13 years ago I used to shoot Fuji 160C and I have a great souvenir of it for the vivid colours, it has been discontinued and is unobtainable nowadays (at least in Europe). So last year I decided to try Fuji Pro 160 NS with my medium format view camera, an Arca Swiss old F-line 6×9 with a 6×7 Graflock back. I decided to shoot it outdoors on a trip to Slovenia and the north east of Italy.
Through this experience, I appreciated especially two aspects of this film: the nuances in highlights and the intensity of colour.
Fuji Pro 160NS provides a wide latitude (from -2 to +3 stops) and the highest tones are particularly smooth, but since the film is described in the data info as “Wide exposure latitude producing less variation in over- or under-exposed frames”, that is no surprise.
However, I would like to insist on the quality in the high lights of this film. For example in the picture of the stairs below, the surface of the building looked very uniform ant the end of the afternoon, but in the picture, you can appreciate the subtle nuances and the different textures in the column and the walls, as well as the different tones of the different kinds of stone.
This film is known also for providing “depiction of natural-looking grays“ but I found the saturation to be really vibrant, even as powerful as Kodak Ektar 100, especially in pictures taken during the dusk. I love saturated images, and that’s why I tried to choose suitable light conditions for my frames. Underexpose the picture, and work with long exposures to get more intensity in colours.
In the picture of the two windows, combining the evening light with lamplight, the saturation level is pretty high, especially in the blue tones, but not only, globally I was pleasantly surprised with the intensity of the colours.
In summary, in my opinion, the Fuji Pro 160NS combines delicate nuances in bright light and powerful saturated colours in low light. I have to say that Fuji Pro 160NS provides also an extremely fine grain, in contrast to its sister, Fuji Pro 400H. Definitely, this is one of my favourite films.
~ Ignacio
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One response to “5 Frames… With Fuji Pro 160 NS (EI 160 / 120 format / Arca-Swiss F-Line)”
I never did get this film right. 1 image from 5 rolls I look back on with satisfaction.