How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H by Samantha Stortecky

How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film
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Fuji Pro 400h Overview: Fuji Pro 400H is a highly versatile film that commonly produces soft, neutral, pastel colors. Its classic pastel look and professional grade makes it a favorite for wedding and portrait photographers.

This film is very light hungry, and does best rated at 200, or even 100, in good light. You can pick up some Fujifilm Pro 400h on Amazon here: Fuji Pro 400h in 35mm or 120

Keep scrolling for the full Fujifilm Pro 400H review!

How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film - Learn to Shoot Film
How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film - Learn to Shoot Film
How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film - Learn to Shoot Film
Fuji Pro 400H Film Stock Review by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film

Fuji Pro 400H Film Review by Samantha Stortecky

I feel like when you think of film photography, most film shooters will probably think of an image shot on Fuji Pro 400H with it’s beautiful greens and pastel tones.

You’ve probably seen some amazing wedding images captured on this film stock!

When I first started falling in love with film, Fuji Pro 400H was my main squeeze. We were like peanut butter and jelly, better together.

The Look of Fuji 400H

Fuji 400H is most known for it’s stunning soft and pastel look when it is overexposed. It’s a high-speed, daylight-balanced color film stock with fine grain.

It produces vivid colors with a soft contrast, and, compared to a film like Kodak Portra 400, it has a cooler toned appearance. Fuji Pro 400H is a professional film stock and comes in both 120 and 35mm.

How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Pro 400H Film Stock Review by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film
Grab the free Quick Guide to Choosing a Color Film Infographic!

How to Shoot and Rate Fuji Pro 400H

Now, this is totally a personal preference and you can shoot this film stock however you’d like, but I find Fuji 400H really shines when it is overexposed and rated at 200 ISO.

Overexposing this film is really where those beautiful colors come out. This film loves light!

I have shot this film at 200, 400, and 800 ISO, and the higher up your ISO goes, the less vibrant the film looks.

If you’re going for a more toned down and muted appearance in your images (which I see a lot of in street photography), you might want to try rating your film at box speed.

How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Pro 400H Film Stock Review by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film

Where Fuji 400H Shines

One of my favorite aspects of this film is the way it makes greens look. There is no yellow or muddy tint to them. The greens always look fresh and vibrant without being too overly saturated.

For this reason, it is the perfect film stock to shoot in open fields and even when the sun is setting.

I’ve had people stand directly on grass during harsh sunlight, and I’ve never had an issue of a green cast on their faces that is so common. Film truly is magical.

How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Pro 400H Film Stock Review by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film

Where It Struggles

An area where Fuji Pro 400H struggles is the fact that it’s incredibly light hungry. Even when I’ve overexposed the film stock, if I’m in a location where there isn’t a ton of light, my images can sometimes come out looking slightly muddy.

Therefore, I personally don’t recommend shooting this film stock indoors or pushing the film, since it loves light and looks best when shooting with a lot of sun.

If you want to try pushing film, I recommend using Kodak Portra 400 at 800 ISO.

However, can you push this film? Absolutely, you can do whatever you want with film!

But just be aware that when you push this film you won’t get those beautiful soft and colorful images. They will be a bit more on the dark, muted, and moody side.

How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H Film by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film
Fuji Pro 400H Film Stock Review by Samantha Stortecky on Shoot It With Film

Thank you so much, Samantha! Samantha is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out her other articles here, including 4 Quick Tips for Shooting Better Landscapes on Film and How to Shoot Kodak Portra 400. You can also check out more of Samantha’s work on her website and Instagram.

Leave your questions about Fuji Pro 400h below in the comments, and you can pick up some for yourself on Amazon here!

Read all of our film stock reviews here!

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Samantha Stortecky

Samantha Stortecky is a family photographer and a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film. Find her other articles here, such as How to Shoot Kodak Portra 400 and 5 Unique & Experimental Film Stocks You Need to Try.

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Blog Comments

Thanks for the review Samantha! FujiPro400H is my choice for most of my 120 landscape work. However I do a lot of low light shooting or night time shooting. Fuji doesn’t provide a reciprocity index for this film as if is not suitable for anything longer than 15″-20″ exposure. What’s your opinion on that? Have you used this film with reciprocity adjustement on long exposures during night time?

Thank you so much for such a solid review. I’m still not sold on this roll, I shoot on a 35mm at the moment. I think my curiosity is more leaked around how you edit the film. I believe a part of what I’m not dialed into with this is that component. Would love to hear your thoughts!

When rating Fuji 400h at 200 in camera, does it need to be pulling 1 stop when processing the film?

Thx u

Hi Rut! You do not need to pull the film in developing. Fuji 400H is a very light hungry film, so it does really well when it’s rated at 200 and developed normally.

Thank you for such an informative article. I’m a new returner to film and mostly for MF 120 and there less availability. Hençe I’m curious to know about the picture you’ve included in this article.
Where they all 35mm? Which if any used Fuji 400h 120 and does that modify your advice on exposing at 200? Others I’ve read seem to suggest the same for 35mm and less so for MF.
Were the portait shots here all taken using natural light, or with off camera lights too?
Finally is there any evidence to show that Fuji film age less well, that has been hinted at across various blogs etc?
I don’t believe everything I hear/read, but these days picking up film can mean buying older stock.
Thanks again

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