AshigrainColour negative · Vivid & saturated
Fujifilm Eterna Vivid 500
Black Swan's workhorse: punchy colour after dark.
Strong colour from the Vivid member of the Eterna family under tungsten light, printed Fuji-on-Fuji: reds, oranges and greens stay rich, while blues soften on the Fuji print. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Exposure index
- 500
- Tungsten
- Introduced
- 2009
- Discontinued 2013
- Process
- ECN-2
About the film
When The King's Speech won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2011, Fujifilm counted it as a hat-trick, the third year running that a Best Picture winner had been shot on its film, and Danny Cohen had shot it largely on Eterna Vivid 500.
Fujifilm introduced Vivid 500 in 2009 after filmmakers who liked the saturated, high-contrast Eterna Vivid 160 asked for a fast stock with the same look. Coded 8547 in 35 mm and 8647 in 16 mm, it was matched to Vivid 160 in gradation and saturation so the two could be intercut, and Fujifilm called it the highest-contrast negative of the Eterna series. Fujifilm UK stressed that it added to Eterna 500 rather than replacing it: among its fast tungsten films, Eterna 400 was the low-contrast choice, Eterna 500 the medium and Vivid 500 the high. Cohen told Variety that Vivid gave a slightly punchier, more contrasty image than Fujifilm's standard negative. On Black Swan, Matthew Libatique called the 16 mm Vivid 500 his workhorse, because he needed its speed for the small light sources he lit with. Its data sheet tunes the orange mask and sharpness for film scanning and telecine, and the film is coated on a light-cyan triacetate base. Fujifilm announced in September 2012 that demand for film had fallen sharply, and production ended on 31 March 2013.
Sources for this history
- FUJICOLOR NEGATIVE FILM ETERNA Vivid 500, FUJIFILM Corporation
- 2009 News, FUJIFILM Corporation
- Fuji Eterna Vivid 500T 8547 / 8647, Timeline of Historical Film Colors, University of Zurich
- Discontinued Films, FUJIFILM Corporation
- Fujifilm, Film and Digital Times
- Announcement on Motion Picture Film Business of Fujifilm, FUJIFILM Corporation
- GFX ETERNA 55 開発秘話 #1 – 製品コンセプト, FUJIFILM Corporation
- NY FUJIFILM ETERNA VIVID 500 ISO, Föreningen Sveriges Filmfotografer
- New negative film from Fujifilm, Fujifilm UK Ltd
- EXPOSURE International Vol. 16: ETERNA Vivid 500: Expanding the Expressive Range of High-speed Film, FUJIFILM Corporation
- The King's Speech records hat trick for Fujifilm in the 2011 Academy Awards®, FUJIFILM Corporation
- Danny Cohen on 'The King's Speech', Variety
- Matthew Libatique on 'Black Swan', Variety
Shot on Fujifilm Eterna Vivid 500
The King's Speech
The principal negative: 35mm Eterna Vivid 500T with Vivid 160T and 250D, chosen for more contrast than standard Eterna.
Black Swan
The workhorse Super 16 stock, 16mm Vivid 500, with Vivid 160 for some visual-effects shots to reduce grain.
The look
Fujifilm Eterna Vivid 500 is the fast, high-contrast Eterna: a tungsten negative rated EI 500 with the saturated colour and deep blacks of Vivid 160, made for night scenes. It prints on Fujifilm Eterna-CP 3513DI by default, Fuji on Fuji, and can print on any other print film.
Rich, warm colour on food or flowers under tungsten.
Coloured signs at night on a fast tungsten film with a vivid character.
Best for
- Neon-lit night streets
- Low-light interiors lit by practicals
- Saturated, high-contrast colour
Among the films
Science & sources
A tungsten-balanced colour negative with an exposure index of 500. Compare its response with the other Eterna films on the same footage.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with the Ashigrain model on the same axes. This shows the calibration to source curves; comparison with photographed film is a separate question.
Characteristic response
RMS granularity
Density variation (σD) measured through a 48 µm aperture. Where the datasheet gives a single grain value, the response away from that point is an approximation.
| Channel | Density | Datasheet-based σD | Model σD |
|---|---|---|---|
| R | 0.3 | 0.001917 | 0.001978 |
| G | 0.3 | 0.001917 | 0.00198 |
| B | 0.3 | 0.001917 | 0.001982 |
| R | 0.6 | 0.002711 | 0.002798 |
| G | 0.6 | 0.002711 | 0.0028 |
| B | 0.6 | 0.002711 | 0.002803 |
| R | 1 | 0.0035 | 0.003612 |
| G | 1 | 0.0035 | 0.003615 |
| B | 1 | 0.0035 | 0.003619 |
| G | 1.5 | 0.004287 | 0.004428 |
| B | 1.5 | 0.004287 | 0.004432 |
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations, while halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. A real film capture also depends on development and print timing.
- The model assumes custom lighting spectra, camera metering and the spectral reflectance inferred from fixed-white-balance footage. These inputs are not measurements of the film.
- The model calculates colour-print timing and scan balance for arbitrary lighting. Scanner colour balance is expressed without a standard physical unit.
- A 3200 K tungsten source is specified as the design light. Its spectrum and the conversion filter’s transmission are approximated because the source supplies no spectrum.
- The characteristic curves use a relative exposure axis marked in camera stops. Their absolute normal-exposure point is not specified; its alignment is assumed.
- The source publishes only one RMS granularity value, 3.5 × 10⁻³. The granularity response away from that level is modelled, not a digitised grain curve.
- The source publishes one contrast transfer function at visual diffuse density 1.3, not separate per-layer MTF measurements.
- Only neutral and minimum spectral densities are published, not separate cyan, magenta and yellow dye spectra. Individual dye shapes are fitted assumptions.
- The prescribed Kodak 85 filter transmission, grain size, push/pull behaviour and interlayer effects are approximations.
- Characteristic response outside the published exposure range is an extrapolation, not measured film data.
- The source does not identify an antihalation layer. Rem-jet is assumed; halation strength, radius, layer weights and bloom are not measured.
- This preview approximates the printer lamp and filter spectra and the Status A grey target. The source does not provide the spectral data or laboratory target needed to calibrate them.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
Sources
- Characteristic curves: FUJICOLOR NEGATIVE FILM ETERNA Vivid 500 data sheet (revised), Ref. No. KB-0901ER (SK・10・12), p. 1
- Diffuse RMS granularity: FUJICOLOR NEGATIVE FILM ETERNA Vivid 500 data sheet (revised), Ref. No. KB-0901ER (SK・10・12), p. 1
- Exposure index: FUJICOLOR NEGATIVE FILM ETERNA Vivid 500 data sheet (revised), Ref. No. KB-0901ER (SK・10・12), p. 2
- Process: FUJICOLOR NEGATIVE FILM ETERNA Vivid 500 data sheet (revised), Ref. No. KB-0901ER (SK・10・12), p. 2