Fuji Industrial 100 One Roll Review – Shooting Film and Eating Tuna – By Robert

An old friend of mine, Emmett once told me of his policy of picking tuna when choosing a lunchtime sandwich at Tesco. His rationale is that sooner or later tuna fish will become so rare that prices of it will rise so high as to make it prohibitively expensive for the general population to afford it more than a few times a year. I told him I didn’t really like tuna that much and he agreed but said “I just want to be able to tell my as yet unborn kids what it tasted like.” Dark right? But weirdly understandable.

Years later I’m stood in front of the till at Parallax Photo about to pay Sam for my rolls of film when I asked him “Can you pick a wild card? Something a bit different.” Sam did his best Rachel Riley, picking some from the top and a few from the bottom. He told me a bit about each one but recommended the Fuji Industrial 100 and I just said “Yeah. That sounds good.” Partly ‘cos that’s how I roll but also because Emmett’s words suddenly recurred to me. “Always pick the tuna.” I thought about the bloodbath at Fujifilm where every month another line of film is being slaughtered and wondered if this might be the last time I get a chance to shoot this particular line. I paid and left, forgetting to ask what industrial film even meant.

The Fuji Industrial 100 was the first roll I put into the Olympus OM10 on the day of the Barbican photo walk. I tried it with a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a 28mm f/2.3. The day was bright but the sky had a thin blanket of cloud which cleared a few times to reveal the odd splashes of blue. I briefly considered pushing it but was talked out of it. Shooting it at box speed would be a good reference point to use in case I decide to shoot it again at which point I could then better appreciate the effects of pushing it a stop or two.

As the photo walk ended at the Old Red Cow the sun decided to show itself. It was the early evening and the start of the Golden Hour which the film really reacted well to. Skin tones came to life and the grain was smooth and fine.

The film seemed to react well to all skin tones.

The Fuji Industrial 100 really picked out the subtle pink in Lucia’s hair

I like the results from this film. With half decent light it’s very usable and in the sun it’s a lot better than I thought it would be. I think I’ll use it again as it’s a quite decent film in its own right, especially in summer but also because you’ll never know when you’ll next get to shoot it again.

You can find a curated collection of thought provoking analogue art and info about a range of workshops and photo walks on my Instagram – londoncameraproject

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