Film Spotlight – Fujifilm Neopan400CN

Published in

Camera Obscura

3 min readJul 15, 2020

Development processes vary from film to film. Motion picture film for example is processed by means of the ECN2 process, which involves stripping a special black layer from the film which acts a bit like sunglasses and avoid glare.

Then we have c-41 which is a colour process for print/ negative films.

Slide film is processed by means of the E6 process.

Finally we have true black and white film which has its own dedicated process.

There are two black and white films which sit in the C41 camp, and benefit from the latitude of print film. These are Ilford XP2 and Fujifilm Neopan400CN. Kodak used to make a C-41 black and white film BW400CN, but killed it off back in 2014.

Being a Fujifilm C41 film, I expose Fujifilm Neopan400CN as I would for Pro400H, over expose by at least 1 stop. If you don’t externally meter, set your camera iso to 200. If you meter externally, set the meter to iso200 and meter for the shadows.

Otherwise the same normal photographic rules apply, soft lighting, ideally from the side, is best to avoid extremes of exposure and remain comfortably in the films exposure latitude. You can expose in bright sunlight, meter for your subject. If shooting indoors find a window and pit your subject next to it, using a diffuser such as a sheet to soften bright sunlight.

I love the softness of this film, which lends itself to portraiture, especially of children (which are often a funny colour, especially when newborn) and winter scenes where there’s not much colour to speak of anyway.

Here are some example shots: