Purchasing Color Film on Trip to Korea

Greetings, all

I am going to be traveling to South Korea in a few weeks and I'll have some time to shop while I am there. I love experimenting with color film, both negative and chrome, and I am aware there are films available in Asia that are not normally sold in the US. What suggestions might you have for film I could buy there and bring back that would be hard or impossible to find here? Any thoughts at all would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I dont exactly know, but my guess is you will be able to get almost all films in korea, guess made by korea's proximity to Japan. I could be wrong. Maybe someone who had been to korea can answer better.

I have recently gotten back from S. Korea and and I have not seeing anything that you would not find here. The usual suspects from Fuji and Kodak but nothing new or different that I could discern. Once you get out of Seoul, you really need to search out for small camera shops and those are light on selection. I was in Cheongju for 10 days and found two good shops stocking great old cameras but only carried TMax 100 and 400 but no Tri-X, just as an example.

So then does the same go for Japan? My girlfriend is going there over Christmas and I was hoping she could bring me back something unique. Aren't there *any* offerings over there that we don't have in the states? It seems like I'm always hearing references to things like this; how 'bout some of the Chinese films?

Fuji has some films for the Japanese domestic market.

Superia Premium 400 (appered in 2009, features finer grain, wider latitude)
Sensia III 100 (RA3)
Trebi 100C (discontinued in June, will be out of stock around December)
T64 (it's not "unique", but still available)

interesting! Any opinions on these various films? I've written them down and will have my g/f look for them, thanks!

holmburgers said:

interesting! Any opinions on these various films?

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Speria Premium 400 appeared in the domestic market a while after Kodak released their Ektar. The most conspicuous feature of the Premium is its finer grain for its speed, I suppose. Its colar is not as crispy as the old Venus series, while it's not as natural as the Reala either. My feeling towards this new film is something like a finer grain version of Kodak's Gold 400 with Fuji's color rendition. While you may have difficulties in finding the other 4 films, you can find this Premium anywhere (local camera store, dugstore, supermarket etc.)

People here often say the Senisa III is the consumer version of the Astia. But I think they are different in many ways. I have very limited experiences with this RA3, but I think it's got even more natural and warmer tone than the Astia.

Trebi100C was another consumer version of Fuji's slides. The emulsion itself seems very similar to the Provia's, but as it uses clear film base, it looks more saturated and contrasty. As this long beloved Trebi has finally been discontinued in June, you may have difficulties in finding one in coming December.

Though I fogot to include in the previous post, Fuji's Pro400 seems another film that is only sold in the Japanese domestic market. It's Fuji's only pro-line 135 print film in Japan. It has moderate saturation and tone with its color adjusted to suit the skin tone of Asian people.


I usually shoot Kodaks, both slides and print films. So, my opinion is based on very limited experiences, but I hope it helps.

Luno

Thank you, it helps a lot. I find it very interesting that its color is optimized for Asian skin tone; I am very curious as to how this will affect its overall color rendition. :wizard:

Sincere thanks,
Arigato gozaimashita!

Update,

Well my girlfriend just returned from Japan. She got me a 3 pack of Fuji 400 Superia Premium [sic], which is 27 exposures per roll, which I find interesting, and definitely consumer. It mentions on the package (in Japanese) that it is optimized for Asian skin tones! I'm excited to do some tests and see if one can actually tell a difference.

Also, she picked up a roll of Fuji Sensia III and Fuji T64. I believe the tungsten is discontinued, but it proves that you can still find it. Dated 2013 IIRC. The Sensia III is interesting, I'll try to find the data page, but in the meantime, just wanted to share.