Fujifilm Superia Premium 400 .
Superia Premium 400 is a colour film that Fujifilm says is better suited to Japanese skin tones. And it stacks up. Better than that, skin tones across the spectrum look better shot on Superia Premium 400 than other Fujifilm stocks.
It’s a daylight-balanced film and it is a better outdoor film than it is indoors. Indoors is fine, but better with flash. If you shoot nature, landscapes or people, Superia Premium 400 is an excellent choice. It’s the closest the Fujifilm range gets to Kodak’s Portra/Ektacolor Pro line. That makes it possibly the most versatile film in the Fujifilm range. The grain is fine, contrast moderate and it offers more saturation than Portra/Ektacolor Pro 400.
Like all colour negative film, it is better to overexpose than underexpose. When underexposed, contrast is the first to go. In some scans photographers observe colour shifts but this depends on the scanner — all scanners are different.
Superia Premium has been developed for the Japanese market and is hard to source outside Japan. When it is available outside Japan it tends to sell quickly.
- + Landscapes for vivid (but not extreme) colour
- + Dusk and dawn on a tripod, up to about a minute
- + People, when you want a little more colour than Portra
- − Heavily saturated scenes — choose Velvia 50
- − Finer grain — choose Portra 160
- − A more affordable film — choose Fujifilm 400
more from their film.
In 35mm, Superia Premium 400 is fine-grained for a 400-speed colour film. Fujifilm calls it extremely fine for the speed. Its latitude favours the over side: Fujifilm says colour stays clean when overexposed. Underexposure is less forgiving: shadows go flat and need contrast added in the scan. Meter at box speed. Long exposures need no correction to 2 seconds, then 1/3 stop at 4 seconds, 2/3 at 16 and a full stop at 64.
Fujifilm's datasheet gives no push or pull guidance. A one-stop push at a standard C-41 lab is the sensible limit; expect more contrast and grain, and slight colour shifts. Don't pull; use the overexposure headroom instead. Contrast is moderate.
Store rolls cool and dark, refrigerated for the long term. Let a cold roll warm up sealed before opening: at least three hours from the fridge, six from the freezer. Load out of direct sun, process promptly, and ask for hand inspection at airports.