Why doesn't Fuji sell Fujicolor 100 in the US?

I was at Freestylephoto today in Hollywood, and they sell Fujicolor 100 36exp for $15. Freestyle imports it themselves from Japan.
So why doesn’t Fuji sell it here themselves? There is huge demand for all c41 film.

Any sentence with both "Fuji" and "why" in it is unlikely to be answered satisfactorily .
But it is always important to remember that Fuji USA and Fuji Film are both connected, and separate, and there are a lot of other non-USA markets that Fuji Film trades into - many of which may offer higher profits.

I've always wondered the same for the European market, @Huss. For some reason Fuji always made different decisions for the Japanese market vs the rest of the world. Anyone remember that short-lived Velvia-exponent with even more stauration? Can't remember what it was called, but afaik it was only distributed (officially) in Japan. And there's the 100 speed color print film in the white carton with green letters that's also apparently a Japan-only product.

koraks said:

Anyone remember that short-lived Velvia-exponent with even more stauration?

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Fortia and Fortia SP, they were not only sold in Japan exclusively but also limited to just one production run.

halfaman said:

Fortia and Fortia SP, they were not only sold in Japan exclusively but also limited to just one production run.

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IIRC, it was a sakura (cherry blossom) season product. Late March to April or so.

MattKing said:

Any sentence with both "Fuji" and "why" in it is unlikely to be answered satisfactorily .
But it is always important to remember that Fuji USA and Fuji Film are both connected, and separate, and there are a lot of other non-USA markets that Fuji Film trades into - many of which may offer higher profits.

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Matt, a perfect explanation. It's hard to use Fuji & Film in the same sentence anymore. For example, after 20+ years of Velvia 50 in 4x5 "On again and Off again"........well you get my point.

Its not unique to the photographic film industry, to offer products optimised or branded differently by market. There are plenty of products by US manufacturers for example that are only sold in the US/NA market even when they are global companies. Global 'cars' are still a relatively recent idea and the same platform is often badged or styled slightly differently, sometimes for standards reasons, but mainly due to consumer preference or market price placing.

In Fujis case reasons may include;
- Optimised products for the home market, for example around colour or skin tone preferences/fashion, e.g. western european preference for skin to look tanned vs neutral/paler skin tones in Japan/SE Asia. Superia premium is claimed to be optimised this way.
- Stronger light makes 100 the default colour film rather than 200 for Europe
- Ability to sell similar or marginally different products at different price points, e.g. Superia Xtra 400 vs Superia premium. Latter sells for >30% more in Japan (when they offered both there) but probably doesnt cost 30% more to make
- Reduce costs by limiting SKUs for export so why offer both 100 and 200 to global market if sales will be the same
- Related to the above, there seems to be fairly high import tax for film into Japan (historically kodak was alot more expensive than fuji), so fuji is able to make higher profits there plus lower cost of distribution.

Kodak have also done the same in the past, for example Colorplus was europe only and Pro image only sold to SE Asia/Latin America. Ilford with their Pan 100/400 film and Kentmere was originally a US market product.

Kodak, to their credit, now sells Colorplus and ProImage in the US. As well as Ektar and Portra.
I think Fuji only offers 200 and Superia 400.

I’m happy to use all these films, but with the light I have more 100 ISO options would be nice.

Geeez, it's been so long since Fuji sold Fujicolor 100 here in the UsofA that I had kind forgotten about it.
I guess I never really used much of it though - always preferred Fuji Reala.

Kodak Gold 100 has been out of production for years, pro image 100 is good film, but I liked the extra punch of gold when shooting travel.

@Huss so Fuji 100 is in stock at the physical store of freestylephoto, but out of stock online. Maybe you bought out the last stash?

I was more hoping that they can bring Reala 100 back, which could be their competitive product against Kodak Ektar 100.

halfaman said:

Fortia and Fortia SP, they were not only sold in Japan exclusively but also limited to just one production run.

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i think I have 1 or 2 rolls of Fortia 35mm left. a friend picked up 2 pro packs for me many years ago when over seas. WAY over the top but great for spring blossoms, which is what it was designed for. sold 1 of the pro paks 6 years ago for $300 to some Hollywood photographer . I thought the guy was joking when he offered that

blee1996 said:

@Huss so Fuji 100 is in stock at the physical store of freestylephoto, but out of stock online. Maybe you bought out the last stash?

I was more hoping that they can bring Reala 100 back, which could be their competitive product against Kodak Ektar 100.

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Yeah, I actually saw that too! Online it says out of stock, but as the flying spaghetti monster is my witness, they have about 40 rolls on the shelf in the Hollywood location.

I didn’t buy any as I have plenty of c41 in my freezer. Cases of it. And I’m not going to pay portra 400 prices for Fujicolor 100.

koraks said:

And there's the 100 speed color print film in the white carton with green letters that's also apparently a Japan-only product.

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Fuji Industrial 100 and 400.
I don't know what the 400 was, but Industrial 100 now is sold as "Fujicolor 100"

Pro 160NS also was a Japan-only film in the last years of production (2017-2021?)

Yeah, that one; thanks @Ernst-Jan
It appears to be sold out every time I feel like giving it a try.

BradS said:

I guess I never really used much of it though - always preferred Fuji Reala.

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I really liked Fuji Reala and I miss it, the most vibrant greens I have ever seen in a negative color film. Far better than Ektar for me.

Ernst-Jan said:

Fuji Industrial 100 and 400.
I don't know what the 400 was, but Industrial 100 now is sold as "Fujicolor 100"

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Industrial 400 was identical to Superia X-tra 400.

I don't know if the current Fuji 100 is identical to their (now unavailable?) Industrial 100. I really like it, in any case. They quit making the 24 exposure rolls just this year, I bought a bunch at their Hollywood store last year for $10. It's my favorite 100 speed color C41.

The colors and saturation are very similar to their C200 and scans with the same color profiles. I used a 81A in overcast skies for fall leaves and it was incredible.

halfaman said:

I really liked Fuji Reala and I miss it, the most vibrant greens I have ever seen in a negative color film. Far better than Ektar for me.

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I agree, Reala was one of the best colour negative films around. It was a treat to work with and great with fluorescent and mixed lighting. It had the finest grain and produced beautiful prints.

I made a 20x30 inch / 50x76cm canvas print, from a 35mm Reala negative back in the early 1990s and other photographers wouldn't believe it was from 35mm. They insisted it was 120 because of the quality.

In fact, you can forget "bring back Kodachrome"............. it should be "Bring Back Reala"

foc said:

it should be "Bring Back Reala"

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QFT
Also more feasible

Reala was my go-to color 100asa print film back in the day (NPH for 400asa). I just checked my B&H order history and my last order of Reala was 10 roles for $34.85 back in 2008.

Just for laughs, I went back further in my history and saw I was getting Reala for $2.59 and NPH for $3.65 in 2005.

Chris

Where has my youth gone?

Brad Deputy said:

I don't know if the current Fuji 100 is identical to their (now unavailable?) Industrial 100. I really like it, in any case.

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Yes, they are identical. Just different name and new boxes.
About a decade ago this film was sold in Europe as Fujicolor 100 in a packaging / box similar to Fujicolor C200.

Brad Deputy said:

The colors and saturation are very similar to their C200 and scans with the same color profiles.

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Yes, Fujicolor 100, C200 (the real "Made in Japan" version), Superia X-Tra 400 and Superia Premium 400 are all very close in colour rendition.
C200 has just a bit coarser grain compared to the last Superia 200 version, which was discontinued some time ago.
Therefore my guess:
Fujicolor 100 is the former Superia 100 (when the Superia film generation was introduced).
And C200 is the former (first generation) Superia (which was later replaced by the finer grained version).
As I don't have any of the former, first generation Superia 100 and 200 anymore, I cannot check my guess .

Best regards,
Henning

Alan Edward Klein said:

Where has my youth gone?

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Same place as mine probably.

Chris

Alan Edward Klein said:

Where has my youth gone?

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Youth is wasted on the young.