220 Film Question

[wiltw]

NPH is great film IMO. When I developed my first roll I begin a search for more and more. I came across a seller who sold me boxes of 220 for $65 shipped. My freezer is packed. I never really liked 400h. Or Portra.

Another great film IMO is Agfa Optima. Plenty of this film in 220 in my freezer.

Yeah, $150 for 5 rolls of 220 NPH is way too much.

Btw, anyone know why so much Fujifilm is sold as NPH though it’s not? Even 400h is often sold as NPH. Even Superia.

Back when I was doing weddings on medium format, my two emulsion of choice were Fuji NPS for portraiture, and FUJI NPH for actual ceremony and reception. Loved the stuff!
But around 2004, Fuji reformulated their color neg emulsions and official dubbed them 'Pro', but kept the NPS and NPH designators. The old stuff was lick-and-stick, while the newer stuff changed to peel-and-stick roll seals. Is it the lick or the peel version that you are recalling?...it sounds like you liked the pre-eformulation emulsion, same as me.

Here are the true codes used by Fuji

NPS == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPS 160 Professional
NPC == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPC 160 Professional
NPL == Fujicolor NPL 160 Professional
NPH == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPH 400 Professional
NPZ == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPZ 800 Professional
CS == Fujicolor Superia Reala
CN == Fujicolor Superia 100
CA == Fujicolor Superia 200
CH == Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 400
CZ == Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 800
CU == Fujicolor Superia 1600
CH == Fujicolor Press 400
CZ == Fujicolor Press 800
CU == Fujicolor Press 1600
NHG II == Fujicolor NGH II 800 Professional
​

While Fuji re-uses the CH, CZ and CU codes for two emulsions each those are the only codes seemingly meaning two emulsions, but per Fuji the 2 emulsion are the same, only the film handling varies between the two lines. So it seems odd that any retailers would be calling Superia 400 under the NPH code!
In January, Fuji announced the discontinuation of the 400H, so there will no longer be an ISO 400 color neg film from them, apart from CH!

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Here are the true codes used by Fuji
NPS == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPS 160 Professional
NPC == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPC 160 Professional
NPL == Fujicolor NPL 160 Professional
NPH == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPH 400 Professional
NPZ == Fujicolor Portrait Film NPZ 800 Professional
CS == Fujicolor Superia Reala
CN == Fujicolor Superia 100
CA == Fujicolor Superia 200
CH == Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 400
CZ == Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 800
CU == Fujicolor Superia 1600
CH == Fujicolor Press 400
CZ == Fujicolor Press 800
CU == Fujicolor Press 1600
NHG II == Fujicolor NGH II 800 Professional

This is a very handy list. Thank you. Often, it takes some time to find what the codes mean.

 

[wiltw]

NPH is great film IMO. When I developed my first roll I begin a search for more and more. I came across a seller who sold me boxes of 220 for $65 shipped. My freezer is packed. I never really liked 400h. Or Portra.

Another great film IMO is Agfa Optima. Plenty of this film in 220 in my freezer.

Yeah, $150 for 5 rolls of 220 NPH is way too much.

Btw, anyone know why so much Fujifilm is sold as NPH though it’s not? Even 400h is often sold as NPH. Even Superia.

Back in 2008, someone on photo.net got a reply back from Fuji about 400H...

"Thank you for contacting Fujifilm, USA's Contact Center. Please allow us
to assist you.
NPH 400/NPZ 800 was not discontinued, however the name changed to Pro
400 H/800 Z. Pro 400 H/800 Z uses the same emulsion as NPH/NPZ so you
can expect the same great results."​

The description of the Pro films (not Fuji wording) was

"All Pro films incorporate: sigma fine grain technology, neutral color balance for improved skin tones, a fourth cyan layer for improved color rendition under fluorescent lighting and were optimized for scanning and single channel printing.[2] and have 'easy end seal' peel and stick tape on roll films."
"The 400H emulsion was originally launched as NPH400 in 2002. The bright, colorful, and fine-grained 400 speed film featured improved skin tones, much more accurate color reproduction, better shadow detail, and wider exposure latitude. It featured Fuji's new peel and stick paper backing.[10] Renamed in 2004 to Pro 400H and with new packaging to bring it into line with the new 160 line of films, but with no change to the emulsion."​

The Fuji Pro line are all touted have Sigma grain technology, which is not at all mentioned in a datasheet which I have from NPH 400 Pro with 1998 expiration. So it is somewhat questionable about 'no change to the emulsion'. But Fuji reuse of 'NPH' blurs what has happened over the decades. So I dug some more...

Back in November 2002 Shutterbug wrote: https://www.shutterbug.com/content/...onalbrfuji-reinvents-fast-color-negative-film

"When Fuji sent me a brick of their newly reformulated NPH 120, I was eager to put it through its paces. Fuji's 400 speed pro negative film has been a popular alternative for negative shooters for a while now. Fuji seems to really know how to tame the grain in negative film, and many portrait and wedding shooters have joined the Fuji fold. I've shot some NPH in the past and was curious as to whether the new film lived up to its billing.

"Fuji claims that the already bright, colorful, and supremely fine-grained 400 speed film now features much better skin tones, much more accurate color reproduction, better shadow detail, and wider exposure latitude. It all sounded good, so let's check it out....the 120 film itself features Fuji's new peel and stick paper backing.
"1. This is seriously fine-grained film! Film grain looked about equal to the pro 100 speed negative film that I was used to using.
2. Color, color, and more color. Yes, even on color negative film Fuji's famous bright and occasionally exaggerated color sense was evident.
3. Accuracy is better. While I still noticed some oversaturation of reds, pinks, and greens, shadows stayed neutral and overall the images had a very pleasant sense of color.
4. Skin tones improved. While not a portrait film in the strictest sense of the word, NPH 400 does have a much more "normal" sense of skin color than previous Fuji stocks. I would still ask my printer to warm things up a bit, but my portraits were really quite impressive.
5. Sharpness is great. High-speed color negative films tend to get soft and mushy, especially when underexposed, and tight and grainy when overexposed. Fuji's NPH stayed very consistent and razor sharp.
6. Latitude is excellent. Overexpose, underexpose--it's tough to get an unprintable shot with this film. I think pushed one f/stop this film could rival some of the "press" stocks for bulletproof exposure latitude.
​

My conclusion is that there is a:

1. pre-2002 NPH we know and love, which I still have 4 rools of 1998 expiration
2. there is a 2002 reformation NPH(2) as described in Shutterbug
3. there is a 2004 renaming as 400H but still coded NPH(2), same as #2 and not reformulated from 2002
   which is not discontinued in 2021

So Fuji did not lie, #2 was not reformulated in 2004, but it was reformulated in 2002 from the original!