiful, but the majority would say if given both, that the TMY-2 is better and would be hard pressed to find another better film.

miha · Dec 18, 2014

Roger Cole said:
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. (And I don't mean Kodachrome. I mean E100G among others.)

+1 best slide film IMO.

flavio81 · Dec 18, 2014

benjiboy said:
I very much doubt it, I.M.O. even Kodak with all it's vast resources never produced a range of professional slide film to rival Fuji, and I include Kodachrome.

Are you sure? I recall in the late 90s that I could buy at least the following from Kodak:

Ektachrome 100 Plus - neutral colors, with a 80s look that is actually appealing
Ektachrome 100VS - very extra saturated film
Ektachrome 320T - quite fast tungsten film (Fuji did not have something like this !)
Ektachrome 64T

I don't recall the higher ISO offerings, though.

But for me that's a very good range...

StoneNYC · Dec 18, 2014

flavio81 said:
Are you sure? I recall in the late 90s that I could buy at least the following from Kodak:

Ektachrome 100 Plus - neutral colors, with a 80s look that is actually appealing
Ektachrome 100VS - very extra saturated film
Ektachrome 320T - quite fast tungsten film (Fuji did not have something like this !)
Ektachrome 64T

I don't recall the higher ISO offerings, though.

But for me that's a very good range...

He wasn't talking about the range of films, he was talking about the higher-quality technology that food she was able to infuse into their latest offerings, both are excellent film for different reasons but as I mentioned above, Fuji completely over took codec when it comes to fine grained transparency film.

miha · Dec 18, 2014

The latest Ektacromes were as fine grained as the best Fujichromes (RMS 8).

GarageBoy · Dec 18, 2014

The latest iteration of Kodak Ektachromes were beautiful, but Provia 400X blew me away

cmacd123 · Dec 18, 2014

It remains to be seen what the folks on the Mediterranean can accomplish. Kodak no doubt filed lots of patents, and by now those patents will be expired (and probably so will some of Fuji's patents.)

FILMFerrania.it will be able to use that information to push their design process.

And remember that a bird in the hand is better than stale film in a freezer.

StoneNYC · Dec 18, 2014

miha said:
The latest Ektacromes were as fine grained as the best Fujichromes (RMS 8).

Charts honestly don't tell you as much as real world experience, and when SCANNING transparencies, the fuji stuff is just way sharper and finer looking at a given ASA, I would even be so bold as to say that the Provia400X is almost as fine grained as E100G and DEFINITELY finer grained than EPT/EPP.

It could be a product of the way the grains/dyes clump together that allows for better scanning even if technically the grain size is the same, I don't know, and maybe E100G would print better on cibi/Ilfochrome but going forward, scanning is the option so sadly that's the comparison that is most valid for most people these days. I have no experience printing either films on Cibi so I can't comment on the grain look of those.

DREW WILEY · Dec 18, 2014

E100G was Kodak's best E6 film ever for Ciba in terms of color accuracy and dimensionally stability, though the 120 size was itself miserable
acetate base. Velvia was a pain in the butt to print, though I sometimes used it. And Fuji Astia 100F was superb. Kodachrome 25 was lovely too, but not available in anything bigger than 35mm.

Poisson Du Jour · Dec 18, 2014

E100G lost favour with Ilfochrome Classic printers here in Australia long ago. The gold standard has always been printing from Velvia 50, 100, 100F or Provia 100F -- all of these films have the necessary optimisation required for mechanical / electronic printing. Nobody has ever said or described Velvia as being a "pain in the butt to print", because it is not. Outdoor magazines published in Australia specified only Kodachrome, Velvia or Provia. Ektachrome slides were refused, as were the garish, pasty E100 and E100VS transparency films. I reviewed both these films in 2006 (publised at the time in Australian Photography), rating them 2 stars from a possible 5. Kodak could have done better. It didn't. Never could be bothered. Instead, it crapped everything.

RattyMouse · Dec 18, 2014

DREW WILEY said:
And Fuji Astia 100F was superb.

So true. If I could bring one film back..........

Roger Cole · Dec 18, 2014

miha said:
The latest Ektacromes were as fine grained as the best Fujichromes (RMS 8).

Yeah, I've never scanned my E100G or Fuji slides myself and for scans only have the, um, basic ones from Dwayne's. But I've projected them to several feet on a side and inspected the image from close up. The Kodak looks just as good as the Fuji in terms of grain. (E100G versus Provia or Astia.)

Granted, I liked Astia a bit better but when it went away I was quite happy with E100G. Definitely a different look but a great film.

Roger Cole · Dec 18, 2014

GarageBoy said:
The latest iteration of Kodak Ektachromes were beautiful, but Provia 400X blew me away

Well yeah - I've never seen a 400 slide film as good as Provia 400X. But that doesn't mean Kodak couldn't have equaled it if the market had been there and they'd cared to, nor for that matter that Ferrania can't, though they sure have their work cut out for them.

Rivaling Provia 100F will be easier. Bring back something that looks more like Astia and I'll gobble it up even if it is grainier.

Ken Nadvornick · Dec 18, 2014

benjiboy said:
Ferrania will never produce a slide film that can hold a candle to Fuji slide films.

But Ferrania may very well at some point in the not too distant future be producing slide films that ALL exceed the candle power of anything Fuji (or Kodak) is producing...

We are both old enough and wise enough to realize that there is only one instance where the use of the term "never" is valid.

Ken

Sirius Glass · Dec 18, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Charts honestly don't tell you as much as real world experience, and when SCANNING transparencies, the fuji stuff is just way sharper and finer looking at a given ASA, I would even be so bold as to say that the Provia400X is almost as fine grained as E100G and DEFINITELY finer grained than EPT/EPP.

It could be a product of the way the grains/dyes clump together that allows for better scanning even if technically the grain size is the same, I don't know, and maybe E100G would print better on cibi/Ilfochrome but going forward, scanning is the option so sadly that's the comparison that is most valid for most people these days. I have no experience printing either films on Cibi so I can't comment on the grain look of those.

I trust my eyes over a scanner when determining the quality of slide films.

benjiboy · Dec 18, 2014

flavio81 said:
Are you sure? I recall in the late 90s that I could buy at least the following from Kodak:

Ektachrome 100 Plus - neutral colors, with a 80s look that is actually appealing
Ektachrome 100VS - very extra saturated film
Ektachrome 320T - quite fast tungsten film (Fuji did not have something like this !)
Ektachrome 64T

I don't recall the higher ISO offerings, though.

But for me that's a very good range...

You don't remember Kodak High Speed Ektachrome ?

benjiboy · Dec 18, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
But Ferrania may very well at some point in the not too distant future be producing slide films that ALL exceed the candle power of anything Fuji (or Kodak) is producing...

We are both old enough and wise enough to realize that there is only one instance where the use of the term "never" is valid.

Ken

I'm almost 75 I'm old enough to know, not in my lifetime.

Fujifilm discontinuations announced: 120 Velvia 100F, B&W Art Emulsion

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