Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 400
How this look was derived, and why every control does what it does. The settings themselves are in the pack.
Original (research-backed). Read alongside the notes, the notes, the notes, and the Knowledge base.
The film
Fujifilm's iconic consumer colour negative, the green-boxed Superia X-Tra 400 that defined "the Fuji look" for a generation of point-and-shoot and travel photography. Where Kodak Gold is warm, Superia is cool: green/magenta-leaning, with bright cool blue highlights, medium saturation and contrast, fine grain, and famously good skin. Daylight-balanced, wide latitude, discontinued 2024.
The grade in one line
A cool, green-leaning, medium-contrast consumer-negative with clean fine grain, sharp detail, and natural skin, the everyday "Fuji look" opposite of warm Kodak Gold.
How the settings build it
| Setting | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Classic Negative | The base Fujifilm built from Superia — cool teal shadows, hue separation, Fuji character. |
| WB Daylight —/— | Superia's cool blue highlights / green-magenta cast, kept mild to protect skin. |
| — | Superia's medium contrast with good gray balance and latitude. |
| Highlight —/ Shadow — | Protected cool highlights + slightly deep teal shadows. |
| Color — | Superia is medium-saturation, not punchy. |
| CCE Weak / CCFXB Weak | Gentle richness; CCFXB deepens the signature blues. |
| Grain —/—, — | Datasheet stresses fine grain + high sharpness. |
| — | Quality standard; nothing about Superia needs mid-tone softening. |
Reading the signature
- Cast: cool, green/magenta, the defining contrast with Kodak Gold's amber.
- Contrast: medium; open shadows, controlled cool highlights.
- Saturation: medium; greens and cool blues lead, skin stays natural.
- Texture: clean and sharp. Superia's fine grain, not a gritty stock (bump grain for indoor/low-light).
The Kodak Gold ↔ Fuji Superia pairing
These two are the archetypal warm-vs-cool consumer negatives, and make a great pair in the bank: - Kodak Gold 200. Warm, amber, Classic Chrome. - Superia X-Tra 400 (this). Cool, green, Classic Negative. Same "everyday snapshot" role, opposite colour temperament.
Relationship to Reggie's Superia
| This original | reggies-superia | |
|---|---|---|
| Target | Emulsion as manufactured (Fuji datasheet: fine grain, excellent sharpness, cool-neutral) | Reggie Ballesteros's deliberately heavy-handed portrait interpretation — moody, high-contrast, grain-forward, built to give depth/richness to melanated skin |
| Grain | Weak, Small (faithful to "fine grain, excellent sharpness") | Strong, Large (far grainier/softer than the emulsion spec — deliberate, for vintage mood, not fidelity) |
| Color Chrome FX Blue | Weak (subtle cool depth) | Strong (unusually high; pushes rich blue depth rather than following the usual IV→V one-notch-down convention) |
| White Balance | Daylight, —/— (fixed, repeatable) | Auto, —/— (adapts per scene, but the overall result still reads stylised, not neutral) |
| Sharpness | 0 (neutral, matches "excellent sharpness") | −2 (soft) |
| Dynamic Range | — | DR-Auto |
| Design intent | Match what the Superia datasheet says the film does | Explicitly the opposite of "flat, detail-preserving imagery" — chases a vintage film feel and flatters portrait skin, at the deliberate expense of emulsion accuracy |
Important nuance: don't assume Reggie's Superia behaves like his versatile, adaptive Reggie's Portra just because they share an author and an Auto-WB convention, the two have opposite philosophies. Portra is built to be gentle and forgiving across lighting; Superia is built to be heavy-handed and moody on purpose. This is the same emulsion-faithful vs artifact/purpose-faithful tension as the Portra comparison. This original answers "what does Superia actually look like," Reggie's Superia answers "how do I get a moody, vintage-feeling, skin-flattering portrait out of Classic Negative." If you shoot mostly people (especially deeper skin tones) and want mood over accuracy, Reggie's is worth trying instead of this one; for documentation/street/landscape fidelity, stay with this original.
Related
- Same Classic Negative base, different intents: Pacific Blues (stylised cool coastal), Reala Ace (neutral true-to-life), Mumbai Monsoon (moody rain), Reggie's Superia (portrait interpretation). Compare to see how the Superia-derived base is steered.
The research
Evidence base for the notes. Reference images analysed only, not redistributed.
Authoritative source: Fujifilm datasheet (AF3-0217E)
- Daylight-type ISO 400 colour negative; under tungsten it's effectively ISO 100 with an 80A filter → native look is a daylight look.
- "New Super Uniform Fine Grain Technology": fine grain for a high-speed film.
- High speed + wide exposure latitude: captures in low light; forgiving.
- Excellent skin colour reproduction: smooth, natural skin.
- Excellent sharpness: sharp from overall form to fine texture.
- Excellent gray balance maintained from brightest highlights to deepest shadows.
- No colour-compensating filters needed in daylight/flash.
Corroborating reviews (analysed)
Consensus (The Darkroom, Analog.Cafe, Alex Luyckx, Digital Camera World, Wikipedia): - The classic "Fuji look": cool tones, green / magenta lean, cooler than Kodak, with a focus on blue highlights. - Medium saturation, medium contrast; fine grain when well-exposed, grain rises indoors. - Fourth cyan layer ("4th colour layer technology") for better rendering under fluorescent light. - Wide dynamic range: holds shadow & highlight detail across over/under-exposure. - Discontinued April 2024.
Evidence → settings
| Trait | Setting |
|---|---|
| Cool, green-magenta, blue highlights | Classic Negative base + Daylight —/— + CCFXB Weak |
| Medium contrast, good gray balance, wide latitude | —, Highlight —, Shadow — |
| Medium saturation | Color —, CCE — |
| Fine grain, sharp | Grain —/—, — |
| Excellent skin (don't over-cool) | small — only, not a heavy cool shift |
Why Classic Negative is the correct base
Fujifilm designed the Classic Negative film simulation to emulate Superia consumer film, so of all bases it is definitionally the closest starting point. Its native teal-leaning shadows and hue separation are the Superia character; the recipe only tunes contrast, warmth, and grain around it.
Validation status
- Datasheet-validated: ✅ (grain = fine, sharpness = high, daylight balance, latitude, skin, all mapped).
- Characteristic-validated: ✅ across 5+ independent reviews (cool/green-magenta, blue highlights, medium sat/contrast).
- Scan validation (first pass): ✅ 2 real Superia scans analysed (Beartooth Highway alpine landscapes, overcast, Wikimedia Commons, analysis-only): confirmed the cool-neutral palette, muted olive greens, grey-blue sky with soft held highlights, medium contrast, visible even grain. Matches the recipe's cool lean and tone curve.
- Caveats: both frames are from one photographer/roll (limited diversity) and grain reads slightly stronger than "Weak". Plausibly an older/expired roll or scan sharpening. Keep Grain —/— pending more scans; if your
references/drops confirm heavier grain, move to —/—. - Next: sunny + indoor + skin scans to lock the WB cool-shift (±1). Drop into
references/.
Sources
Get Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 400
Every value, the movie-mode translation, and the datasheet evidence behind the grade.