Leica is launching its own 35mm film

Leica has announced the first 35mm film produced under its own name, Monopan 50. It’s an ultra-fine grain black-and-white film, and will cost $10 per 36-exposure roll when it goes on sale on August 21st.

Leica says that the new film is produced in Germany, though wouldn’t name a manufacturer when asked. The specs, right down to every curve of the spectral sensitivity chart, are an exact match for Adox HR-50 — manufactured in Germany — so this might be nothing more than a rebrand of those rolls. Adox HR-50 costs $7.49 for 36 exposures, so you’ll have to decide if you’re happy paying a couple bucks extra for Leica’s beautiful retro packaging.

As the name suggests, Monopan 50 has an ISO rating of 50, a low sensitivity intended for wide-aperture photography, which the company says is also a nod to the low-sensitivity film available when the 35mm Leica I was introduced in 1925.

With 280 line pairs per millimeter, this is a high-resolution film, while panchromatic sensitivity of up to 780nm enables both a wide tonal range and the option to use Monopan 50 for infrared photography.

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