 Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here. Let's start at the beginning. Today's episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Fuji Pro 400H. Hard to say that without choking up a little bit. When I first started shooting film, I was immediately drawn into the look and colors that are achievable through the analog medium. Right away, I fell in love with the overexposed Fuji Pro 400H look, a look that is so incredibly popular with wedding photographers. And probably divorced photographers too, though I never really see their work. However, it was kind of a different story when I actually received a role and shot through it. My experience can only be described as a literal back-alley sh**hole of purple and green. Some people have told me that with Pro 400H, it's really about the lab and the scanner that you use. And some others have told me that you need to overexpose the ever-loving crap out of it to get the vibes. But that was all four or five years ago. Here in the darker scarier reality that is 2021, it's kind of a different story. Some rumors have been flying around by old lab techs that Fuji Pro 400H is actually a 200 ISO film instead of a 400 ISO film as the name would suggest. Okay, well, maybe rumors haven't been flying around. That's just what one guy named DM VIN said on the internet. DM VIN could be anyone. Could be some random drifter. Or it could be Vin Diesel himself. Now you might think Pro 400H is painfully derivative. Portra 400 exists and that sh** slaps. But I would almost agree with Vin Diesel. I did a one-to-one test comparing Portra 400 and Fuji Pro 400H and at box speed, 400H was not that great. It really seemed to perk up though with one stop of overexposure. Like how some people drink coffee in the morning to get them going. Or I drink a big gulp filled with five-hour energies and just lay on my bed vibrating uncontrollably. Either way, I was never really fully committed to Fuji Pro 400H. But when that dark unspeakable day happened, I was somehow distraught. The weeks following were pretty tough for me. I couldn't sleep. Couldn't shower. Couldn't look at a roll of film without thinking. It might leave me too. I guess this means I have abandonment issues now. Luckily I had some Pro 400H in the freezer before the price surged and I was saving it for something special or just a crazy weekend in Bender and Vegas, whichever came first. Well, Monica and I rarely get any time off together. So we hopped on the first flight out to Denver, Colorado to visit some college friends that we haven't seen in a while. With me, I brought along two five packs of Pro 400H because Pro 400H is pretty good in just about any conditions. 45 dishes to eat right now. All right, but I don't really think I'm that hungry. With an hour or two to kill, we wandered around downtown Denver and you can bet your analog ass that everyone was pretty impressed by the Mamiya 7 that I was wielding. Just kidding. No one gave a s***. Except for this guy eye-banging me in the corner. It's worth mentioning that I shot all these at 200 ISO instead of 400 ISO because as I mentioned earlier in my opinion, I think 200 ISO looks better for this film stock. So first third or 40th impressions of Fujipro 400H. It's got pretty good range for the life of me though. I think it's just a colder version of Portra 400. Like I said before, I did a one-to-one comparison of Portra 400 and Fujipro 400H and truth be told, they were nearly identical. Later that evening we went to dinner and a comedy show, but called it a night afterwards because we were pretty jet-lagged, even though it's only a one-hour difference. The next day we met up with our Colorado Amigos and took a casual 17-mile stroll around a nearby pond with the fall colors in full bloom. At least it felt like 17 miles because of the altitude and I'm extremely out of shape. These photos are pretty cool, both temperature and opinion-wise, but there's just something about 400H overall I'm not that into. I can't quite place it. Maybe I just need to break free of Portra 400's spell over me. That night we got drunk and watched some slap mountain videos. I had all my doubts about Fujipro 400H slapped out of me and woke up the next morning with a newfound appreciation for a stock that tried its hardest to be the main character in a Portra 400 world. To recuperate the next day, we walked around a nearby mountain town with pumpkin spice tea in one hand and a Mamiya 7 loaded with Fujipro 400H in the other. This was peak existence for me. The shot is the perfect example of Pro 400H's bias towards the cool side. The scene was quite warm and purple, but Pro 400H slapped a s**tload of green and blue into the image, though I think that the colors still pop very nicely and overall the image still feels very balanced. The general consensus around this stock is that it is built for the color green, so if you have some dead plants lying around your apartment, your window of opportunity is over. Everyone always talks about the mystical Fuji greens, which, yeah, I mean they are in a league of their own. Most film scanners that I use will actually scan your Pro 400H with a slight purple cast. From there, it's up to you. You can correct for it by injecting a little bit of green. What people really should be focusing on are the Fuji Reds. They are vibrant in your face and completely unapologetic. I've been very fortunate to shoot lots of different Fuji film stocks over the years and one thing that seems continuous across all of them are the Reds. They're redder than half my face was that day. Anyway, it was time to see some rocks that were just as happy to see me as I was to see them, if you catch my drift. At the Garden of the Gods, for once in my sad pathetic life, I actually wanted to shoot Ektar 100 for some nice landscapes. However, Fuji Pro 400H would have to suffice. You know what, I think it held up pretty well. This shot is probably the best photo I've ever taken on Fuji Pro 400H. The Reds and the greens pop very nicely. I was actually really happy with a lot of these photos. I think that the Pro 400H actually captured the landscape effectively, but it especially looked great with a lot of soft reflected light. So it might also be worth talking about how this stock has this legendary fourth color layer that made it unique. To my understanding, most color films have a red, green, and blue light sensitive layer, which when added together make a full color negative image. Or in my case, a bad photo which makes me question why even bother. Now the fourth layer that Pro 400H had was supposedly a cyan sensitive layer that was jammed in between the red and the green layers. This is interesting because it might explain why Fuji Pro 400H renders a bit bluer and greener overall. Additionally, some people speculate that the fourth color layer was there to mitigate any strange color casts when shooting under artificial light, which could potentially make Fuji Pro 400H the Grammy award winning sleeper hit of the decade for night photography. But I'm definitely too scared to use my own dwindling supply to find out. According to the Pro 400H datasheet, this fourth color layer helps produce more natural-looking shadows and a more three-dimensional look. Bit of a stretch there, I don't know, maybe. Apparently Fuji also used this fourth-layer color-bending futuristic technology in some of their other stocks like Superior and Natura 1600. So if you're missing some fourth cyan color layer in your life, maybe just hold your Natura 1600 extra close tonight instead of your significant other, assuming you have either. Anyway, the next day was going to be our last and we took a stroll around a nearby park trying to remember the good old days of Fuji Pro 400H and all the laughs we shared together, like the fact that it had the pre-sticky end-of-the-roll sticker. So would Fuji ever reintroduce this film? I wouldn't count on it. Fuji hasn't really made it obvious that they're interested in continuing their line of film stocks, aside from Instax. But then there's Fuji Acros, a black and white film that was discontinued, and then soon reintroduced as a reformulated Acros II, Acros Harder. Though, conjecture would have you believe that Ilford actually makes that stock for Fuji these days. A lot of people are hopeful that Pro 400H will make a similar return, maybe rebranded with a new formula, but me, I'm skeptical. I think you can probably get pretty much the same look by overexposing Portra 400 or even Portra 800. There really isn't much of a need for Pro 400H, at least in my own work. Anyway, our time in Colorado with our friends was up, and I would be departing with just the right amount of brain damage I would have expected from such a trip. On the plane ride home, I thought about none other than Squarespace, and how I'd like to thank them for being today's sponsor. Are you looking to build your dream website, but you don't know how to code? Well then look no further. Whether your website is about photography, the culinary arts, or even just simply cat-based interior decorating, Squarespace has the building blocks for you. Squarespace has a very large inventory of pre-designed templates, professionally crafted, and ready for you to lay the foundation of your website. The user interface is very straightforward and non-threatening. The modules to build your website allow you to build your pages with ease. But if you do run into a snag, Squarespace offers 24-7 award-winning customer support and an online form for specific inquiries or design feedback. Plus, if you do know how to code, there's even a section for that. So what are you waiting for? If you're ready to build a website, you can start a free trial today at squarespace.com slash grainydays. And if you use the code grainydays to check out, you can get 10% off your first purchase. Anyway, I like Fuji Pro 400H. I would say that the results aren't always what I'm expecting, but now that it's gone, I guess I have more of a appreciation for it. The cancelling of Pro 400H was both good and bad. Bad because it's one less stock for us to nerd out over, and is somewhat of a dark omen that signifies the total collapse of film photography. But good because it made us realize that we're lucky to have what we have. And also realize that Portra 400 is basically the same s**t. So if you're drinking tonight, be sure to pour one out for Pro 400H. I'm gonna go make a microwave pizza and then cry while eating it.