Expired Film Review: Fuji Provia 100F

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Fuji Provia is always delicious when cross processed. Perhaps, like a fine wine, it gets better with age…

I purchased 15 rolls of Fuji Provia 35mm last year, my first big catch on an online auction site. I was hugely pleased as I got it at a tiny percentage of the cost of new. The one caveat, it had expired, and not just recently, six years ago!

I’d never shot Provia before, I had no idea what expect. I intended from the get-go to cross process, again something I was new at. I’d done this before with some Kodak Ektachrome 100, which (at the time I purchased it I didn’t know) just gets more contrasty, with no particular color shift.

Image my pleasure when the Provia came back heavily shifted to the blues and greens. This, doubled by the fact that I had shot at sea and so my photos were dripping in colour.

I’ve never shot new Provia before, so I can’t compare, and I’ve never shot it without cross processing, so I can’t say how that compares. What I can say is, set the ISO to 200 and the results are fantastic, even under difficult, very bright light where cross processing can bleach the highlights totally (lost a whole roll of Kodak Elite Chrome this way). So it’s pretty much bulletproof.

I’ve also more recently got hold of some of the 120 version, a little older (2005). Also brilliant!

Unlike other expired films, the grain seems very minimal too, even when assaulted with C41. I highly recommend Provia 100F especially for a xpro newbie. I also highly recommend getting it expired. It seems to age well.

Fuji Provia 100F 35mm is just the thing when you don’t want to be slapped around the face with saturation but equally don’t fancy understatement in your images. Provia is strong and saturated, but never overdone – even when cross processed. See the whole range of colour slides in our Shop.

written by adam_g2000 on 2012-03-29 #gear #review #expired-film-fuji-provia-cross-porcessed-xpro-x-pro

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msantanaphoto, philtreefrog, castiana, jaszee, niko_fuzzy, johnccc, neanderthalis, sweetyyydreams, nuhdos, kiri-girl & adi_totp.

12 Comments

kiri-girl · 2012-03-29 05:43
Definitely one of my fave films too!! And now I feel like a wine :)
nuhdos · 2012-03-29 07:41
I have one 120 roll in the fridge and some Provia of 35 mm waiting in my shopping cart and, after reading this, I can't wait to get them all and going out for a walk !
adam_g2000 · 2012-03-29 18:17
@kiri-girl then you should have one. Though not now, as it's breakfast time!
retroman71 · 2012-04-03 00:39
i just got 110 rolls for Free.... expired 2005-2007... gonna shoot a test roll.... Hope it turns out like your pics. Thanks for the post.
adam_g2000 · 2012-04-03 00:47
@retroman71 if it's good, that may be the best film score I ever heard of.
retroman71 · 2012-04-03 01:05
we will see!!! ran into a wedding photographer at the pool hall.... he went digital and it was just sitting in his freezer........ fallowed him home and he just gave me 5 sealed boxes(20 rolls each), and a half a box...... should i get regular processing, or cross on the first roll? Im new to lomo!!!
adam_g2000 · 2012-04-03 01:13
PS, Buy the guy a drink next time you see him. That new would have been hundreds of dollars worth of film.
adam_g2000 · 2012-04-03 01:20
@retroman71 I'll tell you if you send me a box! In all seriousness, it depends on what you are going to do with the negatives. If you have a scanner, then you could regular (E6) process them. This will give you slides, very high quality beautifully dimensioned images. Better than any digital camera can produce. The colour will be accurate. You could cross process them (in C41) which will give you negatives, which are easy to have printed etc. and have the effect of colour shifting, most likely towards greens and blues as you see here. If you decide you want to cross process, then it's often best to *stop down* set your camera's iso for 200 instead of 100. Some experimentation is required. You might want to think about doing half the first roll at 100 and the second half 200. This will teach you the difference. Check out my series of articles 'Back to Basics' here for invaluable learning info.
chilledvondub · 2012-04-09 20:29
good results! my shots usually tend to come out with a tungsten effect a very pink/purple tone due to the film turning green once its been x-rpo
chilledvondub · 2012-04-09 20:29
good results! my shots usually tend to come out with a tungsten effect a very pink/purple tone due to the film turning green once its been x-rpo
benjaminkanarek · 2016-08-20 10:26
In the late 80's and early 90's when I was one of the first Fashion Photographers in the world to do cross processing for the likes of L'Officiel, ELLE, Vogue, etc. I used to use an 81C filter to offset slightly the excessive blues in my images. Of course they were still there but it was highly recommended by my Lab at the time PICTO in Paris. Here are some examples of what I mean: benjaminkanarek.com/album/captive-seduction/ benjaminkanarek.com/album/nos-coups-de-coeur/ benjaminkanarek.com/album/5106/ benjaminkanarek.com/album/lete-senflamme/

These were rated at 80iso using Fujichrome 100iso in Medium Format. Way too much contrast to my taste today.

For my next up and coming shoots for ELLE, etc.. will do the contrary and shoot my 120 format Provia 100F at 200iso to reduce the contrast and get more details in the highlights. Will do my shoots with my digital camera first (Nikon 800's) and just use half a roll per change to see the outcome. Don't want to mess around with my clients.
benjaminkanarek · 2016-08-20 10:29
One more thing I forgot to mention. I always used a 81C filter when needed.