amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I just saw a news release that some might find interesting, Fujifilm is planning to re-introduce Neopan Acros black & white film soon. It will be available in both 35mm and 120mm sizes, at least initially (maybe sheet film in the future?).

I used to use the stuff a lot and 100 ISO Acros is GORGEOUS stuff. I've still got a few 35mm rolls of the original Acros squirreled away in the freezer. Supposedly this will be a new formula, I just hope they don't change it too much!

I also see that Kodak is planning to once again offer Ektachrome E200 transparency film in 120 size. They re-intro'd it in 35mm rolls a year or two ago. That's another film I used a lot in the past.

Might be a good time to pick up a medium format film camera. There are some real bargains around. (just don't expect an electronic viewfinder, any "auto ISO" setting or an LCD screen to "chimp" your images!)

I'm looking forward to getting out the Koni-Omegaflex with it's 58mm, 90mm and 135mm lenses.

For those who have never heard of it... "Film" is stuff we used to put in our cameras to take pictures, way back during the Jurrasic period. It's kinda like a long strip of pixels... or maybe a rolled up memory card.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Interesting that Fuji and Kodak are putting out any "new" film products. Considering the business dynamics and sea change of film > digital > mirrorless > smartphone photography. It seems the UHH is not all-knowing.

I'll get excited when Kodak re-introduces Plus-x and Panatomic-x films.

pesfls Loc: Oregon, USA

Interesting and an apt description of film. I still have two working film bodies and good glass. Lucky me. Good news about Neopan.

alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

"For those who have never heard of it... "Film" is stuff we used to put in our cameras to take pictures, way back during the Jurrasic period. It's kinda like a long strip of pixels... or maybe a rolled up memory card."

Love this definition, especially the "rolled up memory card."

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Fuji says the new one is even sharper! Yep, its always a good time to shoot film, I would never want to find/expect an electronic viewfinder anyway!

BebuLamar

May be they should make a film camera with the EVF.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

The new Neopan Acros will be released this year on the Japanese market only; it may be a while until this film will be available elsewhere, or perhaps not at all. However, the older version of Acros is still easily obtainable, as it was discontinued only mid last year.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Would it be full frame or crop? Some body had to aSk

BebuLamar

Of course it must be full frame. (It may have the mirror though).

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

Before everyone gets too excited, I read that Fuji is planning on releasing the new film in Japan and then perhaps to regions where they feel there is demand. So it might be a little while...

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

I stocked up on Acros 135 and 120 a couple of years ago when the price premium over the competition was still reasonable.

It's truly a remarkable film in many ways. It has an unusual lack of reciprocity failure well beyond other conventional and tabular grain films - no correction up to 120 seconds and only 1/2 stop between 120 and 1000 seconds.

I look forward to trying Acros II. I just hope they don't overprice it.

I would be even happier to see them release Neopan 400 again. I had only just started to get interested in it when they discontinued it.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Glad to see it but I'd rather have Neopan 400.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I betcha some of the biggest retailers like B&H and Adorama will import batches of it themselves.

I really don't find some revival of interest in film surprising because I live in Silicon Valley, where a lot of techies spend 6 days a week, 12 hours a day staring at a computer, not to mention having at least one "smart phone" on hand the rest of the time.... There's a thriving "film only" cult here, made up of people who don't want to spend any more time than necessary with a computer, which is essentially what a DSLR or mirrorless is.



I always was pretty happy with Tri-X or HP5, when I had a dark room set up to soup it myself and make enlargements.

Without a dark room, for convenient processing and scanning I switched to XP2 or something similar. It's a bit low contrast, but can be tweaked easily in Photoshop.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Except it seems many people who shoot film today just scan it and put it on the computer.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

That’s actually the best of both worlds. The amount of time I spend post processing a scanned B&W negative is minimal.