Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My experience with working in a Fuji lab is this: The Reala technology was and is the fourth layer that compensates such that the film responds to various lighting types as your eye dioes- therefore the photostaken under flourescent and tungsten are somewhat more realistic looking- even with out filter changes. The fact that they capture light not normally caught by color film, means that with judicious filtering, that you can get very good color under a variety of situations. The basic problem with most film is that the light from tungsten sources are deficient in blue, and flourescent light is deficient in red. Now, if the light is not there in suffucuent quantitiy to expose the film, then adding filtration at printing simply will not fully compensate for exposure that isn'tthere! The Reala technology in a sence makes the film appear to react to red and blue/cyan light better, and therefore get the information for the red and blue recording layers needed to make a decent print. The Superia technology is the use of tablature grain- similar to what was the T-Max technology of Kodak, and later, when all their films started to use it, they were labeled Supra. The Supra and Superia technology had a big influence on us in the lab as the films all had almost identical slopes for the color response of the films- even between different speeds. Usually, each film type has a set of 'slopes' or compensations programmed into a printer so that the color in negatives that are under or over exposed render appropriate color. This is because the different layers have different gamma resp0onses at different exposures. We found that with the Superia, and Supra films that once you got a good adjustment on the slope of the most used film- usually either Kodak or Fuji 200, that the prints made from ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, and to some extent the 1600 films were all consistent! This made printing very much easier, and the variation between speeds, emulsion numbers and age were minimized. It made setting up the machines a good deal easier since 95% of our film was either Kodak or Fuji- it also saved money and time as there vwere fewer re-do's, and customer satisfaction increased as well. So, the Reala Superia films are using the Reala's fourth layer, and the Superia is using the tablature type grain- meaining the film is finer grain than before, and you get more consistent color between speeds. My two cents worth, and then some! Dan - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Henry Ambrose" <henryambrose@home.com> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2001 5:34 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Superia Reala > >One thing I now find confusing is that there is a film that a local dealer > >tried selling me called "Fuji Superia" and in smaller print something like > >"using Reala technology". The dealer seemed to think it was Reala, but I > >think he was mistaken. > > > >Dan C. > AFAIK, Superia got the Reala 4th layer in the fall of 1999. That's what > they mean by "using Reala Technology" Reala was the first film to have > this 4th layer. > > Fuji still lists, as seperate products, Reala with "Superia" in little > type on the box AND Superia 100 speed films on the US website. > > Douglas Cooper says that Reala and Reala Superia are different. I'm > trying to find out for sure. > > Henry Ambrose >