New Life For Fujifilm’s Velvia 50
In a pre-PMA news release on February 22, Fujifilm USA announced that it was re-introducing Fujichrome Velvia 50 for Professionals (RVP 50), a high color saturation, high contrast transparency film at the PMA 2007 Annual Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV.
Although this is an inkjet-related blog, one still has to capture an image before you can print it. And while I and many others have gone totally to digital image capture, there are still some who use film and were saddened when Fujifilm announced in the beginning of 2005 that they would discontinue making Velvia due to difficulties in procuring some of the key raw materials used to produce the product.
Velvia 50 has been a favorite among many pro shooters, particularly landscape and nature photographers, since its introduction in the mid-1980s. Some have called Velvia 50, “cartoon color” because it exaggerated the colors, especially greens. However, I for one, liked that skew of the world. Until digital capture came along, Velvia was the only film that gave me the vivid color and high saturation that I was looking to see in many of my photographs.
The company received many requests from photographers worldwide to restart manufacturing, as they had used Velvia for many years and consider it unmatched in terms of quality and character. Those requests were taken very seriously by the executives at Fujifilm.
“We are so pleased to respond to requests from our photographer customers in this way and we look forward to seeing the work they will produce with this wonderful new film,” said Christian Fridholm, Director of Marketing, Picture Taking, Imaging Division, Fujifilm USA.
Fujifilm claims that the characteristics of new Velvia 50 will mirror that of the previous Velvia, even though the company will be using some substitute raw materials and new manufacturing technologies. The initial shipments of the new Velvia 50 are scheduled for early summer 2007.
Posted by Royce Bair on 03/01 at 11:56 AM
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