Goodbye Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros

Fujifilm appears to have stopped producing its Neopan 100 Acros black-and-white film. I’ve lost count of how many stocks Fujifilm has now discontinued. It’s the Fujifilmpocalypse!

The company has teased the film community with the possibility that it might resurrect some of its black-and-white films, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

What I like most about Acros is how images come back with lovely grays across the tonal spectrum, no matter the light. Many ISO 100 films I’ve used tend to go high contrast in direct sunlight, blowing out highlights, which makes me nuts. Not so Acros. It’s also extremely fine grained, so much so that if I told you I shot digital and converted to black and white you might believe me.

I’ve fed Acros into cameras ranging from a simple box with a meniscus lens to my Nikon F2 with good Nikkor glass attached. I’ve metered precisely and wildly misguessed exposure. Acros handles it all with aplomb. Here, look:

1949 Dodge pickup

Argus A-Four, 2010.

Lighthouse

Argus A2B, 2011.

Headless

Ansco Shur Shot, 2012.

Trunk

Voigtlander Bessa (w/ 110 mm f/4.5 Voigtar), 2012.

Monon Fitness Center

Agfa Clack, 2012.

Black Dog Books

Ansco B-2 Speedex, 2012.

Jet

Yashica-D, 2013.

Moore Road

Yashica-D, 2016.

Garrett

Nikon F2AS, 135mm f/3.5 AI Nikkor, 2017.

I just shot my last roll of Acros in 35mm, in my old Argus A-Four. The film broke as I started to rewind. In a dark bag I wound the film into a black film canister, and then sent it to Dwayne’s with instructions to open the can in the darkroom. I have one more roll of Acros, in 120, chilling in the fridge that I’ll probably put through my Yashica-D when its turn comes in Operation Thin the Herd.

But then that’s probably it. And it’s a shame, because this is very good film.

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Comments

24 responses to “Goodbye Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros”

  1. Paul Avatar

    We still have some (limited) stock of the 35mm! But yes, it’s on the way out :-(
    Grab some while you can…

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yes, leftover stocks are still for sale here and there, and you’d better move fast if you want some!

  2. Peter Paar Avatar
    Peter Paar

    Have you tried Illford Delta 100 Professional film?

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      No, but I’ve shot T-Max 100 and like it. Either of these film should be a reasonable substitute for Acros. It’s just that I’ve shot a lot more Acros and am used to it, and will miss it.

  3. bodegabayf2 Avatar

    I’ve always liked this film. Sad. I thought I had shot all of mine up, but found a few rolls hiding in the back of the refrigerator.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Score! Will this be one you search for refrigerated leftover stock, as you did Plus-X?

      1. bodegabayf2 Avatar

        Yes, I think I will. I just bought 10 rolls of frozen Plus-X this weekend.

  4. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    I was a long time Verichrome Pan fan, for 120, and they killed it twice, had to bring it back the first time due to “professional demand” (guys like me, calling and bitching them out; and I heard guys like Avedon and Skrebneski were bitching too). Also been a long time Tri-X fan, but Tri-X 400, not the 320 “pro”. I believe they still make the 400 120 Tri-X, but I recently bought up a bunch of the HP-5 because I figured I’ll need to support the company that still has an investment in trying to furnish films to the pro and prosumer market. Thank you Ilford, I’ll have to lean how to use your stuff again.

    BTW, after Verichrome Pan, I always loved the original Ilford FP-4, before it changed to “plus” or “super” or whatever it did. After it changed, the film base was way too grey, making getting sparkling highlights a bit of a problem; But I’m will to try them again. This “grayness” was also the reason I hated Plus-X, and always had. The processed neg looked “life-less”, and always did, since my first processing experiments when I was 14!

    For years, studios I worked for that were shooting 120, were using Agfapan 100, at one time we were buying it for $1.80 a roll! Great stuff on a really clear base. Someone told me, don’t know how true it is, that the Rollei film sold by Freestyle is old style Agfapan, but it’s like 9 bucks a roll!

    As for any of the “Max” or “Delta” films, I bet you could ask 1000 professionals that shot advertising, especially of people with a concern for skin tones, and very few of them ever changed over to those films…what they gained in tighter grain, they lost in skin-tone reproduction, heel-to-toe reproduction,and changing the actually agitation and processing sequence. This was when Kodak was “eating it’s own seed-corn”, by introducing more and more films, that were just dividing their piece of the pie into smaller bits with zero increased sales. No one cared about grain, if you did, you shot a larger format! Kodak was delivering stuff no one was asking for, when they turned into a “marketing” company, that happened to sell photographica.

    The T-max and Delta films are like CD’s and Mp-3’s, vs. vinyl. When you define everything through scientific measurement, it “should” be better, but for some reason, when you physically judge the results against the old stuff, the old stuff is just “better”!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      There are people who think Plus-X and Verichrome Pan are the same film. FWIW I miss VP a lot too. It is the black-and-white look I always want. Nothing duplicates it.

      I really like T-Max 400. I shot it all over Ireland 2 years ago.

  5. M.B. Henry Avatar

    These are amazing pictures – love the one with the statue. So sad about film really being on the way out!!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Kodak seems still to be committed to film. Ilford too. It’s just Fujifilm that appears to be pulling out of the market.

  6. mike Avatar

    Very nice tribute to this fine old film. It has always been a favorite of mine, partly because it works so well with Rodinal. I was able to find ten rolls recently and am looking forward to a long goodbye.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Hopefully you got them at a fair price! Every time Fuji discontinues a film the prices soar on remaining stock.

      1. TBM3FAN Avatar
        TBM3FAN

        I did too and being stock the 10 pk. will show up on Friday.

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          Excellent!

  7. Photography Journal Blog Avatar

    Should we pull out our “Repent, the End is Near!” signs :)

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Fujifilm sure should at any rate!

  8. Joe shoots resurrected cameras Avatar

    :( Yeah it’s been out of stock for months now, I wasn’t going to pay inflated prices on someone’s personal stock. I never got into it really, so let the people who love it snap it up.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      This was the first modern ISO 100 b/w I shot and so I’m used to it. But I’m sure I’ll just switch to T-Max 100 now and move on.

  9. Marcus Avatar

    My favourite photo is the one of the headless statue. Could be an Atget photo from France!
    I never tried Acros, but it looks good. I use Tri-X 400 when I use black and white (not so often these days) and when I was learning darkroom skills I used Ilford Delta 100 in 120. That was quite good. I’m just hoping that Kodak will get Ektachrome back in shops before Fuji kills Provia 100F.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I like that one too! I took it with an old box camera. Old boxes can do surprising work! But old boxes aren’t great choices for speedy Tri-X because of their typical aperture and shutter speed. ISO 100 films with good latitude rule the day.

  10. Sam Avatar

    Awesome shots! Comes as no surprise though that a company named “Fujifilm” is killing off yet another classic.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      The increasingly misnamed Fujifilm, you mean.

  11. […] Goodbye Neopan Jim Grey mulls the loss of this much loved film. Read more over at his down the road blog […]

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