Fujifilm recently updated its film website, and analog enthusiasts may notice two surprising inclusions: Fujifilm Pro 400H and Fujifilm Superia X-Tra.
As Analog Cafe reports, this is a rather confusing move. Fujifilm discontinued its Pro 400H color negative film in 2021 and its Superia X-Tra 400 film not long after. While X-Tra 400 was sort of replaced in 2023 by Fujifilm 400 Color Negative Film, which is interestingly not listed on the current film product page, many fans lamented the loss of Pro 400H and Superia X-Tra.
Analog Cafe speculates that the updated page could be an error. “Many in the discussion [on Reddit] suggest it’s a bug in Fujifilm’s CMS, which I feel is most likely,” writes Analog Cafe‘s founder, Dmitri Tcherbadji. However, it is worth considering that the product page in question was updated on June 17. 10 days is an awful long time for a company like Fujifilm to have a page up in error.
As Dmitri notes, Fujifilm has previously discussed the potential for Pro 400H film to return. The film was originally discontinued due to difficulties procuring the necessary materials at an economically viable cost. However, the analog photography landscape has changed significantly since 2021; what didn’t make business sense then may now make much more sense. Alternatively, Fujifilm could have found a different manufacturing process that works well. Pro 400H was not the only Fujifilm film stock that was discontinued due to an inability to make it at a cost that made sense for Fujifilm, but again; the market is much livelier now than it was four years ago. Film is well and truly alive, and photographers, by and large, are willing to pay more for high-quality film.
If Fujifilm has really brought back Pro 400H and Suepria X-Tra film, it’d be fantastic and very welcome news in the analog photography community. Admittedly, there is ongoing confusion about the updated website, and Fujifilm did not make any official announcement related to its film offerings, so it remains to be seen if the popular film stocks are truly back or if something else is going on. PetaPixel has reached out to Fujifilm and will update this story as soon as more information is available.
Image credits: Fujifilm
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