Fuji Superia Xtra 400

 Before Christmas 2020 I took part in a Secret Santa organised by Em at Emulsive.org. I received a few rolls of film including a roll of Fuji Superia Xtra 400. I managed to use it in January 2021 and as we have been in lockdown for the last few months my usual lab was closed. This meant I couldn't have my roll of Fuji Superia Xtra 400 developed until recently. Thankfully they survived lockdown and are open again so I can now share a few of the images with you and share my thoughts on Fuji's consumer colour film.

When choosing colour film I freely admit to being a Kodak man, ColorPlus 200 is my film of choice as I love the nostalgic vibe it gives me. A gift of Fuji Superia 400 gave me a chance to get out of my comfort zone and see what this film is all about. The last time I used a different colour film was back in 2019 when I used three rolls of Fuji C200. I wasn't really impressed with that film as It has a magenta cast to it and try as I might I just didn't like it. Having an opportunity to shoot a higher quality Fuji film was great but I was always going to have that magenta cast in the back of my mind as I headed to my favourite classrooms, Mesnes Park and the local countryside near my home here in Wigan.

I chose to use my Nikon F801 and my AF 24-120mm D lens to shoot this film. I can get excellent reults with Kodak colour film using this set up so it was the logical choice for a comparison. As it turned out I shot this film over the course of two separate photo walks with one overcast day at the park being juxtaposed by bright blue skies and glorious winter sunshine at the local farm. (One day I will get fluffy clouds!) To be honest I was just glad to be able to enjoy some fresh air and exercise as I made my way around the locations.  

Fuji Superia Xtra surprised me when I finally got it developed, there was no obvious magenta cast to it as I had feared from previous experience. The colours were nicely saturated and each shot well exposed thanks to my F801. The staff at Max Spielmann here in Wigan did a great job as always on developing and scanning my film with Fuji equipment, I shouldn't really be surprised, but I was. I didn't try anything arty, just tried to get some decent snap shots to capture the essence of the locations on a film I haven't used before.

The sunny day in the countryside definitely saw the best overall shots, but that's not to say the Park was a bust. Pagefield Mill which rises ominously to one side of the park was wonderfully moody in the overcast conditions that reminded me of Blakes "Dark Satanic Mills" from the poem and hymn, "Jerusalem". The mill is derelict today and that's a shame. It could be developed and remain in use for another century, but the current owners are content to let it rot so they can demolish it and build houses on the land.

I am pretty pleased with the reults I got with Fuji Superia Xtra 400, I can definitely see the difference between it and the C200 that I was disappointed with. I still can't figure that out as C200 was rebadged as Agfaphoto Vista 200 and I used a heck of a lot of it whilst I could buy it from a local discount store. Fuji Superia Xtra is a decent choice of colour film when my preferred film is out of stock. Yes I still prefer Kodak, but I wont be as reticient to use Fuji film in future. Fuji Superia Xtra has put my faith back into Fuji film and I might just have to get a few rolls in stock so I can keep shooting colour film if we get another long drought from Kodak ColorPlus 200. That's if I can find it as Fuji has notoriously been in short in supply lately.

Here are a few of my photo's from this film, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them. You can see more on my Flickr account by clicking the link below.

Fuji Superia Xtra 400