Fujifilm Acros 100 was pronounced pretty much dead in March of last year, during what appears to have been a mass cull of their film over the last few years. But then, just a few short months after its demise, the announcement came that Fujifilm was going to reintroduce some of their black and white films, due to an overwhelming demand from film photographers. In June of this year, Fujifilm announced that the first black and white film to come back was going to be Fujifilm Across 100II. Technically, it’s not a rerelease, but a new version, to get around the availability (or a lack thereof) of raw materials in the original. Now, it’s set for release later this month.
Japan will see the new film first, releasing on November 22nd. Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100II will be available in two formats, 35mm and “browny size” (120 roll film). It’s a black and white film with an ISO of 100. It uses Fujifilm’s “Super Fine-Particle Technology” (SFPT), which they say increases the level of sharpness in the images while still having that nice organic grain texture.
– Fujifilm They say the SFPT better retains highlight gradation and detail over the original Neopan Acros 100 film. They even make the claim that it has “the world’s highest level of sharpness”. It’d be nice to test that claim out against something like Kodak TMAX or Ilford PANF+. Both formats are currently listed for sale in Japan on Rakuten for 1,045 yen, which equates to a little under $10 per roll), although Fujifilm has not yet released official pricing. There’s no word yet on exactly when Neopan Acros 100II will come to the rest of the world or how much it will cost, but I think we can probably expect it to come at some point during 2020. I would hope sooner rather than later now that it seems to be in full production. Anybody else looking forward to shooting with this? [via Popular Photography]
