Sep 25

Sep 25 Nikon F100 + Fujifilm Pro 400H on the Boston Common

On this episode of Focal Collective Mike Lindle shoots Fujifilm Pro 400H with his Nikon F100 using the Nikkor 35-70 AF f2.8 lens. This video gives a behind the scenes look at the photos taken with this film stock on the Boston Common. Fujifilm Pro 400H is a favorite among wedding photographers, see how it performs in this public park.

The Nikon F100

The Nikon F100 is perhaps the most modern SLR camera available at it’s price point. It is a professional tool that just went out of production in the mid-2000s. It has a few options for light metering modes, automatically reels film, reads the DX code to auto-set the ISO rating, and has plenty of advanced features to play around with. You can find these cameras in relatively good condition for around $200 on eBay. With the right set of lenses, this camera is capable of tack-sharp autofocus as well.

Choosing the Right Film Stock - Boston Common

Fuji's Pro 400h actually rivals Kodak's Portra 400 it's a daylight balanced negative film stock and it works really well when you're working with direct light. Some of the cons about this film stock is that it tints your images a little more on the green side of the tint scale which is sometimes not preferred among photographers. A lot of people also overuse this film stock to achieve the over exposed (4-5 stops) film look to give their images that green kind of “instagrammy” lifestyle look.

This film stock is very popular among wedding photographers so one of the reasons why we're actually shooting on the Boston Common because there are a lot of lush greens in the environment. I didn't really want to shoot cityscape or street photography with this film.

Film Rating and Camera Settings

This camera stayed in Aperture Priority mode shooting between f/2.8 and f/4. The Film was rated at ISO 400, following the default rating of the film as read by the DX reader within the camera. The option to manually set the ISO was there, we chose not to.

Lens Compatibility with F-Mount DSLRs

As long as your Nikon DSLR has an external focus motor, lenses that auto-focus using the Nikon F100 will also auto-focus with the DSLR. The lens used in this video (Nikkor 35-70 f/2.8) was one of my primary lenses for my D750, and the auto-focus was reliable - although a little slow on the digital system. Since the F-Mount hasn’t changed, no adapter is needed.