EXCLUSIVE: Fujifilm PRO 400H Is Now Sadly Discontinued
Fujifilm Pro 400H, we’re told, was selling very well, but a problem occured.
The end of an era is happening today as Fujifilm Pro 400H is saying goodbye to the world. Despite the declining sale of film, Fujifilm Pro 400H isn’t being discontinued because of sales numbers. The company cites in a statement to The Phoblographer that the film cannot be made anymore. This makes the story even sadder.
Before it’s too late, go pick up some Fujifilm Pro 400H from Amazon, Adorama, or eBay.
According to our sources within the company, there’s a special fourth layer component that has been very difficult for Fujifilm to get a hold of. And without the raw materials, the film can’t be made. In fact, lots of materials are very hard to get a hold of due to COVID-19. Instead of not making it for a long time and supply running dry, the company is putting it to pasture. It’s probably going to take a miracle for the material to come back. In an official statement, Fujifilm said:
“FUJIFILM PRO 400H film is a unique product that is coated with a fourth layer – requiring specialized raw materials and chemicals. As it has become increasingly difficult to procure the raw materials needed to produce PRO 400H, Fujifilm has made the difficult business decision to discontinue PRO 400H.
Right now we are focusing on supporting our customers in this transition.
Based on recent customer demand, we anticipate that we will be able to allocate 120 through the end of 2021. The production and sale of 135 will cease immediately, January 14, 2021.”
Fujifilm Pro 400H is a C-41 film that was introduced many years ago. Recently, it enjoyed rising popularity. When overexposed, it created a wonderful pastel look that’s very desirable. In fact, that’s the only way we’ve seen it shot for a very long time. The look is popular with the wedding and portrait photography crowd. And it was probably a bit of the inspiration for the current Fujifilm Classic Negative film simulation.
The image above was shot by photographer Anastasia Egonyan and featured in an interview we did with her. She used Fujifilm PRO 400H and a Contax 645. “My film of choice here was Fuji Pro 400H, and I have picked it due to its beautiful magenta tones as the skin of the model is cool with pink undertones…” she said about the film in the interview. Indeed, you’ll see from the image here that the skin tones are very pastel. You can even see the look in the eyes and the hair. You’d otherwise only get this look from overexposure and some meticulous white balancing. But even the film itself was able to retain highlights like no other. We’ve featured several other photographers who’ve shot this film, like Lester Cannon, Amy O’Boyle, Christoph Zoubek, and Valerie Rizvan. All of them loved the film.
Back in 2017, we made an effort to review every film emulsion we could. And in our review of Fujifilm Pro 400H, we stated:
“Fujifilm Pro 400H does a significantly better job when working with the 120 emulsion than it does with the 35mm emulsions. It’s got a very specific look to it that I really do like; but I still consider it to be something of a more saturated version of Kodak Portra 400. I’d honestly use this film more for dedicated event coverage personally than for portraits; but again that’s a personal feeling.”
Lots of folks have spoken about the end of film. But in truth, Fujifilm has also re-introduced ACROS not long ago. I still think that film is the absolute best teaching tool.
Fujifilm’s discontinuation notice will be posted at 9:15PM. But the company gave The Phoblographer the green light to publish at 9pm EST.