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Great skin tones and colors, and the finest grain of all slide films
It was 7:14 a.m. Friday. We were working the day shift out of Photographic Magazine in the film-testing division. My partner and I had received reports that a new slide film had recently surfaced in our area of expertise. The film was going by the name Fujichrome Astia 100F, but had been known to use RAP100F as an alias. It comes in 120, 220, 4x5, 8x10, and the quickload 4x5, but we were after the 35mm version. This new slide film has been known to associate with fashion, portrait, landscape, and commercial photographers alike. It was our job to track this film down, find out all we could, and report back to our chief at Photographic. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
Our first stop was to pick up its rap sheet to see just what we were up against. After thumbing through several pages, we were able to deduce that this emulsion was very sharp, had superb color fidelity, and the finest grain of any slide film on the street.
The numbers at the bottom of the rap sheet confirmed it. Astia 100F had an RMS granularity of 7, whereas its known associate, Fujichrome Velvia 100F has an RMS 8. Velvia 100F was another case we cracked a few months back.
Now it was Astia's turn. We would leave no stone unturned until we knew everything we could about this new kid on the block and compiled a report in the magazine for evaluation. After more than 20 years on the force on the film testing beat, we had a hunch about the results, but we learned a long time ago to go by the book to insure accurate results.
We had already discovered that this Astia 100F is improved, making it tougher than its fine predecessor. New PSHC couplers (Pure, Stable & High Performance Dye-Forming Couplers) provide better image stability and the use of MCCL (Multi-Color-Correction Layer) produces a film with accurate color reproduction. The MSSC (Multi-Structured Sigma Crystal) and HTILE (Highly Tuned Inter-Layer Effect) enables color accuracy and improved skin tones. Whew!
One of Astia's MOs is to produce accurate skin tones, and a full range of tones from highlight to shadow. Our elusive subject is designed to be like its Velvia accomplice, but with less contrast, so it can pull off more shadow detail. We heard that Astia can be pushed around, up to +2 stops, and pulled in processing by 1/2 stop.
That's enough of reviewing Astia's rap sheet. It's time for us to hit the road as we conduct our investigation into the "allegedly" improved new Fujifilm film. All our leads had told us we would find what we were searching for if we would head North.
It was a warm Friday morning as we boarded the ferry to a San Juan Island, just northwest of Seattle. This was new turf for us as we hadn't conducted any film reviews in this area. We weren't sure just what to expect, but that's one of the best parts of our film investigation. My partner and I just roll with the punches, and see what happens. You never know when a great image awaits around the next corner.
The ferry docked in a very friendly community called Friday Harbor. This was the area that Astia 100F was reportedly last seen. We had no idea what to expect, but we were ready with our Nikon F5s loaded, and an arsenal of lenses.
Since the island was only 25 miles across, it did not take us long to scout out all the potential locations that Astia 100F would be hiding. We quickly apprehended Astia 100F and several rolls of evidence. My partner and I decided we better put the film through the paces so we could see if the story held true of being the finest-grain slide film available.
When we passed a small airport, we realized that a vintage plane fly-in was on display for us to test. Who squealed and told them we were coming? This was a job for the 14mm. The proud plane owners were more than cooperative when it came to posing with their pride and joy. It wasn't long before some color, design, and perspectives were all captured on the new Astia 100F emulsion.
Across from the airport was a field with several dozen artistic sculptures of all shapes and colors scattered about. Several images were shot into the sun to tell the tale of just how this film would handle the extreme exposure range. Another roll bites the dust and we were rolling again.
As we made our way along the road, we peered through the trees and were surprised to see a teepee setting on the edge of a lake. It created a perfect reflection, so we grabbed the camera and went to work. We tried a bit of everything, framing the teepee in vertical, horizontal, off-center, and then we were on our way to see where fate would take us.
We finally arrived at the other side of the island where we discovered another harbor full of colorful boats, just perfect for a panorama. In addition to capturing the nautical theme, we were able to document vacationers enjoying the good weather and assorted water sport activities. There was even a classic car display along the harbor's edge to provide a touch of nostalgia. A couple of hours in the warm sun making careful exposures of Astia 100F rolls and we were on our way back to Friday Harbor. We explored the Saturday market, thoroughly investigated Main Street, and scouted out the photogenic side streets of this harbor town.
As the sun was sinking lower in the Northern sky, we headed for a lighthouse perched on top of a hill surrounded by weathered wood rail fences leading to the sea. We quickly went to work taking advantage of the warm late-afternoon light streaming across the fields. This Astia boasted that its true ISO was 100, so we decided to play a hunch and forget bracketing our exposures. This allowed us to take even more evidence photos, but before long it was time to head out. With only a couple of rolls of film left, we made our way back to the office, disposing of any remaining evidence along the way.
Back at headquarters, the images confirmed what we already suspected. Using a very powerful loupe, we searched high and low, but could find no hint of a grain pattern. When we reviewed our bracket exposures of +/-0.7 stops, we found that all three images were more than acceptable for printing and scanning. We guess this Fuji fellow was telling the truth after all.
The color saturation and tonal range captured the scenes very accurately. This was especially noticeable in the art sculptures where we captured the sun highlights and deep shadows. The image quality of the vintage planes sure made us wish we had taken more shots.
For our final judgment, we scanned the images into the computer via a Nikon 4000ED film scanner and zoomed in on several of the images that showed fine detail. The fine grain allowed us to crop the images any way we wished without loss of image quality or increase in grain size. Wow!
Dum, de, dum, dum . . . It's no surprise that Astia was easily picked out in the lineup of slide films. Fujichrome Astia 100F Professional was found guilty as charged of having extremely fine grain, accurate color and skin tones, smooth tonal reproduction, and is sentenced to a lifetime of community service in camera bags worldwide.
If you want more information, you can call 1-800-800-FUJI or visit www.fujifilm.com.
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