Colour negative · 1990s
Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400
Fujifilm's everyday ISO 400 negative for prints.
Fuji's 400-speed consumer negative on everyday street photography. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Exposure index
- 400
- Daylight
- Introduced
- by 2006
- Process
- C-41
- Prints on
- Scan
About the film
Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400 is a daylight ISO 400 colour negative from Fujifilm for Process CN-16 or C-41, made in 135 as a general-purpose film for prints on Fujicolor papers.
The generation modelled here carries the number CH23 in its edge markings. No source read dates its launch, but its data sheet carries a print code of October 2006 and presents it as the new Superia X-TRA 400, compared with the current one, so this film existed by 2006. An earlier X-TRA 400 sheet, printed in February 2003, described a formulation with Fujifilm's fourth colour layer and its Super Fine-Σ grain technology, itself marked as new against the X-TRA 400 of the day. The 2006 film uses the newer Super Uniform Fine Grain technology instead. Fujifilm said its prints were similar to those of the current X-TRA 400, with a slightly redder tint by comparison. Unlike the 2003 sheet, the 2006 one shows no sensitivity curve for a fourth layer.
Sources for this history
- FUJICOLOR SUPERIA X-TRA 400 [CH] Data Sheet (AF3-0217E), FUJIFILM Corporation
- FUJICOLOR SUPERIA X-TRA 400 [CH] Data Sheet (AF3-151E), FUJIFILM Corporation
- Professional photography film, FUJIFILM North America
The look
Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400 is a daylight colour negative rated ISO 400, a general-purpose film made for prints on Fujicolor papers. This generation, CH23, uses Fujifilm's Super Uniform Fine Grain technology. Ashigrain renders it as a scan for your grade.






Best for
- Everyday snapshots in changing light
- Street and travel photography
- Overcast days and open shade
Compare camera films
Science & sources


A daylight still-photo colour negative rated at ISO 400, shown as a scan. Its curves, spectral sensitivity, single visual MTF, RMS granularity and reciprocity corrections are taken from Fujifilm's 2006 sheet. Its individual dye shapes are borrowed from Kodak Vision3 250D (5207), because the sheet prints only neutral and minimum densities.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with Ashigrain’s response on the same axes. These curves show how the model is calibrated to its sources; they do not establish a match to photographed film.
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 | 0.007057 | 0.006945 |
| G | 0.3 | 0.009215 | 0.009081 |
| B | 0.3 | 0.022349 | 0.021995 |
| R | 0.6 | 0.005135 | 0.005053 |
| G | 0.6 | 0.006653 | 0.006556 |
| B | 0.6 | 0.017226 | 0.016954 |
| R | 1 | 0.004402 | 0.004332 |
| G | 1 | 0.005252 | 0.005176 |
| B | 1 | 0.013952 | 0.013732 |
| R | 1.5 | 0.004376 | 0.004307 |
| G | 1.5 | 0.006035 | 0.005947 |
| B | 1.5 | 0.014689 | 0.014457 |
| R | 2 | 0.003733 | 0.003674 |
| G | 2 | 0.005078 | 0.005005 |
| B | 2 | 0.011125 | 0.010949 |
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations. Halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. The look of real film also depends on development and print timing.
- Custom lighting spectra, camera metering and the spectral reflectance inferred from fixed-white-balance footage are assumptions used by the model, not measurements of this film.
- Colour-print timing and scan balance under arbitrary lighting are modelled. Scanner colour balance has no standard physical unit.
- Conversion-filter spectra (80A for daylight films under tungsten, 85 for tungsten films in daylight) come from separate measured filter data, not from this film’s source. Applying those filters to this film remains modelled.
- Only neutral and minimum spectral densities are published, not separate cyan, magenta and yellow dye spectra. Individual dye shapes are fitted assumptions.
- The individual dye shapes are borrowed from Kodak Vision3 250D (5207), a proxy rather than this film's dyes.
- The source prints one visual MTF curve, not separate red, green and blue curves. The model applies it to all three layers.
- The source publishes one RMS granularity value, 4 × 10⁻³. The granularity response away from that level is modelled, not a digitised grain curve.
- The sheet prints reciprocity corrections at a few exposure times; the correction between them is interpolated.
- Individual dye amounts, layer interactions and push/pull behaviour are approximated where the datasheet provides no calibration. Grain size is assumed; published RMS granularity does not specify dye-cloud size.
- Characteristic response outside the published exposure range is an extrapolation, not measured film data.
- The antihalation layer is printed, but halation strength, radius, layer weights and bloom are not measured.
- The default output is a scan. Scan balance has no standard unit and is modelled.
- The printer lamp and filter spectra and the Status A grey aim used in this preview are approximated; the source does not publish the required spectral or laboratory aim data.
Reciprocity: modelled from 1/4000 s to 64 s, following the datasheet's corrections for long and short exposures. Exposure time stops at the ends of that range.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
Sources
- Exposure index: FUJICOLOR SUPERIA X-TRA 400 [CH] Data Sheet, AF3-0217E (KAMIQ-06.10-FP), p. 1
- Process: FUJICOLOR SUPERIA X-TRA 400 [CH] Data Sheet, AF3-0217E (KAMIQ-06.10-FP), p. 3
- Diffuse RMS granularity: FUJICOLOR SUPERIA X-TRA 400 [CH] Data Sheet, AF3-0217E (KAMIQ-06.10-FP), p. 5
- Characteristic curves: FUJICOLOR SUPERIA X-TRA 400 [CH] Data Sheet, AF3-0217E (KAMIQ-06.10-FP), p. 6