Fuji Astia 100f - Need Advice

[rodney@theloughroad.com]

Hello Forum...someone asked me a question that I don't really know the answer to. And I hoping for a bit of a history lesson here and also a question (or two) of my own. I have about 300 sheets of 8x10 Astia 100f remaining in my freezer. And, am looking to work on a project to use the remaining sheets on.

The general question posed to me was: Is there any of this film remaining or are my 8x10 sheets the last "on the planet"? And if so, what is so special about this film?

Ok, for me the film is by far the best daylight balance transparency film I've ever used - so by my loughly standards makes it the bees knees. My two questions are: Am I right? and why/why not? and: anyone know why they stopped making it?

Thanks for your feedback/input. Much appreciated.

[Drew Wiley]

No. They're not the very last. A have a box or two of 8x10 in my freezer too. And yes, it is the bee's knees. But Astia in general never sold well compared to its
glitzier cousins, Velveeta and Provia; and chrome film in general has reduced demand since the Digital Revulsion. The average photographer didn't understand the
difference between how well a particular film prints, versus how it looks on a lightbox. I consider Astia 100F the best balanced film ever made. I used a lot of it
for making chrome sheet film dupes, but also shot it at times. Everything is market driven. Sad but true.

[Sal Santamaura]

...The average photographer didn't understand the difference between how well a particular film prints, versus how it looks on a lightbox...

I disagree with your implied premise, namely that it didn't look as good on a light box as the more saturated alternatives did. In my opinion, it was far better than Velvia and Provia in direct visual observation too, not just for printing. It was the best E-6 transparency film ever made, period.

[Drew Wiley]

This is the era of worshipping super-saturation, Sal. Even Velvia looks tame compared to what they're doing in Photoshop. Astia inventories in all formats were
getting outdated on the shelf. A simple search on the web would probably land a thousand times more hits on Velvia than Astia. Most people never understood the practical differences. They just wanted sugar and honey and jam. That's what I meant by how the chrome looks on a light box. Astia was wonderfully balanced even under tungsten illumination at relatively long exposures (appropriately filtered, of course). Fuji's CDUII was just tungsten-balanced old-style Astia, and was distinctly superior to Kodak's EDupe. Astia 100F worked even better. But yeah, them wahr the days.

[rodney@theloughroad.com]

Drew - I did a search trying to find if there was anymore Astia 100f 8x10 boxes around/available and couldn't find any - but that obviously is not to say there are not more hold outs like us about. There are after all a lot of freezers on this planet.

[Drew Wiley]

Did you check Japanese sources?

[rodney@theloughroad.com]

Did you check Japanese sources?

I called Fuji. They said there was none that they knew of...but then again they stopped making the film, if you catch my drift.

[Drew Wiley]

You called Fujifilm USA? They don't give a damn about these things, never did. You need to research Japanese stores. Try Japan Exposures or see if Daniel Stone has stumbled onto any, given his source. It was still available in 8x10 in Japan not too long ago.

[Jim Becia]

You called Fujifilm USA? They don't give a damn about these things, never did. You need to research Japanese stores. Try Japan Exposures or see if Daniel Stone has stumbled onto any, given his source. It was still available in 8x10 in Japan not too long ago.

Drew,

There has been no Astia over in Japan for at least several years. I have/had a contact there and he said inventories of it dried up a long time ago. I had him search for me. I also have 2 50 sheet boxes left in my freezer also. That they are 50 sheet boxes tells you they are quite "dated" but they seem to look fine.

Sal,

Personally, I actually find Astia "muddy" sometimes. Maybe I do not use it for the right type of image. I disagree with you that Astia looks better than Velvia on a light table, at least in my opinion. Again, I think the circumstances will dictate how the film looks. I think it all depends on the situation. I am trying to use it in maybe a more contrasty situations where it tends to work out well. However, that being said, I have not scanned many sheets yet, so in terms of scanning/printing, I will defer to those who have. Matter of fact, I have visited Rodney's gallery in Las Vegas and can attest to his Astia images being quite excellent in their appearance. Unfortunately, Astia rode off into the sunset along time ago, and I guess other chrome films will eventually follow. By the time I really got serious using large format film, it was pretty much on its way out so my experience is not as extensive with Astia as it was with Provia and Velvia 50. Fortunately, my freezer now has enough (hopefully) to last for a long time.

[Drew Wiley]

My other favorite chrome film was E100G.