I can’t be the only person who expected a little more when teased like that, Harman!
But I am happy for the folks who love to shoot redscale film. It’s a very cool effect, and it can be tricky to make at home from medium format film.
The neat thing about redscaling is that you can turn any colour film “inside-out,” including the unusual emulsions like Lomochrome Turquoise and Kodak Aerochrome: analog.cafe/r/the-redscale….
Leica describes their 35mm film as ultra-fine-grained, super-panchromatic, suitable for shooting wide-open in daylight with “Noctilux-M, Summilux-M, or Summicron-M lenses.”
There’s no release date.
Despite being addressed as “genuine” in the release, the likelihood of Leica secretly owning a film factory is low. Leica has previously rebranded Fujifilm Instax film for their Sofort cameras.
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The internet is already sharing jokes about the film costing $40/roll. Leica is no stranger to using the power of its brand to charge more for third-party products.
However, film rebrands aren’t as simple as slapping a label on a canister; there’s a lot Leica could do to make their emulsion unique (see analog.cafe/r/who-made-you…). And it’s one more powerful voice promoting film photography.
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This page counts all the major photographic brands and makes sold today: analog.cafe/app/all-film. It shows 270. I’m now waiting for it, impatiently, to change. Maybe it’ll turn 275 this year. Or more?
New films (TBD) from Harman and CineStill + ULF orders!
During the past few days, both Harman and CineStill posted teasers of their upcoming releases; meanwhile, Ilford is now taking orders for ultra-large format (ULF) film.
Harman’s tease on Treads (threads.com/@harmanphoto/p…, and elsewhere) shares a date, June 17th, as a launch spot for their upcoming something. Word on the street is that it’s an update to their Phoenix emulsion (analog.cafe/r/harman-phoen…). Let’s see if that’s correct, just a few days left!
As some of you may know, Harman uses the Ilford brand name to sell black-and-white film they make (if this is a surprise, read this: analog.cafe/r/harman-phoen…). Anyways, they are now taking orders for odd and very large film sizes at your local retailers, see: ilfordphoto.com/ultra-larg…
Lastly, CineStill has teased three upcoming announcements with a cryptic “+” graphic on Instagram (instagram.com/p/DKft2OBMLG…) — some photographers are guessing that it may have something to do with a positive (slide) film. Let’s see how that pans out.
By the way, I’ve asked CineStill about Kodak’s latest announcement that could affect their products — but I haven’t heard back. Perhaps they’re busy prepping for the launch. Context: analog.cafe/comments/6lnk
Aside from supporting people and businesses you like, rebranded films may be sold where the original emulsion is not. Respooled films can also sell for less because they may have a different logistic path and margins. For example, Kosmo Foto Mono is cheaper than Fomapan 100 here in Canada. More info: analog.cafe/r/who-made-you…
Some films that are commonly thought as straight rebrands in fact are not. For example, see the comparisons of all daylight 800 colour films (and the easily recognizable differences between them): analog.cafe/r/all-the-iso-…
I’m in the process of re-creating the KIE look in digital.
I have an Olympus OM-1 that I’ve converted to full-spectrum, with a bunch of in-body clip-in filters (from stcoptics.com) for various frequency cut-offs.
I bought a “protection filter” in the clip-in format, and am planning to mount various yellow filters on it. I have a 25mm diamond hole saw, which will make the size needed by the clip-in filter holder.
At that point, I’ll have infrared in the blue channel, and IR+red and IR+green. I’m planning on using ImageMagick to do channel subtraction and re-assignment, so that IR will be magenta, red will be yellow, and green will be cyan.
Then I won’t have to worry about digging ancient film out of the freezer to get my KIE fix!
Here’s an example of a precision focus with the Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB lens that wouldn’t be otherwise possible to get accurately with the vintage lens.
Omnar Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB is a modern recreation of the classic Jena lens formula from 1934.
The founders, Chris (of Skyllaney Opto-Mechanics) and Hamish (of 35mmc.com), have been making premium machined brass rehousings of classic lenses since 2021. Bertele is their first project to utilize an advanced focus correction mechanism (FLB) with new glass elements crafted using a 91-year-old formula by Dr. Ludwig Bertele. Designed, manufactured, hand-finished, and hand-assembled in the UK.
The Omnar founders’ love for the Bertele formula had originally brought them together. But unlike their other creations (see: analog.cafe/comments/l1rc), the nearly century-old glass is not suitable for rehousing. The original design suffers from degraded coating, easily-scratchable glass, and focus recompilation errors that yield soft images at medium apertures and near focus.
Omnar Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB resolves these recompilation errors using the Floating Lens Block design, which mechanically nudges the elements into an optimal position for tack-sharp focus and smooth, classic bokeh, without any changes to the original lens formula. The multi-coated glass elements are made anew, encased in a premium metal chassis for the Leica M-Mount (which helps further resolve the close-focus recompilation).
Bertele 50mm 𝒇2 MC FLB, starting at £2750, will be available at
Jollylook is making affordable mechanical instant film backs for the Mamiya RB67, RZ67, and other MF cameras.
Last month, the company announced the completion of their hand-crankable DIY instant film development units with an Instax Wide back — today, they’re working on adapting the same technology to medium format film cameras.
One of the nicest things about film cameras is that many of them require no batteries or have no electronics at all. But that’s not the case for most instant film cameras, which at least have a motorized film ejection mechanism. The peel-apart film is very hard to come by, so one of the very few options for going instant-batteryless is Jollylook’s system.
Jollylook’s camera design (eg, analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…) relies on intricate cardboard and plywood assembly that may not always give reliable results. However, the plastic+metal film rollers & frame work nicely in DIY projects (like analog.cafe/r/building-the…). We’ll soon find out how well this technology holds up for medium format cameras. If successful, it may become an affordable way to quickly convert your medium format camera into an instant film camera.
Note: I’ve reached out to CineStill for comment on June 2nd and will update this post once/if I hear back.
There’s still no word from either company about this, but I’m sure we’ll know soon enough what the future holds for Kodak Vision 3, rejmet, and CineStill.
This is great, and I am right there with you. Been battling my own depression and demons, and photography can help me step away, step back, and look at what is going on. This sounds simple, but it really isn’t. I also agree that the task of going through thousands of digital images is daunting! I still have a ton to cull and catalog. Thanks for this post — seriously.
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