color

This film has great color reproduction and performance. I would give this film 5 stars except for the fact that Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400 provides similar performance for a cheaper price.

I am not a professional photographer. I just happen to be a grandson of one. I use a fully manual Canon TX SLR for my work. So far I've shot 5 rolls of this stuff. Every time there has been something wrong with the camera/me/lighting. Every time I got a usable, and sometimes, great print. This film has a huge exposure latitute (you can really screw up and still get an image) When I show these prints to others, they look at me funny and say, "This is ISO 400?" It has REALLY fine grain. And because it's ISO 400, you can use it for almost anything (I got usable prints after shooting a soccer game: My camera was set at ISO 100 and there were light leaks in the camera door). It's a great film, although I'm told the Royal Gold it replaces is still better. Pick up a pack of this and see what you get. You'll be amazed.

I have not been a huge fan of 400-speed film in the past. It could be that I'm not a professional photographer and therefore have not been using it properly (I have been using it primarily in shade and somewhat low-light situations, both in my point-and-shoot and SLR), but no matter how I've tried to use it, I've always found it to be grainier than I would have liked it to be, regardless of the brand I selected. I decided to try this film on a whim, as I knew I would be taking some pictures in a situation where the Kodak 200 Gold just wasn't going to cut it (fairly subdued light action shots, no flash allowed), and lo and behold, this film did the trick. Granted, I was using a fast 50mm lens with the f-stop generally set between 1.4 and 2.0, so I had speed on my side, but what really impressed me was that this film showed virtually no grain. I really had to look for it in some poorly exposed images. Also, the colors were very true to the setting.

The most recent role of this film I shot in the Rushmore Cave in South Dakota. As you might imagine, it was pretty dark in there, with ambient light coming from strategically placed lightbulbs here and there. I loaded this film by accident, instead intending to load a roll of 800 I had (I will review the Fuji 800 (NPZ, I believe) I used at another time - the best 800 I've ever used). However, after I discovered I loaded the wrong film I decided to give it a try, especially considering that the mid-roll rewind on my camera had failed me a few hours prior. So I went into the cave with this film loaded and the same Canon 50mm 1.4 lens I mentioned before hoping to be lucky and get something out of the pictures. It ended up being a most auspicious mistake, and those pictures are amongst my favorite of the whole trip. I took a few pictures using a flash, but I wanted to try to make the most of the ambient light. I was amazed to get back these crisp, clear photos with colors so warm and vibrant, and again, very true to life. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if the photo lab pushed the film or not. I did not ask them to. So if you try this film in a very dim/dark situation, you may want to experiment and ask your lab to push a role or two, and process a role or two as they normally would. Somewhere you will find a result which is most pleasing.

I have yet to try this film with a point-and-shoot, but I expect it would produce excellent results, as well. Finally, for those of you who like to shoot 200-speed film, Kodak's new High Definition 200 is excellent, as well. I am now using it as my general purpose film, and even favor it over Kodak's 100 Gold. When Amazon starts carrying it, I will be reviewing it, too.