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Fujifilm Shares Why ACROS II Is Coming in Only 100 ISO for Now

Chris Gampat
No Comments
06/20/2019
3 Mins read
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Last Updated on 10/01/2020 by Chris Gampat

Fujifilm ACROS II 100 was announced and will be hitting the market ideally later this year, and we found out why it’s back.

“And Gen Z…,” explains Manny Almeida, Fujifilm North America Division President for Imaging when asked about whether Millenials are really responsible for bringing back Acros film. “It’s a shock to us also. We discontinued ACROS because there was such a small demand.” He continued to state that they don’t believe they’ll be generating enormous demand for it, but that something didn’t feel right with Fujifilm’s discontinuation of Acros back in 2018. ACROS 100 film was the last black and white film emulsion left in the Fujifilm portfolio of products. The reason for its discontinuation? Diminished sales.

The ACROS film simulation from the current series of GF products

Fujifilm’s marketing efforts around negative and positive films have been a little of display banner advertising and a lot through their Instagram channel @fujifilm_profilm. Much of what’s seen there is a celebration of the company’s PRO 400H emulsion and the pastel colors it offers. But otherwise, not much has been done to push Provia, Velvia, Superia, and obviously ACROS. Indeed, Fujifilm also discontinued Natura 1600 last year–which hurt our staffers who use film on a near regular basis the most. Since then, companies like Lomography, SilberSaltz35, Kodak, and others have announced new film emulsions and a return of others. Considering how much Fujifilm is still all about the analog world and printing photos, this seemed really odd.

A big part of Fujifilm’s money in imaging comes from what they call giftable print products. This includes items like wall decor, unique printing frames, and even custom made blankets that consumers can pick up at the Fujifilm Wonder Photo store. On top of all that, there is the absolute juggernaut that is Instax. Nine and 12-year-old girls who started with the Instax Mini have evolved into adults who want new formats and a digital/analog fusion with Instax Mini. This is why the Fujifilm Instax Mini LiPlay was created. This targets an older audience that goes for the giftable print products and that may also have an interest in products like the previously discontinued Acros film. “It didn’t feel right,” states Mr. Almeida while commenting on how Fujifilm worked with all of these other analog products but then decided to discontinue their own Black and White SKU.

ACROS 100 shot in the Fujifilm GW690 III

“It’s not going to make this company richer at all, but there were a lot of consumers that were loyal…There are a lot of films we’re just not going to be able to bring back.”

With Fujifilm’s introduction of the new Fujifilm ACROS II, the company went the route of creating a new product and not just trying to revive the old emulsion. ACROS ISO 100 was always their best seller of all the black & white emulsions, and when it comes to long term stability, the company decided that ISO 100 would be the most feasible. “We’re coating on demand, and 800 and 1600 are the most unstable films,” states Mr. Almeida. “We’re able to coat a large quantity, put it into a deep freeze and the emulsion does not change…the engineers felt like we couldn’t do that with a high ISO film.” He continued that they added new raw materials with the reformulation. Additionally, the new emulsion had to pass certain phase gates and quality tests to be approved.

What’s more, Fujifilm would have a tough time competing in the ISO 400 range with so many other products out there. The idea of not wanting to swim with sharks is quite a safe one; in a similar vein, it’s part of the reason Leica is still alive today.

Fujifilm Acros 100 35mm film shot on the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 Milvus

We’re not sure when it will be available in the US. When Fujifilm ACROS II launches in Japan this October, it will come in both 35mm and 120 emulsions. After this, Fujifilm has plans to launch the film market by market. “I think there is enough demand here that we’ll most likely be bringing it back.” Mr. Almeida reasoned. In regards to the US, Manny isn’t sure about it being available by the holiday season of 2019.

Acros II black and white camera film film emulsion fujifilm Acros II instax manny
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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