A Roll of Fujifilm PRO 400H With the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex
Getting ready for a trip to Vancouver Island with my Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex and a roll of Fujifilm Fujicolor PRO 400H
Long Beach Captured on Fujicolor PRO 400H
It has taken me a while to get cracking on the 5 rolls of Fujicolor PRO 400H that I bought more than a year ago. There were a few issues with my Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex that held me back and I must also admit that my medium format camera is usually not the first camera I grab when I head out.
I had problems with the film overlapping on the Ikoflex but had it fixed and I was excited to try the highly praised Fujicolor PRO 400H color negative film from Fujifilm on a trip to Tofino on Vancouver Island.
We were up bright and early and were the first to roll into the parking lot at Long Beach near Tofino on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I wanted to capture the softer morning light and walked the beach with three cameras. One of them was a medium format TLR camera, the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex.
Admittedly, three cameras would seem to be a bit over the top but I actually enjoyed having all three cameras for different reasons.
With my digital Fujifilm X-Pro3, I could fire away and not worry too much about the limit of only having 12 frames in the camera. With the Canon AV-1, I shot a few frames of black and white on Ilford Pan F.
It was fun using the Ikoflex TLR camera and the more I use it, the more I am getting used to lining up my shots. It takes some getting used to because of the mirrored image you see in the viewfinder. I used my digital camera to estimate my exposure as the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex is fully manual.
Image Quality
I am happy with the results from the Fujicolor PRO 400H with pleasant yet slightly muted colors. In early 2021 Fujifilm discontinued the 35mm version of this film stock and photographers rushed to get the last few rolls.
Missing that boat I decided to give the 120 version a shot and can happily report it is still available to this date. My aging Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex is, however, still giving me some grief and yet again had issues with frames overlapping, meaning the photos you see above are slightly cropped.
This particular roll of film also came back from the lab with several flaws in the film and it took more than the usual clean-up time in Photoshop. I still think it was worth the effort and I look forward to seeing what I can get out of the remaining four rolls which are safely tugged away in the corner of my fridge. Perhaps it is time to rent a Hasselblad again.
Technical Info
For the photos in this post, I copied the negatives using my Fujifilm X-Pro2 with an AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D, and a Skier Sunray Copy Box 3 with the 120 film holder. The X-Pro2 RAW files have been converted using the Negative Lab Pro plugin for Lightroom.
Check these posts on the topic of copying negatives:
Copying negatives with Skier Sunray Copy Box
Converting negatives using Negative Lab Pro
For more from Tofino and Ucluelet on Vancouver Island, please check this travel post:
The photos in this post are made using the following photography gear.
Links to my review:
