Why is Astia so hard to get?

I think a BIG part of the problem with Astia might be marketing. Specifically, it is marketed as a 'fashion film' with 'accurate ski tones'. Indeed, the 'ast' in 'Astia' is said to stand for 'accurate skin tones'. Due to the fact that photographers who shoot people (and still shoot film) generally go for C41, they probably don't buy alot of it. Also, because it is widely considered a 'fashion film' vs an 'outdoor film' (which is what Velvia has been heavily marketed as over the years), outdoor photographers (who generally DO shoot slides if they shoot film) tend to shun it. Fuji would be wise to market it is more of a general purpose film instead. After all, this is what Sensia is marketed as, and Sensia is basically just consumer Astia. Also, there are PLENTY of people out there who would prefer a slide film without the gaudiness of Velvia or the blue cast of Provia. And Astia fits the bill quite well on both counts.

I agree with StorminMatt. Our brain have been washed for years with the concept that if you shoot landscapes, then Velvia is the way to go. The advent of digital then made any landscape picture with natural, not screaming colors, a dull one. Astia has been relegated to a corner, as a 'fashion film' with 'accurate skin tones', and for this reason, many landscape photographers don't give it a try. if we consider that nowadays fashion is shoot mainly with digital, because of a number of things that are not worth mentioning here, then the demand for Astia is going down and the film is becoming hard to find. Which is a pity, because I have find it fantastic for urban landscapes, overcast days and all the other situation in which I want to see the colors in the slide close to the ones I've seen with my eyes or I am shooting with a lot of contrast in the scene.

THEN JUST USE KODACHROME =D

Buy it online by 10 or 20 rolls. Plenty on ebay.

EASmithV said:

THEN JUST USE KODACHROME =D

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That's what I'll do. Not only did Astia turn out to be a bust for me. But Kodachrome is MUCH easier to find than Astia, at least here in Sacramento. Quite frankly, I have always found Fuji films to be a disappointment. But I just HAD to give Astia (the one Fuji film I had not yet tried) a 'fair shake' before completely writing off Fuji.

I've been using Astia for any outdoors and landscape images for 4 years now and the resutls are much better than Velvia, if one wants more natural saturation of colours.

It is by far my preferred film and approaches the best I could ever do with Kodachrome. It should be noted that Astia became a virtually new film around three years ago, when Fuji quietly changed its formulation.

It is still very good on skin tones but you can also get incredible saturation from it almost at the same level as Velvia. And the indigo skyes are now history: the blue comes out very good indeed.

I get mine from pro shops and/or ebay. Here in Australia it seems to be the best and cheapest way. Don't know about 4X5, but 120 and 135 are easy to get.

Like someone else said: it really is a marketing image problem. Fuji never invested enough in the new Astia to make folks aware of how much better it really is.

I came across the new one purely by accident: I did notice that Velvia and some of the Superia range had slightly changed over the years, so I decided to try out the new Astia as well.

I do recall the old one was bad for sky tones as the blue came out almost indigo with any slight underexposure. Not anymore: one needs to seriously underexpose to get that effect. Glorious colour saturation but not exagerated. It is just about perfect.

Strongly recommend folks give it a try. Not the 10 year old frozen roll you might still have in the freezer, I'm talking about fresh film! Anything with an expiry date of 2008 onwards should be the new one.

My local shop only carries Velvia 100 in 4X5 E-6 sheets, and they carry a limited amount of other stuff in 135 (E100G, Provia and Velvia 100 and 50 + the consumer Kodak and Fuji slide films). They're willing to order stuff for me, but it has taken three weeks to come in. I like them and do this when I have the time, but 5 days from B&H is better than 3 weeks from the local store when I'm in a rush. And I'm not too proud to buy outdated films on the cheap.

Last year I was trying to get E100VS in sheets before a trip to the desert. I called every shop in Colorado Springs and Denver looking for the stuff and nobody had this film in 4X5 period. I had to order it.

I've shot a couple boxes of Astia in quickloads. In regards to neutrals and skin tones, in my opinion Kodak's E100G and E100GX products are better with better saturation away from the neutrals. I think my Astia is just a little older than what nsouto was talking about. I don't like the way in which the older Astia renders blue sky or cool greens, but if the sky can be kept out of the image its a pretty handy slide film. The problem that I have with Astia is that tries to fill a roll where color negative does extremely well, so if I'm not tied to slide film (and I'm not) then its not my first choice. I feel that I can get better results from Pro160S, NPS or Portra where the extended dynamic range of Astia is useful.

I'd also say its a luxury to walk into a camera shop and have your choice of slide film in whatever format. That certainly is not the case here.

Just to echo an earlier comment, whether it is Astia or anything else, Freestyle Photo is fantastic and it looks like you should get your UPS ground package in two days since they ship from the LA area. If you order before noon, they ship same day. Also, you would be supporting an APUG advertiser.

mrladewig: have you tried Reed on 8th and Santa Fe? I really think I bought some 4X5 E100VS there a couple of years ago.

FWIW:

there is Astia 4X5 for sale in Australia right now in epay.
cheap_shots_au has it in stock and is a reliable supplier,
I get most of my film from him and it's always top quality.