Great news! There’s another black and white film out there. That’s right. And it’s the Leica of films! Yes, Leica is coming out with a black and white 35mm film. It even comes in a cool Leica box! Ok, so it appears to be the same as Adox HR-50 but WHO CARES! At ten bucks a roll it’s a dollar more than Tri-X, but did I say that it comes in a cool Leica box.
According to Leica: “To honour a century of 35mm photography, Leica Camera AG is introducing a high-resolution black-and-white film with enhanced spectral sensitivity.”
“Leica MONOPAN 50 boasts an ultra-fine grain and super-panchromatic sensitivity. The film can be processed in all black-and-white developers. Its ultra-high resolution produces shots with extraordinary sharpness and remarkable tonal value reproduction. The low light sensitivity of ISO 50, combined with our fast M-Lenses, makes shots with a wide aperture possible even in bright lighting conditions – for that unmistakable Leica bokeh.”
And for even more details you can check out Leica’s press release here:
It sounds like a spiffy film, boasting “an impressive resolution of up to 280 line pairs per millimetre. With superpanchromatic sensitivity of up to 780 nm, it ensures remarkable sharpness and an exceptional tonal range.” It won’t replace Tri-X for me. I’m happy with my one film/one developer combo, but I think this is an important development and Leica should be commended for all it is doing to keep film photography alive. They currently make three film cameras, the M6, MA and MP and although they are very expensive people are buying them. And perhaps with the launch of Leica Monopan more people will want to try film and even think about getting into the darkroom!
So even if this is a re-badged film I am celebrating the good news. Beats all the other news, that’s for sure!!!!
Oh and by the way today is International Asteroid Day. Just thought you should know.
Stay well,
Michael