Fujifilm Fujicolor PRO 400H Film Review

Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400H is a discontinued pro-grade colour negative film with excellent dynamic range and unique colour reproduction thanks to its fourth colour layer.

In this review, I’ll cover my experience with this film in 35mm and medium format, share a few samples, and discuss its technical properties.

Though discontinued, this film can still be found on the post-consumer market (most commonly in medium format). In fact, it’s now cheaper than it was when the discontinuation was announced.

One more thing for the intro: A Fujifilm rep has suggested that this film may come back at some point; you may not want to hang on his word (this was some years ago), though this can be interpreted as a sign of the company knowing how important and unique this emulsion is.

In this review: A brief history of Pro 400H. The fourth layer. Fujicolor Pro 400H colours. Grain, resolution, sharpness. Dynamic range. The future of Fujicolor Pro 400H. How much does Fujicolor Pro 400H cost, and where to buy it. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

A brief history of Pro 400H.

Fujifilm introduced Pro 400H twenty years ago, in 2024.

In the early aughts, the Japanese giant was still focused on film production and competed actively with Kodak for the market. However, its premium medium-speed emulsions fell behind Kodak’s Portra series, which had better colour reproduction.

In an attempt to regain the preference of pro photographers, Fujifilm relaunched their Pro line with Pro 400H amongst the bunch. Despite being behind Kodak for six years (Portras launched in 1998), Fuji’s new emulsions brought features that no other company, including Kodak, managed to adopt since (see below).

But as you may remember, digital photography began to revolutionize how we capture images shortly after. Facing an existential crisis, Fujifilm pivoted its business to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and digital cameras in the late 2000s. Though not completely out of the analogue photo business (Instax is still Fujifilm’s best-selling photography product, and the company continues to make slide films + Acros II), a lot has changed; the company has axed dozens of films since.

The first blow for Pro 400H came in 2013 when the company discontinued it in the 220 format along with 35mm multipacks.

The final nail was struck in 2021 when Fujifilm ended production and sales of Pro 400H (announcement). The news shocked the film photography community. Stores that carried the remainder of the stock sold out quickly and the aftermarket filled up with overpriced boxes of 35mm and 120 packs.

Pro 400H has been a favourite of many photographers, particularly portrait and wedding professionals. This has been the case since the film’s introduction, resulting in medium format packs selling better than 35mm ones. Because of that, the world’s supply in 120 is greater than in 135, which reflects the prices of those packs sold today on eBay and elsewhere.

Pro 400H is one of the few films that cost significantly more in a smaller format. While there’s no particular advantage to buying it in 135 other than novelty and camera compatibility, the film’s grain is truly unique and worth studying. I’ve shot Pro 400H in both formats, the results of which are all over this article, including extreme enlargements of 35mm scans that highlight its grain structure.

The fourth layer.

Fujicolor Pro 400H had several exclusive features, such as the adhesive tab on the 120 rolls (which makes unloading and storing exposed film easier — Kodak’s had to be licked like a stamp) and Fine ∑ Technology (the same with another discontinued great, Natura 1600), which helped control the film’s grain size.

But its most celebrated one was the fourth cyan/magenta layer:

— Fujifilm (Pro 400H datasheet).

The fourth photosensitive layer made a noticeable difference in how this film performed in mixed light. While it’s possible to colour-correct daylight-balanced colour-negative film after scanning to some degree, the green cast is often not possible to rid of completely. This is why tungsten-balanced films (such as the 800T) are still relevant.

At the same time, the magenta layer gave Pro 400H a distinct look in daylight, making green colours appear denser and cooler in most scans compared to other stocks.

This technology was also used for a cheaper stock, the Fujifilm Superia X-Tra. Like Pro 400H, X-Tra performed very well in mixed light and produced a unique daylight palette characterized by cool, deep greens and bright pinks.

Unfortunately, Fujifilm’s reliance on this technology ultimately brought the demise of the entire line of colour films that made them special.

The 2020 pandemic exacerbated supply chains, causing severe shortages of colour film and, consequentially, massive price increases. Fujifilm dealt with the crisis as it has in the past: by discontinuing products that inconvenienced its business. They started by modifying their Superia X-Tra film line to no longer include the fourth layer, and, finally, discontinuing both Pro 400H and Superia X-Tra film lines.

There’s no doubt that the additional colour layer made Pro 400H film unique but I never stopped wondering if the faith of this emulsion would’ve been different without it.

Would Fujifilm have an easier time sourcing their materials, giving this film a longer life?

It’s really hard to say. After all, deleting the feature from the X-Tra line did not stop its demise.

The Japanese company is notoriously unresponsive to community requests. Yet it continues to make slide film, which is arguably a more complicated process.

Given Fujifilm Corporation’s size, it may be a mistake to try to predict what it wants collectively. Hundreds of managers, all with opinions of their own, may even be discussing the future of this film at this very moment — or have completely forgotten about it. But we know that at least one person wants it to come back. More on that below.

Fujicolor Pro 400H colours.

The Pro 400H outsold its 135 format in 120, which is uncommon as the number of 35mm film cameras and photographers vastly outnumbers medium format shooters. Part of the reason for that could be the relatively challenging scanning process.

Whereas Kodak films enjoy wide photo lab support, Pro 400H is prone to leave a green or a pink cast unless corrected in post. Naturally, a service tasked with delivering images within an hour of receiving a roll won’t bother with fixing that. Scanning software’s defaults can also fail to adjust for the unique structure of the film; combined with modern analogue photographers’ expectations of never editing their results, the images may have been prone to underwhelming renditions.

Of course, wedding and other professional photographers had a different flow. Unafraid of fine-tuning their results, they saw the potential of this film to produce sharp, airy images that sometimes gave their exposures a painterly look while preserving accurate, pleasing skin tones.

I, too, admit to having trouble with this film in medium format. The large negatives I pulled from my Mamiya RZ67 took a while to scan on a rented time at Beau (my local photography store), and the results did not invert properly — probably because the TIFFs I got weren’t linear. Still, I attribute it to the hardware woes rather than the emulsion itself. Eventually, Daren re-scanned the film for me using his digital camera rig. I then quickly inverted it to get the results you see in this article.

My 35mm roll scans were a different story. Scanned with my PrimeFilm XAs, most results either needed few or no adjustments. Best of all, high-contrast scenes yielded fantastic colour reproduction that was even a little punchier than how I remembered. The results hung in a delicate balance between accuracy and flattering embellishment.

Sunsets and golden hour photos are a cliché, I won’t contest that. Still, getting the colours just right in this light isn’t easy. There’s a lot of contrast, which could throw off most digital sensors and the transition from warm yellow light to the cool blues of a cloudy sky trip up many films. This often calls for graduated lens filters and other fidgety solutions to fix the respective medium’s shortcomings.

Fujicolor Pro 400H, however, needed no crutches to bring out the best in complex light, like the overcast sunset in the image below. The highlights, mids, and lows came out exactly as expected, and the film’s tendency to add a touch of contrast gave my images a consistently better-than-expected look.

Grain, resolution, sharpness.

Fujifilm uses the antiquated measurement-based granularity index for its films: diffuse RMS granularity. Pro 400H’s value is 4, which theoretically makes it one of the finest-grained films on the market.

However, modern film’s grain size is highly variable. Bright areas typically have the smallest granules, whereas shadows can become grittier, and the mids are a mixed bag. This is why Kodak has long abandoned RMS in favour of the Print Grain Index (PGI). PGI is an observation-based measurement in which several participants are asked to look at enlargements of various sizes.

Despite its excellent theoretical RMS rating, most Pro 400H reviews suggest that the film looks somewhat grainy — more so than Kodak Portra 400.

While practically invisible in 120 I also found Pro 400H chunky in 35mm under certain light. It’s sharp, which is common to well-scanned C-41 films, but there’s more:

As you can see from the enlargement above, the grey cloud renders a mix of all the colours film is able to produce in evenly balanced amounts, which isn’t a surprise. Except, I can’t get over how different this grey looks from all the other colour negative films I’ve shot.

If I were to compare magnified Pro 400H to any printing technology, it would be Autochrome, a complex process invented in the early 1900s which used tiny beads to generate a perception of colour.

Dynamic range.

Based on the characteristic curves published by Fujifilm, Pro 400H has a dynamic range of about 3.15 lux-seconds, which converts to about 10 stops of dynamic range.

While not as impressive as Kodak Portra 400’s 12 stops of DR, I’ve yet to see issues with Pro 400H’s ability to render shadows and highlights simultaneously. Sure, 400H is more contrasty (which may be considered an advantage), but it also remains clean and cast-free in shadows and highlights — which, in my opinion, it does better than the Portras.

The future of Fujicolor Pro 400H.

Fujifilm is well-known for its ruthless approach to film products. It has cut dozens of brands and many expect more.

However, the company’s overall strategy doesn’t seem to be totally adversarial to the analogue medium. As mentioned above, Instax is its most popular imaging product; Fujifilm still makes slide films, and, despite no longer producing consumer colour films, the company is keeping the store shelves warm with its rebranded US-made Fujifilm 200 and Fujifilm 400 packs.

There’s more. Back in 2021, Fujifilm exec Mark Reynolds came to meet photography retailers in the UK to assure them that Fujifilm is “committed to analogue products.” At that meeting, Mark said that restarting the production of Fujifilm Pro 400H is an “ongoing conversation.”

It’s 2024. Major brands like Ricoh-Pentax are experimenting with the analogue medium again. Yet, there’s no word from Fujifilm about the Pro 400H. Perhaps it’s never coming back, or maybe it is but it takes time and effort. Given how tight-lipped Fujifilm is about its analogue products, we may never know.

Thankfully, packs of this film can still be found for sale at stores and marketplaces. Better yet, the prices for the 120 version have finally come down from the initial insane heights of the post-discontinuation period.

How much does Fujicolor Pro 400H cost, and where to buy it.

As of this writing, five packs of Fuji Pro 400H in 120 currently sell on eBay for $100-$170, which averages about $27 per roll. This isn’t far off Portra 400’s current price of $65-$100. Although in 35mm, this film can sell for $50-$100 a roll, and it’s more difficult to find.

One thing’s for certain: Fujifilm isn’t making it, and the supply will continue to dwindle as long as there is interest.

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400H film purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!