Stephen Dowling, the man behind the Zorki Photo blog, is putting out his own film–Zorki Photo Mono 100. Considering the name, this is an ISO 100 black and white film that is designed for 35mm film cameras. But according to the blog post, it’s an emulsion that is being given a different life–or at least that’s what it seems from the phrasing. Zorki Photo is one of the many new films that have been announced this year along with many other black and white films like the new Ilford SFX 200, Bergger Pancro 400 and Film Ferrania P30 Alpha.
According to the announcement blog post:
Made by a leading film producer with many decades of film-making experience, Zorki Photo is a tried-and-trusted panchromatic emulsion with a traditional feel. It has biting contrast and a traditional grain structure that gives a pleasing, classic black-and-white film look. It’s a film I’ve used for some years, and I love it.
While rated at 100 ISO, the film can also be pulled to 50 or pushed to 400 ISO, (with a corresponding change in development times).
You can either take your films into a lab offering black-and-white development or develop at home – it can be developed in all common developers, including Kodak Xtol, Ilford Perceptol and Tetenal.
The film is going to be available for purchase worldwide and it will be sold via the Zorki Photo shop–but that has yet to go live. Best of all, it’s going to be £4, which isn’t that expensive when you convert it to American Dollar units. Let’s hope that it stays that way.
You can check out more about the announcement on the Zorki Photo Blog.
So, film photographers: are you as excited as I am? Every single day in this industry I hear from other journalists that no one cares about film any more and that it’s going to die. They tell me that it’s just a fad. Well, if it’s just a fad, then it’s one that I’m going to enjoy.
