increased `quality, flexibility’

Montreal: Fuji Photo Film Canada has introduced a Super F-series of motion picture film stock, the company’s first complete line enhancement since the introduction of F-series film in 1988.

The Super F-series of color negative and positive film represents ‘an overall increase in picture quality and flexibility’ and is the company’s technical and marketing response to heightened competition, says David Cheng, Mississauga, Ont.-based general manager, motion picture and magnetic imaging products division.

Cheng says the need for better film stocks and higher picture quality is also a response to growing economic and time pressures on the film industry, and the challenge of the emerging high-definition broadcast market.

The new film series – consisting of four-color negative and one-color positive film – includes Super-F versions of Fuji color F-125 and F-250 tungsten film, and F-64D and F-250D daylight color negative film.

One of the highlight features of the new line, for both tungsten and daylight film stocks, is a generally lower mask density which improves film-to-tape transfer.

Also part of the Super F-series is a new fcp positive film stock used in the production of color prints.

The fcp stock eliminates the need for black backing resin, historically used on all film stock to eliminate light reflection and double-exposure. Cheng says the result in laboratory processing is a reduction in pollution, water consumption and costs.

All Super F-series film is available in 16mm, 35mm and 65mm. The fcp positive film is also available in 70mm.

While the new series was formally launched at industry rallies in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal earlier this month, Super F film has been used on a number of major Canadian tv series shoots this season, including Alliance Communications’ North of 60, Paragon Entertainment’s Forever Knight and Sullivan Films’ Road to Avonlea, says Cheng.

About 300 people, mainly cinematographers, post-production personnel, directors and producers, attended the mid-month launch demonstrations.

In Canada, producers and distributors spend about $100 million annually on both negative and positive film stock. A significant portion is for release prints, which are exported back to the u.s.

A lower-budget Canadian feature film can average $60,000 to $70,000 in film stock costs, while bigger-budget shoots can use up to 400,000 feet of film stock, representing costs in the order of $250,000. The cost of film stock on tv series can go as high as $500,000 per season, says Cheng.

Fuji says it has a growing 25% to 30% share of the Canadian market.

Eastman Kodak is the market leader, while Belgium-based Agfa has a considerably smaller share of domestic sales.

Background technological developments for the Super F-series include advances in Fuji’s Sigma Crystal technology, and the use of newly developed coupler particles, says Cheng.

The Sigma Crystal technology adds a new light-sensitive speck to the film’s double-grain structure, resulting in a 50% reduction – compared to current F-500 film – in grain size, with no loss of high-speed sensitivity. The result is a significant improvement in sensitivity and grain ratio and better definition in dark and underexposed areas of the film, says Cheng.

For its fcp positive film, Fuji has developed solid-particle dispersing dyes used between the emulsion and film base to prevent halation – the name for unwanted light reflection and double-exposure – and eliminate the conventional black backing. The problem of static buildup due to the elimination of the black backing has been solved through the application of an anti-static, anti-scratch coating.