Fujifilm Back in Production! What is Film Photography Like in Japan in 2024?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Curious what the state of film photography is like in Japan? Want to know what the iconic film fridge at Yodobashi camera looks like today?
I visited 16 film photography stores in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara, and took pictures. In this video, I report on the interesting products found in Japan that I haven't seen before, investigate a few regional companies, and describe some interesting and exciting offerings. I'll show photos of products, shelves, storefronts, and examples of each film when possible.
Buy me a coffee?
www.buymeacoffee.com/yhansonp...
Shop Freestyle Photo through my affiliate link:
www.freestylephoto.com/?rfsn=...
Music:
'Mysterious Kyoto' ( • Japanese traditional m... ) 
Развлечения
What a time to be alive.
Moon pie film 🤩
I am flying there tomorrow for 3 weeks, the film bags are full, cameras packed and ready
A couple of notes from someone who shoots film and lives in Japan. 1) Amazon Japan is the cheapest place to source mainstream films (including Instax), especially compared to the prices you note on this video, 2) the biggest problem here with colour film is finding a good lab. Kitamura can do C41 in an hour, but the quality is variable, while E6 can take a week as it's outsourced to Fujifilm. Scanning is a complete lottery so do it yourself. But we can source amazing camera gear here in great condition.......
Absolutely true on the camera gear. I bought a Eos-3 trough eBay from Japan. That thing is Mint. And I mean Mint it had not even a scuff.
I have to agree re: scanning- I wasn't thrilled with the scans I got back from anywhere. At first I took an ego hit about all my photos being bad, but upon further inspection, the scans just had a lot of digital noise/ overly contrasty divisions between colors. I have my negatives, so I'll get them rescanned at some point!
National Photo in Harajuku does excellent lab work. Check 'em out!
In Switzerland I always used Fuji for development. Unfortunately they closed their lap down here.
I live in Tokyo and am frequently dismayed at the poor quality of film development. Some days the negatives come back fine with not much dust or scratches, and other times a negative will be horribly marred by parallel scratches, or covered with dust. It seems that technicians who run the machines don’t remember what quality control is.
I owned a one hour photo lab from 1987-1989, we also could print 3.5x5 up to 20x30 same day. And we also did E-6 processing. Good times. We used to sell Fuji 400 24 exp $3.50 a roll. These new prices blow my mind! Konica used to make great paper and film, also Agfa was pretty good as well. Although the majority of what we used was all Fuji paper and film. We did very little with Kodak, I was never a fan.
i worked in a one-hour lab from 1983-1985. we used the Noritsu QSS system. the owners were very particular about the quality and we would often remake prints if the color needed a lot of correction after initial printing, whether color or exposure. we sold a ton of Kodak of course, but we used Kodak chems and paper so we ordered directly from them.
i shot a few rolls of Fuji but i never cared all that much for their blue/green bias. Kodak while more red/yellow didnt manifest those colors under good clean daylight.
i remember the prices being astronomically LOWER than what is being discussed here! working there, i got film and processing at cost which was nice.
I love how passionate you are talking about photography.
Yippee!! Thanks for the very interesting video, and good news about Fuji getting back into film :D
Glad to hear Fuji is being made again in Japan.
Thanks for sharing your experience in Japan. Film lives!
You made my day!!! thank you for this review
The background full of instax is just 👌🏻🔥
Hehe the photographer equivalent of a dragon on a pile of treasure
Film and film and more films! I cannot stop buying every time I see them. I think I have more than need for remaining of my life!
Film is around 17$ per roll here, I wish I could just go and buy film instead of saving up some money just for film
Really cool video, Yvonne! Love the shots you got too 😍
I'm pretty confident from what I've been told by Japanese individuals that this is still fridge film that Fuji just now is reaching which is true means this might be the last of a lot of different stocks.
That's also what I've read and it makes sense given that Fuji has been super quiet about film that isn't Instax. That and restarting production of highly specialized chemical products like film is an insanely big task.
@@oh_aces yea if and when Fuji restarts proper mass production it will be announced. They did announce the return of stocks to the Japanese market, because for a short time I believe they were prioritizing overseas shipment of positive films, and Acros. That being said, that specific announcement did not specify mass production. This is as far as I can genuinely tell just be fridge film.
I want to stay optimistic but I feel like Fuji has given up on 135/120 film. Instax sells like hotcakes, not 135, and that will decide their business practice sadly.
People have been saying that for 10 years
@@frankmcgarry3155 consider how many stocks Fuji has dropped in the past 10 years and please reevaluate your statement.
False
Unbelievably useful video, thank you!
can I just say how nice your editing here is!
This is awesome! I'm already subd but didn't realize you were the one who made that reddit post last week. Glad to see a follow up of that post :)
thank you for the useful info!
Totally fun video!
Just got back from a week in Tokyo (Shinjuku, to be precise). I did visit a couple of photo stores, but my primary purpose was shooting.
I brought only one camera, my Polaroid I-2, and about 28 packs of film, mostly B&W.
Part of my pre-trip planning, I had contacted Polaroid Corp both in the US and EU, and knew they have no official presence in Japan. So my choices were either buy it from Polaroid EU and have them ship it to my hotel (both Polaroid EU and the hotel were very willing to accommodate this plan), or buy it here and carry it myself. I chose the latter.
I had an old Pelican hard case with foam inserts that fit all my film packs (and a handful of boxes for my exposed Polaroids) perfectly.
Had no problem getting the unexposed film hand inspected (a MUST for film if you’re flying) both here at San Jose CA and coming home from Japan at Narita Airport.
And my oh my did I have zero issues finding raw material to use my film packs on! I liked that I had limited exposures, and the Polaroid film did not disappoint. So happy I did not bring my 50 MP dSLR with me!
I’m planning on returning and seeing and shooting more of that amazing country! I’ll do the same on my next trip: the I-2 only and bring my film.
A great, but far too short, trip!
Awesome report! Thanks for this =)
Great update on Film in Japan! Yeah, it would still be dangerous for me to visit some of those stores! I do have plans to put in an order with Freestyle soon! Will use your link!
Ayeee much appreciated! Let me know if you grab any of the new flic stuff!
@@YvonneHansonPhotographythanks for the update i do both film and digital.
She said they're limiting purchases so you should be okay 😄
Good video. I’ll be in japan this time(ish) next year.
New subscriber.🎉
Don't know how this showed up in my recs and I'm not a photographer, but I enjoyed this because I love how Japan is so analog/retro. I've heard that CDs are still popular and for sale everywhere and that they still use fax machines. Is this true? Hope you one day do a tour of an electronics store and show old electronics like CRT computers for sale!
Lol. They just discontinued another film. This vid aged really well and it's only been three weeks.
This is super helpful as I am looking to go to Japan in September. It's great to see that there are so many options including from Fujifilm themselves. Candido is a new company that emerged last year but they are just a cheaper version of CineStill repackaging cinefilm.
I'm very glad to see Ilford films are as cheap or cheaper than the prices we currently have here in the UK! Looks like shooting film in Japan won't be as unaffordable as I'd feared.
This is fantastic news; thanks for sharing, Yvonne! I'm super excited to see Fujifilm actually acting on their unofficial promise. I think I saw Superia 200 back in stock at Kerrisdale; it seems to be a Fuji-made (not Kodak) film.
Appreciate the mention too 😅
Ooooo remind me to plan a trip to kerrisdale in the near future!!
WOW I want a box of every single film.
By the way, great hair!
Really enjoyed this video and makes me really want to go to Japan again! Can you please do a video reviewing the films you bought?
Will do!
Thanks for doing the research on this one there gumshoe.
I remember the time when I could buy my roll of film for about a dollar... The prices today are just too high 😢
NO WAY I LOVE YOUR BACKGROUND ITS SO COOL
Cool review, go Canada ! and Japan!
Thank you for this video! Going to japan soon and this is a lot of help! Would you mind sharing the store where you bought the marix film?
I'm so glad I came across this video, thanks for making this Yvonne! I'm going to Japan in may, and I had some reservations about bringing film through the airport. It's great to know I can just find some film there, that list of stores is perfect!
BTW what has your experience been like flying from Canada to Japan regarding hand checks for film?
They were keen to hand check it both ways! Coming back from japan, they had to take a photo with the film camera to prove it was a camera, but otherwise no issues.
Amazing, thanks for sharing that! Maybe I'll just bring film along then. :)@@YvonneHansonPhotography
OH YE, I needed some good news today.
Wow film is WILDLY more expensive than when I lived there in 2020
Lived in Japan for a couple of years back in 2012-2014, used to love going to Yodabashi camera. I bought my Nikon F5 there. Also Velvia 100 is definitely one of my favorite film stocks of all time. Hopefully the resurgence continues.
Those deer pictures are sick!
Aye thank you! I might have burned half a roll on deer.....but it was worth it haha
It's been ages since I shot both true Fuji film, or 35mm for that matter. This is tempting me to do both. Last time I shot film, as a matter of fact, Fuji was still making their own film, Superia still had the fourth color layer and they were still selling their motion picture stocks.
Holy shit, looks like my reading of the tea leaves was correct!
Rejoice!!
Thanks for the look at some of my favorite places! I live in Japan and can say FujiFilm is not back in production. What you are seeing is the last of the warehouse supplies being sold off. I have a friend who has owned a camera shop for over 40 years and he is no longer able to order any Fuji emulsions and has switched to Kodak. The bigger stores in Tokyo and Osaka are getting priority on the Fujifilm leftovers, and this drives the limit of usually one roll per type. My local Kitamura Camera finally ran out and said they will only be stocking Kodak in the future. To me Oriental BW is a beautiful film and I've been shooting it for years. Harman Photo is also producing the FujiFilm ACROS II in the UK. I was in the Yodobashi Shinjuku film store last month and the selection was pitiful. I bought some Oriental 100 and 400 for a decent price but everything else was crazy expensive. I've tried the Showa and a few of the other emulsions you showed but the results were not worth the price of the film. FujiFilm is currently only manufacturing INSTAX films and the selection seems to be making a comeback here.
This is so sad to hear! I hope I have not been bamboozled by the 2026 expiry dates on the boxes I found. I guess we'll know pretty quick once the stock dries up though, it would be a shame since it was exciting news!
The Expiration dates are accurate, don't worry. They had film on ice when they stopped producing so when it was pulled out and spooled it was just like new. I have a bunch of it myself. A few recent boxes are actually 2027. You can find fresh FujiFilm in the USA but in three packs only and both the ISO 200 and 400 appear to be actually Kodak emulsions.@@YvonneHansonPhotography
@@RFStarkJapan You are quite correct. The 200 is Gold and the 400 is Ultramax. I get on very well with the guys at the lab where I get my film developed and they told me this. I've also done a comparison of the Ultramax (Lomo 400 is also Ultramax) and so called Fuji 400 and they are the same.
Of course Lomography will never admit to repackaging Kodak films! Given the small number of actual producers, it's no surprise so much rebranding is going on. At least we are getting film on the shelves and keeping the art alive!@@Tinderchaff
Fun video. I mostly stick with Superia Premium for 35mm so i was glad they restarted sales in june. When they announced the pause in sales earlier i was sure they were done.
Cool
Yvonne, great neat video. i cant fathom those prices! i like the comments about the Instax. the best ive found is a 2-pack for $15 (of course plus shipping or taxes)...
i guess my best bet would be to buy film in the states before travelling abroad.
thanks
vibe 100 seems cool to see ! never heard of that one
Yvonne, like very much your review of film shops/film in Japan. Last visited in 2019 and did not think of loading up on film. Most curious whether Fuji Provia is available (but still $30/36 exp roll). Do film stores in Japan develop color reversal film AND still mount pictures in the cardboard stock for slide projectors? Hard to find any store in U.S. that mounts color slides. Info??
Yvonne being an absolute Best Comrade™ by giving a heads up on where to get Instax Mini Film in Japan for cheap 💪🏽🐻💪🏽😁
🫡📸 proud to fulfill my duty!
Now I can’t get the “Bii-Ku, Bi-Ku, Bi-Ku, Bi-Ku Ka-Me-Ra” song out of my head.
I saw Superia Xtra on the shelves. is that fresh film being produced or just older film that they have a lot of stock of
When I asked a Fuji rep in the US about Fuji just being repackaged Kodak they laughed. While it is being made on the Kodak production line, it is implied that the chemistry is Fuji's.
I am a huge fan of Film Ferrania and can't wait for their return of C41. Even if it is a repackaged Solaris, is won't be the same, so I think of it as a new film when it comes out.
Also, have you done a story on the locations in the US that a have strong supply of film? Thanks for the analog update, analog is what we live for in Dallas.
TheDon speak! 😉😎
Currently most camera shops in countries around the world do not have any provia or velvia in stock, so this gives me hope. I saw a post on Reddit from a guy saying no shops in France have any, and every shop I've visited on the west coast of Canada is out of stock too
That film sellers are able to get $30/roll is what brought Fuji back to stores and shows how hot film photography has become in Nippon. .
Really hoping that provia and Velvia 120 film comes back. I loved their colors when I shot them.
They just killed off Superia 400 :( Things looked so hopeful until now.
Hi, just saw your tier list and quite interested in your top film roll picks (film washi and it's similar brand roll - luminar,santa, etc)
by any chance have you seen if there are of the washi/variant available? any reco stores that has any of them? will be going to Japan next week and excited to hunt some films and lens lolz
awesome content, instant sub here!
I didn't see any washi available anywhere! But you might be able to find a different reskinned version of aero color IV from reflex labs!
candido is also respooled kodak motoinpicture film with removed remjet layer. like cinestill is.
Great video !! SO interesting and helpful !
(I have a question off topic, what's the brand of your beautiful shirt/jacket? :D)
Aye thanks for watching! I got it from a vintage store in Japan, the tag says Studio X! Not sure how recently it was made, but it's cool right 😎
I'll check it out online but yeah it's such a cool cloth ! Great catch :D@@YvonneHansonPhotography
The Instax thing is real! Amazon Japan only lets you order one box at a time, and you cannot order another for eight days. I use a Nons Film Back for my Hasselblad and wanted a bunch of Monochrome square type. The price is half of what it is in the States! I'm really excited to hear they have increased production once again. Thank you for clearing up this mystery for me.
I just got an instax square! I wish I'd known about the amazon hack before I went, I could have ordered a few packs of square film to my friend's house! haha, next time.
Hey Yvonne!
Thanks for the report. Some great info here. I think the news about Fuji producing colors negative in Japan is huge, maybe not for this year (in the west) but it has great implications for balancing things out in the next year or so. It's great to see how far things have come since 2021 with regard to color film, but it's still kind of a deal hunter's market in my neck of the woods right now. I mainly deal with Freestyle, and they'll have these sales that make all the difference. I've had a hankering to shoot some Gold 200 lately, can't find 35mm for crap, but I just grabbed a 5 pack of 120 for $35. Today I saw their 5-packs of ProImage100 were on sale for under $40. That's bangin' in this economy. I hope it lasts until payday! I think if Fuji re-enters the Western market at a reasonable price range, it'll get everybody else in gear to be competitive. We could see film photography get mainstream attention by next year if that happens. Anyway, I hope you had fun in Japan, and I'm looking forward to more videos. Cheers!
Yessss love that part about Fuji adding some much needed competition! I agree completely, and if they're making investments in their instax production, maybe film will come next!!
oooo gotta see seagull 100 , would love to see it with your non-b&w taste as you mentioneed!
Hi Great Video! can you recommend a good C41 processor in Japan? Thanks
Oriental seagull was a brand of B&W paper made in Japan that was popular with lith printers.
Not just lith printers. Landscape Photographer Ansel Adams used it extensively in the latter part of his career. I miss it; it platinum toned beautifully.
Two interesting films I picked up in japan were oriental 400 bw film and ilford vintage ilfocolor 400
Great to see! Guess I can just shoot that Superia 400 I panic bought and overpaid for when I started getting into film at the start of the year now lmao
I sold my M7 and Contax T3 as film prices reached a high of USD30 in Singapore. I compared film scanned photos versus those of M11 and I thought the move was justified. It took me 10 years to finally come to this decision.
Those prices are eye-watering to say the least
Time for me to return to Japan
Good to hear that Fujifilm fired up their coating lines. I really do miss Reala 100.
Your shirt is amazing!! who makes it?
One old classic brand that seems to be missing is Sakura. I shot a lot of it in the 1970s and 80s and there was a lot of it on sale. Will be visiting Japan first week of May, and will probably have a look at Yodobashi Camera, though I won't be buying any film. Sort of curious if there was much expired film for sale at a discount.. I used to stalk the photography sections of KMarts and Wal-Marts looking for it. The big problem with film these days is finding reasonably priced processing.
you can mute the shutter.
The last time I was in Japan I was shocked at how much more expensive film was compared to what I pay in the U.S.
5:49 Escura seems to be a company in Spain. I've bought that Escura Showa film, shot and processed them in C41, and I feel it should be a rebrand of Wolfen NC500. The film base are the same and images are warm and grainy. I guess it's also better to process in ECN-2.
I was in Japan last month and I visited Bic Camera in Tokyo (Ikebukuro) a bunch of times, specially to develop slides. Film photography in Japan didn't seem to me to be as strong as I had initially imagined. The store had quite some options, but not too many either. Anyway, Kodak stuff tends to be pricier than Fuji. I recommend that people pick up Fujifilm Superia Premium 400 every time over any other color negative in Japan because it's the best price/quality film you can get. It's only available in Japan, has a pro-like quality and costs about the price (maybe slightly cheaper) than Color Plus 200. The store only allows that one customer purchases one roll at a time, though.
Having film developed there was not very good to my experience. I only developed slides, but the store takes 10 days to do it, the scans look very poor quality and they will only transfer the pictures to you by hooking up a flashdrive to your cell phone. Dev + scan price was not veru cheap either so I recommend that people process their film in a better place.
I've been spoiled the past three years that I've lived in Japan because there's always been places where I could get film relatively easily and cheaply, if you know where to go. I recommend Fujiya Camera in Nakano (just a couple of stops north of Shinjuku), as they generally have better prices than the chain stores most people go to.
Just returned from Japan yesterday, and could not find Instax Mini anywhere. Even the plain border. I found Instax Square a few places. I didn't think to look at the airport ... although I flew out of Hands so not sure if they had the same good deal as you saw at Narita.
Fujicolor 100 is crazy good! It’s a fantastic 100 ISO film with very good underexposure latitude. I’m very mad I didn’t get into when it was still available from importers.
That seagull 400 intrigued me
It's a great emulsion for the price!
really want eterna back in production
Did they have instax wide at a discount in narita?
So interesting! Thank you! Kodak is expensive in the Philippines. Ilford interestingly is not.
Holy hell. Amazing selection, but I roll my own B/W films from $3-4/ roll. And around the same for cine film. I can even set myself up with 18 rolls of Ektachrome for about $190... Developing is the real expense, but B/W dev at home is $1.50 for the higher end stuff like DDX, and literal pennies for Rodinal. Hopefully we can get Superia back stateside, so I can finally shoot the rolls I froze two years ago :)
Great vid btw.
I had to go look it up, but I knew I remembered the Oriental Seagull brand; Freestyle used to sell the B&W paper in the Aughts. I think I might even have ordered some in high school.
Do you remember if you got good results with it?
@@YvonneHansonPhotography I honestly don't. It might have been fine, but I know I rarely deviated from Ilford matte fiber all the way through undergrad (at least until I started hand coating paper my junior and senior years).
Oriental papers were considered some of the best in the last century when I was still playing in the darkroom. I've seen it still available in Tokyo but not sure if it's the same anymore.@@StuartJanssen
Is that superia 400 the same as the 3 pack superia 400 xtra that Walmart used to sell?
Is that Xtra 400 I see you holding :D massive excite. I just shot my last roll last month :) Vibe 400 and Vibe 800 are Kodak cinema film like Cinestill with remjet removed, I don't recall the 400ISO being anything special but I brought 4 rolls of 800 from them and every one had bad light leaks from the re-spooling and Remjet removal.
I'm hoping you're right about Xtra 400
Very informative, I will check it out when I go to Japan this year. Thx!
Thought you'd make a spreadsheet of film/availability/price points 😢
Is there any chance that Fuji will produce their original C200 again?
(Or even Pro 400H)
Candido is based in the UK! I believe it is re-spooled Kodak cinefilm.
Looks like Kodak for sure! Never tried the 200 iso cine so I'm keen to burn a roll!
Thanks! Great video! I have to plan a trip to Japan now.
Oriental Seagull used to be a very fine black and white photographic paper...
I still shoot film. Before digital I loved the Fuji Velvia 60 for landscapes. Now, most of the film I shoot is medium format. The 35mm I buy is mostly Lomography. It is expensive but I have good results. Digital is so much cheaper.
i missed Fujifilm
I've been ordering 400 premium and fujicolor 100 from shops on eBay for a few years now but gotdamn I would love to go Japan and visit these shops.
Did you see any Adox Color Mission?
Yvonne! 🙂🌺🌺🌺
Shot way too many Superia Premium 400 in Japan, couldn’t help it! Paid about ¥1820 per roll at Popeye Camera, the cheapest I found. Developed and scanned it there as well; the scans were beautiful!
Holy crap that’s expensive! I miss 2002-2009 when I could buy Fuji Superia Reala 100 for around $3 per 36 exp roll while I was living in Hawaii. Glad I stocked up. I love expired film.
📸❤️
Fuji este nr 1