Recommendation: Fuji Provia 400X

JanaM · Apr 3, 2007

Hallo,

in the last weeks I have tested the new Fuji Provia 400X. It is a wonderful film:

Very natural colours, excellent colour reproduction. Colour saturation similar to Provia 100F. Under a 12x loupe same resolution as Provia 100F(!).

For a 400 ASA film extremely fine grain. I need the 12x loupe to see the grain, but even with this magnification ratio the grain structure is extremely fine. It looks similar to the old Sensia 100 (before the improved Sensia II was introduced in 2003). The grain of the Provia 400X is finer than the Agfa RSX 100 and the Kodachrome 64.
Exposure at 800 ASA and push processing is no problem at all. Same quality as with normal exposure. The only difference is a little bit more contrast.

The new Provia 400X is an excellent film. You get the quality of a 100 ASA film with this new Provia 400X. I get better results with this film than with my digital 10 MP SLR at 400 and 800 ASA (!).

I can highly recommend this new film.

Best regards,

Jana

Lopaka · Apr 3, 2007

Unfortunatley I still cannot get it. Just got my film order from Calumet and still selling 400F. No idea when 400X will become available.

Bob

Henning Serger · Apr 10, 2007

JanaM said:
....

Very natural colours, excellent colour reproduction. Colour saturation similar to Provia 100F. Under a 12x loupe same resolution as Provia 100F(!).

For a 400 ASA film extremely fine grain..... The grain of the Provia 400X is finer than the Agfa RSX 100 and the Kodachrome 64.
Exposure at 800 ASA and push processing is no problem at all....

The new Provia 400X is an excellent film. You get the quality of a 100 ASA film with this new Provia 400X.

I can highly recommend this new film.

Best regards,

Jana

Jana, I can confirm your test results. I'm using the Provia 400X since the beginning of March and I've shot a lot of 400X rolls.
It is an excellent film, and you are right with your statement that this film is on the same level as current 100 ASA films like Provia/Sensia concerning resolution, sharpness and colours. And the grain is really extremely fine for a 400 ASA film. Projected on a screen on 1 x 1,5 m I can't see the grain from a 2,5-3 m distance. Even with a 10x loupe on a light box it's very hard to detect the grain. Results with 800 ASA and push processing are very good, too.
This film is a great step forward and a real improvement.

Regards,
Henning

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Apr 10, 2007

Dead Link Removed, I was thinking of buying a few rolls when I could, so this is encouraging. Any upgrade to any particular film seems to be met with some suspicion these days. Thanks for posting.

Henning Serger · Apr 10, 2007

For the european photographers: Look at www.nordfoto.de, or at www.phobatec.de. They have this film in stock.

Regards,
Henning

roteague · Apr 11, 2007

I've been told that Adorama has it in stock.

copake_ham · Apr 11, 2007

roteague said:
I've been told that Adorama has it in stock.

The did but now out of stock .

Will take orders and not charge until shipped which is good since it's a bit pricey.

Dead Link Removed

Soeren · Apr 11, 2007

Which format are you guys talking about here?
Kind regards
Søren

Lee J · Apr 11, 2007

Rate it at 320 and it comes out nice too.

roteague · Apr 11, 2007

Soeren said:
Which format are you guys talking about here?
Kind regards
Søren

I believe it only comes in 35mm and 120. There has been a bit of discussion on it over at choose-film.com (a Fuji UK site).

copake_ham · Apr 12, 2007

roteague said:
I believe it only comes in 35mm and 120. There has been a bit of discussion on it over at choose-film.com (a Fuji UK site).

And (I seem to be serving as Robert's research analyst here ) the 120 is in stock at Adorama:

Dead Link Removed

reub2000 · Apr 26, 2007

I just bought a roll of this film at Central Camera. I will try out this stuff on some handheld macro work.

wirehead · Apr 26, 2007

I dono, I'm kinda spoiled by Provia 100F. I can tell a clear grain difference between the two in 35mm format, so I'm not nearly as impressed as everybody else is.

I suspect I'll love it in 6x7 format, however.

reub2000 · Apr 27, 2007

wirehead said:
I dono, I'm kinda spoiled by Provia 100F. I can tell a clear grain difference between the two in 35mm format, so I'm not nearly as impressed as everybody else is.

What exactly did you expect. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and the speed of the film obviously has a cost. If this wasn't true than we would all be using ISO 400 for everything.

Also, I assume that I should expect more muted colors than what I get with Velvia?

wirehead · Apr 27, 2007

Well, yes, reub2000. However, were there to have been an APUG in the 80s, we'd all be talking about how "If this wasn't true than we would all be using ISO 100 for everything." in the land of 25 and 50 and 64 ASA films where the 100 speed films were about as grainy as 400X.

reub2000 · Apr 27, 2007

How do you know that fuji isn't developing Provia 100X, a film with less grain than Provia 100F?

wirehead · Apr 27, 2007

They might, for any number of reasons.

However, Provia 100F (and Astia 100F and probably E100G, too) are sufficently fine-grained that you would run into other limitations before you'd notice the grain. Given the choice, if they were making a new Provia, I'd probably take a 200 speed version with the grain of the 100 speed version over a finer-grained 100 speed version, all things being equal.

I cannot tell the difference between the grain of Astia and Provia, and Astia has finer grain according to the spec sheet.

Oh, yah, and the colors are the same as Provia 100F. So, muted compared to Velvia.

reub2000 · Apr 28, 2007

There are situations where speed doesn't matter, like when using a stable tripod with a static subject. The shutter could be left open for a couple of seconds and it wouldn't really matter.

I also assume that this stuff is next to useless indoors because an 80A filter would bring it back down to ISO100.

reub2000 · May 2, 2007

Just got my first roll back. Colors are drab. I'm also wondering if this stuff is really an ISO 400 film since my slides have little shadow detail.

roteague · May 2, 2007

I just ordered several rolls. I'm planning on using it for doing some night work.

Recommendation: Fuji Provia 400X

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