FujifilmSuperia 800

Fujifilm Superia 800 is an ISO 800 color negative film for C-41 processing, sold as Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 800 in 135 rolls. Fujifilm aimed it at everyday shooting in low light and with flash, and it carries the four-layer color design of the X-TRA line [1] [2]. It was discontinued in 2016 outside Japan [2]. It is not the same as Venus 800, a related film sold in Japan [7].

Look and color

• Fujifilm’s claims. The datasheet promises “great vividness” across the spectrum, with brilliant reds, bright blues and clear yellows, plus faithful violets and greens and neutral grays from highlights to shadows [1]. That is a manufacturer’s description, not a measurement.
• Greens and reds. Reviewers single out the greens: “lush” for Casual Photophile [3], and among the most natural colors, with the reds, for Alex Luyckx [4]. Jim Grey calls the red “wonderful” but finds the colors very saturated [5].
• The reviews disagree on the cast. Casual Photophile sees a yellow cast and pale skin that looks slightly sunburned [3]. Luyckx, scanning expired film, saw a strong magenta cast, and warns that age exaggerates it [4]. Under artificial light he found an orange cast [4].
• Shadows. Some community comments on the Superia range mention greenish shadows. We found no review of this film that documents it, so treat it as a weak lead.
• Light matters. Jim Grey found the color best in diffuse, even light, and “wonky, washed-out” in strong sun on reflective subjects [5] [6]. In a later post he shot it in full sun without trouble, at small apertures [6].

Tonality

• Curve. On the datasheet’s characteristic curves the three layers run nearly parallel, with a slope of about 0.6 to 0.65 (our reading of the graph). The toe lies between log H −3.5 and −2.5, and there is no visible shoulder up to log H +0.3 [1].
• Gray card. Fujifilm says an 18% gray card should read a red (Status M) density between 0.70 and 0.90 with recommended lighting and processing [1].
• Contrast. Luyckx calls it a good medium contrast, neither dull nor excessively vivid [4]. Casual Photophile describes the saturated colors and firm contrast typical of Fuji, sometimes too much [3]. The two descriptions do not match.
• Latitude. Luyckx quotes about two stops either way [4]. Casual Photophile found it kept a little more detail in underexposed areas than Venus 800 did [3]. Fujifilm itself claims wide latitude, with vibrant colors even from underexposed negatives [1].
• Long exposures. No correction is needed from 1/4000 to 2 s. Fujifilm gives +2/3 stop at 4 s, +1 1/2 at 16 s and +2 at 64 s [1].

Grain and sharpness

Fujifilm rates grain with a diffuse RMS granularity value, measured with a 48 µm aperture at density 1.0 above minimum density. It is a different scale from Kodak’s Print Grain Index and cannot be compared with it [1].

• Reviews split. Casual Photophile finds the grain small enough not to distract [3]. Luyckx calls it pleasing and present [4]. Jim Grey calls it pronounced and disappointing on scans, though it “largely disappears” in prints [6], and his comparison with Venus 800 found the X-TRA grainier and less tolerant of underexposure [7].
• Sharpness. Fujifilm gives a resolving power of 50 lines/mm at a 1.6:1 chart contrast and 125 lines/mm at 1000:1. It publishes an MTF curve and claims improved sharpness [1].

Spectral sensitivity

The blue-sensitive layer has two humps, near 420 and 465 nm, and falls steeply to about 520 nm. The green layer peaks near 535 nm and the red layer near 630 nm. A dashed, fourth cyan-sensitive layer peaks near 515 nm, well below the green peak [1]. Wikipedia says the fourth layer was meant to improve color under fluorescent light [2]. The datasheet claims accurate color under fluorescent lighting, yet still lists correction filters [1]. The Grain Archive style is tuned from the datasheet and the reviews, not computed from these curves.

Names, status and history

• The name. The datasheet is titled Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 800 and carries the emulsion code [CZ] [1]. Casual Photophile shortens it to Superia 800 [3].
• Status. Wikipedia records that Fujifilm discontinued it in 2016 outside Japan, with final stock carrying August 2018 expiry dates [2]. Jim Grey wrote his farewell post in February 2020 [6]. Any film sold today is old stock.
• Venus 800. Fujifilm sold a similar Japan-only film called Venus 800. Wikipedia says the two share the emulsion code CZ, but Jim Grey compared the datasheets and found different tone curves [2] [7]. Casual Photophile likewise concludes they are two different stocks [3]. We found no official statement either way.
• Contradiction on dates. Wikipedia says Venus 800 ended in December 2019 [2], Casual Photophile in May 2019 [3].
• Format. The datasheet lists 135 rolls of 24 and 36 exposures with production numbers L01 and above [1].