Fujifilm · ISO 100 Color negative
Fujifilm Superia 100
Superia 100 launched in 1998 as part of Fuji's reformulation of the consumer color negative line. The technology Fuji marketed hardest was the fourth color layer, a cyan-sensitive coating originally developed for Reala 100 that improved color reproduction under fluorescent lighting. Most consumer print films of the era used three sensitized layers and let the lab correct the green cast of office and gymnasium lighting in printing. Superia 100 carried the fourth layer from launch, which is why it scanned cleaner than competing budget stocks under mixed light.
The figures on the Fuji datasheet are flattering: diffuse RMS granularity of 4 and resolving power around 125 lines per millimeter at high chart contrast. For an ISO 100 print film that is genuinely fine grain, closer to Reala 100 than to Kodak Gold 100. The color signature leans cool, with restrained reds, clean blues, and the slight green-yellow bias that defines Fuji's print palette through the late nineties and 2000s. Skin tones come back natural rather than punched, which works for documentary and travel but is less flattering for wedding portraits than Portra 160.
Latitude is wide as is standard for C-41. Two stops of overexposure prints fine; a stop under is recoverable in scanning. Many photographers rated Superia 100 at ISO 80 to get a thicker negative and easier scans, particularly for medium format where 120 was sold alongside 35mm.
Fuji discontinued Superia 100 in 2009, ahead of the broader consumer-film contraction. The film was never reintroduced; for fine-grain Fuji color at ISO 100 today, the only option is freezer stock or what is left of Reala 100 from the 2012 final run.
Reciprocity exponent is 1.20. Zone Light Meter folds the correction in past one second, so a 30-second meter reading climbs to roughly a minute at the negative. The datasheet specifies compensation starting at four seconds for color balance, tighter than most C-41 stocks of the era, so for any tripod work past a few seconds the correction is not academic.
How the app handles this stock
- Box speed: ISO 100. Picker exposes pull/push chips so you can shoot it at any speed you want and the meter follows.
- Reciprocity: Above one second the app raises metered time to the power of 1.20.
- Expired film: if you load an old roll, set the expiry year and storage in the app and the ISO scales for you. Color negative decay rates are baked in.