The Midgley Wedding on Fuji Pro 800Z & 160S

I had the honour of being invited to the wedding of my good friends last weekend. Leah & Midge got wed at a lovelly hotel called East Lodge near Matlock in the Derbyshire countryside. A lovely setting, and the sun was shining to boot.

I wasn’t the official photographer, but of course I took my Nikon F5 with my 80-200mm stuck to the front of it. I was trying out Fuji Professional 800Z for the first time as I’ve never used it before and I intend to use it for a wedding I’m shooting later this month. Any good photographer knows not to try out a film for the first time for an event for which the photos are crucial!I also used Fuji Pro 160S rated at EI125. I’ve used this film before though and find it, too, to be impeccable.

I rated the 800Z at EI400 to get additional shadow detail. The sun was shining bright, and although the ceremony was at 16:30 (which made the light nicely cross directional to some extent) there was still lots of shadows to contend with. Again, as I wasn’t the official photographer I didn’t want to use my flash from a far irritating both the guests and the official photographer, and obviously I didn’t have the freedom to move Leah & Midge to where I would want them. The official photographer (Steve Bradshaw Photography) did a nice job of posing them for the attendees every now and again though, which I thought was a really nice touch, so I was able to utilise one or two good opportunities.

So how did the Fuji 800Z perform? Very well I thought. The white dress looks lovely and white, as do the flowers, and the skin tones are spot on. 800Z is famed for being a little more punchy and contrasty than normal speed films, so the cheeks look a tiny bit reddish at times, but all in all I think the photos look great. I’ve only had 6″x4″ prints done but I’d be intrigued to see how they look enlarged.

The prints below are some of my favourite shots taken with the 800Z at EI400 (Scans 1 – 9). The rest are with the 160S :