For this Film Friday review we are taking a look at Fuji Velvia 100, the slide film that Fuji introduced to replace the original Velvia 50. Spoiler alert: Velvia 100 is more than a faster version of its famed predecessor. Read on to learn all about it!

Before we dig in too much on Velvia 100 (aka RVP100) we really should cover some general Velvia history as it will help bring some clarity to what is a mildly confusing trio of films since Fuji has produced a Velvia 50, Velvia 100 and Velvia 100F. In the beginning there was just Fuji Velvia - no 50 designation, just Velvia. You can also think of this original film as Fuji RVP if it helps as that was its technical designation. The original Velvia was first introduced over 30 years ago in 1990. It quickly asserted itself as one of the most popular films for professional photographers, especially those photographing landscapes. Velvia had incredibly rich color saturation as well as super fine grain, high resolution and punchy contrast. If you have picked up a National Geographic magazine from the 1990s, odds are you have seen images made with Fuji Velvia.

In 2003 Fuji announced a new member of the Velvia family and introduced Velvia 100F. Velvia 100F boasted an extra stop of speed as well as finer grain than the original Velvia. It also was meant to handle skin tones better than the original, as the high saturation of Velvia RVP could run away with skin tones quite often and over-saturate them. But Velvia 100F was a much different film than the original Velvia in appearance. 100F had much lower color saturation and contrast, a fact that turned a lot of Velvia lovers off. It tended to have a colder color cast to it as well, muting warm colors to a degree. But it added better push/pull capabilities and significantly improved upon Velvia’s reciprocity failure when it came to long exposures. The original Velvia required compensation after only 1 second while Velvia 100F could go as long as a minute before needing any corrective exposure calculations.

Maybe the introduction of Velvia 100F should have been a warning sign, as in 2005 the original Velvia was discontinued. Fuji cited a lack of crucial raw materials needed to make the film’s emulsion. The outcry was swift and vocal, enough so that Fuji began to work on resurrecting this film and bring back a replacement (two of them actually) for Velvia. The first of these films hit later that same year with Velvia 100 announced. Unlike Velvia 100F, Velvia 100 was meant to be a direct successor to the original Velvia. It took all the great color saturation and contrast of that first Velvia but combined the improvements in grain, resolution and long exposure capability of the 100F. This means that Velvia 100 can be thought of both as a direct replacement for that original Velvia film but also its own film apart from its precursor. Just to put a nice bow on our historical overview of the Velvia family, Fuji brought out a new Velvia 50 film in 2007. This new film was coded RVP50 as opposed to the RVP designation of the original. So at this point the market had three Velvia’s: Velvia 50, Velvia 100 and Velvia 100F. Hopefully that bit of history cleared things up rather than muddied them further.

We have a great Film Friday review on Velvia 50 that can be read right here. Velvia 100F will have to wait for another time. Meanwhile, let’s head into a look at Velvia 100 now!

For landscape photography there are few films quite like Velvia 100. Image made with a Pentax 67.

If we wanted you to take away one thing from this Film Friday review about Velvia 100 it would be its color saturation. Like its forbearer, Velvia 100 inherited a vibrant and rich color palette. Velvia 100 colors will leave you impressed and in love. Put a Velvia 100 slide on a light table and it will give you yellows, reds, blues and greens that you feel like will run out of the frame they are so saturated. This really is Velvia 100’s biggest selling point. There isn’t a film on the market (other than Velvia 50) that will produce as vibrant of colors. If you love photographing sunsets, sunrises, wildflowers, neon signs, verdant forests, the orange rock of deserts or any other colorful natural or urban scene, you cannot go wrong with a roll of Velvia 100 in your camera.

But Velvia 100 is more than a one-trick pony. In addition to its high level of color saturation it has a snappy contrast to it, even more so than its original Velvia precursor. This difference in contrast is especially evident in Velvia 100’s highlights, which are notably brighter than the previous Velvia film. It also has punchy shadows. Velvia 100 does a reasonable job of holding shadow detail but not as well as the original RVP film. Across the rest of the board, notably the midtones, Velvia 100 also has noticeably higher contrast. This makes its details look a bit sharper and its saturation appear a bit more vibrant than other Velvia films.

Velvia 100’s higher levels of contrast play well with its heightened color saturation but be aware that shadows can get deep fairly quickly with this film. Image made with a Pentax 67.

As we noted above, Velvia 100 borrowed some of the improvements that Velvia 100F had introduced back in 2003. Foremost, despite being a full stop faster than the original Velvia film, Velvia 100 actually has finer grain. So not only do you get the benefit of ISO 100 over ISO 50, but there is finer grain to go along with it. Velvia 100 has an RMS rating of 8, compared to the RMS 9 of Velvia 50. Velvia 100 also has the same high resolving powers that characterize the entire Velvia family. So let’s check all this off so far: high saturation, snappy contrast, super fine grain and high detail and resolution. Sounds pretty great so far, right?

But wait! There is just a bit more. Slide films are not normally known for their latitude or exposure versatility. While Velvia 100 isn’t going to do a lot to change this narrative it is worth pointing that it is more flexible when it comes to push processing than Velvia 50. Fuji recommends a maximum limit of a 1 stop push with Velvia 50, allowing you to expose it as if it was an ISO 100 film. Velvia 100 on the other hand can be pushed up to two stops (under the right conditions), allowing it to go as high as ISO 400 if the situation demands.

Furthermore, Velvia 100 has significantly better reciprocity characteristics. Reciprocity failure is the need to add additional exposure when doing super long exposures. All films have it to varying degrees. Velvia 50, for example, needs extra exposure added as soon as your shutter speeds exceed 1 second. By the time you are doing a 30 second exposure with Velvia 50 you need to be adding a full stop and Fuji doesn’t recommend exceeding 1 minute exposures with that film. Velvia 100 though doesn’t require any compensation for exposures up to 1 minute and even after that only slight adjustments of 1/3 stop at 2 minutes, 1/2 stop at 4 minutes and 2/3 stop at 8 minutes. This is better than many color negative films. Go look up Kodak Ektar 100’s reciprocity failure and you will see that Velvia 100 is significantly more predictable at longer exposures.

The excellent reciprocity characteristics of Velvia 100 make a great slide film for low light photography. Image made with a Pentax 67.

So there’s our case for Velvia 100. We have to admit, we came at this review from the perspective of longtime Velvia users. So, while we know and love slide film in general, we definitely have a soft spot for the original Velvia film and today’s Velvia 50. We always looked at Velvia 100 as just a faster version of the same thing and generally opted to grab our sentimental favorite over this capable film stock. But the process of getting to know Velvia 100 has given us some newfound respect for this film and helped show us that there is much more to it than a single stop difference in ISO rating. Hopefully we have helped do the same for you. We know that our future of shooting slide film is going to involve Velvia 100 much more often.

Sadly, as of 2022 Fuji Velvia 100 can no longer be sold in the United States. It is still available in Canada and European markets. If that ever changes you can bet we will carry it once again.

We also found this wonderful comparison between Velvia 50 and Velvia 100 written by Oleg Novikov that we definitely recommend checking out. You can find it at this link.

Meanwhile, enjoy a few more samples of Velvia 100’s brilliance!

Velvia 100 often has a faint magenta bias to it, this can work especially well for sunsets. Image made with a Pentax 67.

It’s hard to find bluer skies than with a good Velvia film. Image made with a Nikon FM2n.

The “what you see is what you get” nature of slide films can be very handy capturing odd color casts, such as in this apocalyptic image of the St. Johns Bridge made during the height of the 2020 wildfires that consumed Oregon. Image made with a Pen… — The “what you see is what you get” nature of slide films can be very handy capturing odd color casts, such as in this apocalyptic image of the St. Johns Bridge made during the height of the 2020 wildfires that consumed Oregon. Image made with a Pentax 67.

Film Friday - April 9th, 2021. Fuji Velvia 100