I should not own this film. 私はこの映画を所有すべきではない。

Five years ago, Fuji discontinued sale of their Velvia 100 film in the United States due to a compound in the film being designated as toxic.

Personally, this sucked eggs. I liked the daylight color balance of Velvia 100, and if I couldn’t use Kodachrome any more (discontinued in 2010), this would be my next choice (with Ektachrome a close third).

And unlike print film or B&W film, slide film doesn’t retain its color balance after its expiration date. If improperly stored, the colors can shift, leaving me with wonky magentas and turquoises that I don’t want.

Dang it. I wanted to use this Velvia product in my Pentacon Six TL and Nikon F2S cameras for the Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” experience.

But I can’t do that if the film’s not fresh.

I get one shot at photographing this train, and I can’t ask the train to back up and give me a second take.

Well … I have an idea. And this idea should not work, but I’m going with it anyways.

Take a look at this.

Your eyes do not deceive you.

See, Fuji stopped making Velvia 100 for United States sale …

But they still manufacture the film, as long as it’s sold in Japan.

And … there’s a Japanese version of Amazon out there.

So I’m sure you can figure out what I did here.

Yeps.

I purchased a pro-pack (five 120 rolls) and a 35mm pack and had it shipped from Japan to America.

And the expiration date on this lot? October 2027. Daisy fresh.

So yeah, I know I said two years ago that I had fired my final roll of Fuji Velvia film ever …

But let’s just call that my final roll of American-distributed Fuji film ever.

The plan now is to use one of the pro-pack rolls as a “test roll” this weekend, just to see if I’ve got good stuff. If I do, then I have my film stock for the Big Boy photo shoot.

See, when I get an idea in my head …

I DO NOT MESS AROUND.