This is the final part of my series covering every single one of the 180+ photographic film stocks still being made today.

I’ll be breaking down the numbers with a bit of commentary below but as ever, please do let me know if you find anything that needs updating, I am only human, regardless of what the rumours might lead you to believe.

Here’s what’s covered below:

Unique vs “rebranded” films

I consider rebranded film stocks to be those that are made by Company A and sold under another name by Company B. Freestyle Photo’s Arista.EDU line and Cinestill’s BWXX are probably the most well-known examples of this.

For this series, I have included “colour effect” films such as those from Dubblefilm, KONO!, Revolog and Yodica as part of my “rebranded” definition. This gives us ~50 rebrands from a total of ~180 stocks.

However, if we consider those colour effect listed above to be unique in their own right – i.e. they are not simply variations of a colour negative film that produce identical results – the number of rebranded film stocks drops to below 20.

~130 unique film stocks still in production or ~160 unique film stocks still in production. Cut it how you will, that’s a lot of choice.

All this to lead to a little rant…

I’ve been keeping tabs on the community’s reaction to this list since the first part was released back in April and I’d like to share my frustrations at some of the negativity I’ve encountered around a more than a bit of cynical commentary that “most of them are rebranded films anyway“.

UGH.

I’ve tried to deal with this in various places but here seems good for the definitive message that first of all, you are wrong. The numbers don’t lie.

Second and rather more important is that there are now, always have been and always will be rebranded film stocks. The film that you used to get at the mom and pop drug store in backwater Connecticut? Rebranded. The “exotic” colour film you got from a weird sounding company called Mitsubishi back in the 70s?  Rebranded.

I honestly don’t see it as a negative point that there are rebranded film stocks out there, or that their numbers are growing. Not everyone has millions to build a film manufacturing facility from scratch and the fact that there are people out there investing their own time, money and effort to pay another business to rebrand their films tells me that there’s a demand for new film stocks – companies do not rebrand for free.

You’ll also find that the vast majority of – if not all – rebranded film stock companies feed their money back into innovating new film photography products which they have – or wish to – bring to market. This is a good thing and not “just making a quick buck”.

If a volume of 50 or even 20 rebranded film stocks from a list of 180 is upsetting, I would like to suggest three effective courses of action:

  • Ignore them.
  • Spend your time and energy on shooting film and supporting “true” film manufacturers. Help the market grow and encourage new industry entrants who can give you new film stocks.
  • Better still, put the same energy into making that happen as you did into moaning about rebrands. We’d all love to see a new (from scratch) film manufacturer come to market. Chop chop, we’re waiting.

Either option is better than losing your rag on the internet.

Rant ends, normal service resumed.

Total film stocks vs total formats

The breakdown of formats within the available film stocks is interesting. As one would expect it leans heavily towards 35mm format film but in recent years the number of large format choices has grown substantially. Shanghai are now back after an apparent 12-18 month break in production and offering an extended number of formats, as are Bergger. Both Kodak and ILFORD offer standard large format sizes and continue their custom of annual ordering windows for lesser used formats. ADOX just announced a new large format film!

Ignoring instant film for the sake of simplicity, here’s how the films covered in this series break down by type and format:

Types / Formats110120127135135 Bulk6204×5
BW (negative)16028316227
BW (reversal/slide)2
Motion Picture BW (negative)61
BW (paper negative)112
Color (negative)214563
Color (reversal)15143
Motion picture color (negative)264
482315821235

35mm film’s domination of format and black and white’s domination of film type is not surprising.

Most shocking to me is the reduction in both colour negative and colour slide (reversal) films. The last three years have seen nearly a dozen colour film stocks disappear as Fuji have scaled back both volume and choice.

Slide film looks to be in a very precarious position, with only Fuji and Rera supporting fresh stocks. This list will, of course, be updated as soon as Kodak’s new EKTACHROME 100 gets a firm release later this year.

Manufacturers by the numbers

Pretty self-explanatory.

ManufacturerFilm Count
ADOX4
Agfa1
Agfaphoto2
Arista3
Bergger1
Cinestill3
Dubblefilm4
Film Ferrania1
Film Washi10
Foma Bohemia5
Fujifilm16
Hillvale1
ILFORD (Harman Technology)13
Japan Camera Hunter1
Kodak21
KONO!9
Kosmo Foto1
Leica2
Lomography14
Luckyfilm (感花)1
Maco1
Oriental Photo Industrial2
ORWO6
Pictoriographica1
Rera3
Revolog13
Rollei11
Shanghai1
Silberra6
Streetcandy1
Svema (Astrum)7
Tasma1
Ultrafine7
Yodica7
180

Every single film stock still made today

And here’s the complete breakdown. Just tap in your search term(s) – name, type or ISO to automatically filter the table. Due to size constraints, the table is best viewed on a desktop/laptop or tablet in landscape orientation, although you can scroll horizontally on smaller devices.

The name of each film links back to it’s individual listing.

NameTypeISO35mm120SheetOtherNative Process
ADOX CMS 20 IIBW (negative)20YYYBW
ADOX HR-50BW (negative)50YYYBW reversal
ADOX Scala 160BW (reversal)160YBW reversal
ADOX SILVERMAX 100BW (negative)100YBW
Agfa Copex RapidBW (negative)10YBW
Agfaphoto APX 100BW (negative)100YBW
Agfaphoto APX 400BW (negative)400YBW
Arista.EDU ULTRA 100BW (negative)100YYYBW
Arista.EDU ULTRA 200BW (negative)200YYYBW
Arista.EDU ULTRA 400BW (negative)400YYYBW
BERGGER Pancro 400BW (negative)400YYYBW
CineStill Xpro C-41 50 (50D)Motion Picture Color (negative)50YYECN-2
CineStill Xpro C-41 800 Tungsten (800T)Motion Picture Color (negative)800YYECN-2
Cinestill BWXXMotion Picture BW (negative)250YBW
dubblefilm BUBBLEGUMColor (negative)200YC-41
dubblefilm MONSOONColor (negative)200YC-41
dubblefilm MOONSTRUCKColor (negative)200YC-41
dubblefilm SUNSTROKEColor (negative)200YC-41
FERRANIA P30 AlphaBW (negative)80YBW
Film Washi ABW (negative)12YBW
Film Washi BBW (negative)125YBW
Film Washi DBW (negative)500YBW
Film Washi GBW (negative)80YBW
Film Washi KBW (negative)100YBW
Film Washi PBW (negative)100YYBW
Film Washi SBW (negative)50YYYBW
Film Washi VBW (negative)100YBW
Film Washi WBW (negative)25YYYBW
Film Washi ZBW (negative)400YBW
FOMAPAN 100 ClassicBW (negative)100YYYBW
FOMAPAN 200 CreativeBW (negative)200YYYBW
FOMAPAN 400 ActionBW (negative)400YYBW
FOMAPAN R 100BW (reversal)100YBW
RETROPAN 320 SoftBW (negative)320YYYBW
Fujifilm Fujicolor C200Color (negative)200YYC-41
Fujifilm Fujicolor 業務記錄用 ISO 100 / Fujifilm Industrial 100Color (negative)100YC-41
Fujifilm INSTAX Mini ColorColor instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Fujifilm INSTAX Mini MonochromeBW instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Fujifilm INSTAX Square ColorColor instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Fujifilm INSTAX Wide ColorColor instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Fujifilm INSTAX Wide MonochromeBW instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Fujifilm NEOPAN 400CN ProfessionalBW (negative)400YYC-41
Fujifilm NEOPAN ACROS 100BW (negative)100YYYBW
Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 400HColor (negative)400YYC-41
Fujifilm PROVIA 100FColor (reversal)100YYE-6
Fujifilm Fujicolor SUPERIA Premium 400Color (negative)400YC-41
ujifilm Fujicolor SUPERIA Venus 800Color (negative)800YC-41
Fujifilm SUPERIA X-TRA 400Color (negative)400YC-41
Fujifilm Velvia 50Color (reversal)50YYYE-6
Fujifilm Velvia 100Color (reversal)100YYYE-6
Sunny 16Colour (negative)200YC-41
ILFORD Delta 100 ProfessionalBW (negative)100YYYBW
ILFORD Delta 400 ProfessionalBW (negative)400YYYBW
ILFORD Delta 3200 ProfessionalBW (negative)3200YYBW
ILFORD FP4 PLUSBW (negative)125YYYBW
ILFORD HP5 PLUSBW (negative)400YYYBW
ILFORD Ortho Copy PlusBW (negative)80YYBW
ILFORD Pan 100BW (negative)100YBW
ILFORD Pan 400BW (negative)400YBW
ILFORD PAN F PLUSBW (negative)50YYBW
ILFORD SFX 200BW (negative)200YYBW
ILFORD XP2 SuperBW (negative)400YYC-41
Kentmere 100BW (negative)100YBW
Kentmere 400BW (negative)400YBW
Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan 400BW (negative)400YYBW
Kodak Black and White Print Film 2302BW (negative)250YBW
Kodak ColorPlus 200Colour (negative)200YC-41
Kodak EASTMAN DOUBLE-X 5222Motion Picture BW (negative)250YBW
Kodak EASTMAN Fine Grain Duplicating Panchromatic Negative Film 5234BW (negative)6YBW
Kodak EKTACHROME E100Color (reversal)100YYE-6
Kodak Gold 200Colour (negative)200YC-41
Kodak Professional Ektar 100Colour (negative)100YYYC-41
Kodak Professional Portra 160Colour (negative)160YYYC-41
Kodak Professional Portra 400Colour (negative)400YYYC-41
Kodak Professional Portra 800Colour (negative)800YYC-41
Kodak Professional T-MAX 100BW (negative)100YYYBW
Kodak Professional T-MAX 400BW (negative)400YYYBW
Kodak Professional T-MAX 3200BW (negative)3200YBW
Kodak Professional Tri-X 320BW (negative)320YYBW
Kodak Professional Tri-X 400BW (negative)400YYBW
Kodak Pro Image 100Colour (negative)100YC-41
Kodak ULTRA MAX 400Color (negative)400YC-41
Kodak VISION3 50D 5203Motion Picture Color (negative)200YECN-2
Kodak VISION3 200T 5213Motion Picture Color (negative)250YECN-2
Kodak VISION3 250D 5207Motion Picture Color (negative)50YECN-2
Kodak VISION3 500T 5219Motion Picture Color (negative)500YECN-2
KONO! ALiEN 200Color (negative)400YC-41
KONO! Donau 6Color (negative)6YC-41
KONO! KATZ 200Color (negative)200YC-41
KONO! KOLORIT 400 TungstenColor (negative)400YC-41
KONO! LIEBE 200Color (negative)200YC-41
KONO! LUFTColor (negative)200YC-41
KONO! Rotwild 400Color (negative)400YC-41
KONO! UFO 200Color (negative)200YC-41
KONO! WINTERMÄRCHENColor (negative)200YC-41
Kosmo Foto Mono 100BW (negative)100YBW
Leica SOFORT colour filmColor instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Leica SOFORT monochromBW instant (Integral)800YIntegral
Lomography Color Negative 100Color (negative)100YYC-41
Lomography Color Negative 400Color (negative)400YYC-41
Lomography Color Negative 800Color (negative)800YYC-41
Lomography Colour TigerColor (negative)200YC-41
Lomography Earl Grey 100BW (negative)100YYBW
Lomography Lady Grey 400BW (negative)400YYBW
Lomography Lady Grey 400Color (negative)100YC-41
Lomography LomoChrome Purple XR 100-400 (new formula)Color (negative)100-400YYC-41
Lomography Orca 100BW (negative)100YBW
Lomography PeacockColor (reversal)200YE6
Lomography Redscale 100Color (negative)100YYC-41
omography Redscale XR 50-200Color (negative)50-200YYC-41
Lomography XPRO Chrome 100Color (reversal)200YYE-6
Lomography XPRO 200Color (reversal)200YE-6
Luckyfilm New SHD100BW (negative)100YYBW
MACO Traffic Surveillance Eagle AQSBW (negative)400YBW
Oriental Seagull 100BW (negative)100YBW
Oriental Seagull 400BW (negative)400YBW
ORWO DN21Motion Picture BW (negative)25YBW
ORWO DP31Motion Picture BW (negative)25YBW
ORWO N74 plusMotion Picture BW (negative)400YBW
ORWO PF2Motion Picture BW (negative)50YBW
ORWO TF12dMotion Picture BW (negative)50YBW
ORWO UN54Motion Picture BW (negative)100YBW
Pictoriographica J. Lane Dry PlatesBW (negative)2YYYYBW
ReraChrome 100Color (reversal)100YE-6
ReraPan 100BW (negative)100YBW
ReraPan 400BW (negative)400YBW
Revolog 460nmColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog 600nmColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog KolorColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog KosmosColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog LazerColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog PlexusColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog RaspColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog SnovoloxColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog StreakColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog Tesla 1Color (negative)200YC-41
Revolog Tesla IIColor (negative)200YC-41
Revolog TextureColor (negative)200YC-42
Revolog VolvoxColor (negative)200YC-43
Rollei ATO 2.1BW (negative)6YBW
Rollei CN 200Color (negative)200YYC-41
Rollei CrossbirdColor (negative)200YYC-41
Rollei Infrared 400BW (negative)400YYYBW
Rollei Ortho 25 plusBW (negative)25YYYBW
Rollei Retro 80SBW (negative)80YYBW
Rollei Retro 400SBW (negative)400YYBW
Rollei RPX 100BW (negative)100YYYBW
Rollei RPX 25BW (negative)24YYYBW
Rollei RPX 400BW (negative)400YYYBW
Rollei Superpan 200BW (negative)200YYBW
Shanghai GP3 (上海GP3)BW (negative)100YYYBW
Silberra PAN100BW (negative)100YYBW
Silberra PAN160BW (negative)160YYBW
Silberra PAN200BW (negative)200YYBW
Silberra ULTIMA 100BW (negative)200YBW
Silberra U200BW (negative)200YBW
Silberra U400BW (negative)400YBW
Street Candy ATM 400BW (negative)400YBW
Svema Blue SensitiveBW (negative)6YBW
Svema FN64BW (negative)64YBW
Svema Foto 100BW (negative)100YBW
Svema Foto 200BW (negative)200YBW
Svema Foto 400BW (negative)500YBW
Svema MZ3BW (negative)3YBW
Svema Super Positive FilmBW (negative)0.8YBW
Tasma NK2BW (negative)100YBW
Ultrafine ColouruptionColor (negative)25YC-41
Ultrafine High Contrast Ortho Litho FilmBW (negative)6YYBW
Ultrafine Continuous Tone Duplicating FilmBW (negative)4YYBW
Ultrafine Red Dragon RedscaleColor (negative)25YC-41
Ultrafine Ultramax T-Grain 400Color (negative)400YC-41
Ultrafine Xtreme 100BW (negative)100YYBW
Ultrafine Xtreme 400BW (negative)400YYBW
Yodica AndromedaColor (negative)400YC-41
Yodica AntaresColor (negative)400YC-41
Yodica AtlasColor (negative)400YC-41
Yodica PegasusColor (negative)400YC-41
Yodica PolarisColor (negative)400YC-41
Yodica SirioColor (negative)400YC-41
Yodica VegaColor (negative)400YC-41

What is the future of film?

Kosmo Foto’s Stephen Dowling covered this topic in his excellent December 2017 article. I suggest you read it and not only because he featured some of my thoughts.

I will do my best not to put a dampener on things but to me, whilst vibrant today, the future large-scale mass production aspect of film still seems a little precarious. There is no doubt that we have a healthy availability of film choices today, however there are challenges ahead to a) keep it that way and, b) specifically improve the diversity colour negative and slide film options.

Making black and white film ready for consumption is not simple. There are a million moving parts from the supply chain and science, to production and engineering and then on to packaging and logistics. Any number of issues can arise from the smallest unaligned variable – even Kodak, who have been making film for 130 years have had recent issues with consistent product quality.

With additional layers, increased chemical complexity and a host of other additional factors, colour negative and slide film production presents an even greater challenge. To pick on Kodak again for a moment, it has taken their film production business over 18 months to bring new EKTACHROME 100 to market and they haven’t exactly been sitting on their laurels.

What’s the solution?

We need investment…?

There is the idea that rising consumer demand over the past three or so years is enough to warrant the large investments needed to build out and expand existing film manufacturing infrastructure – product development, coating, and finishing. “Kodak or ILFORD could just spend the money and do it”, right?

That money could be spent is correct but returns are uncertain – our current film photography renaissance is a relatively short blip in nearly two decades of decline.

Speaking to the physical process of making film alone, the challenges for current manufacturers with an in-house ability to prepare, coat and package film are not insignificant. With historically weakened volumes, investment in maintenance and training is more important than investment in expanding capability. Fix the foundations, reestablish and strengthen market share, grow the market.

I believe that with the continued growth in interest of all-things-analogue, a point will come when the (current) larger manufacturers will need to make a call: live by existing max production volumes and accept that there may be periods of logistical stress as consumers are left without product, or invest in R&D, engineering and other areas to build or spin-up latent capacity.

I don’t work for any of them and I can’t tell you what they’re thinking but I’d be surprised if these conversations hadn’t already happened at some level. My guess is that the bottleneck is human: hiring people with the right skill sets is difficult and training them to the required level takes time and people still in the business to learn from.

So to answer my question, yes, investment is needed and it needs to be financial and in education and training. It will no doubt come – check out ADOX’s efforts to build a new coating facility – but I believe something needs to happen (or keep happening) before those investments happen…

You need to shoot film. New film.

Shooting expired film is great and I enjoy the challenge, result and price point but the industry is supported by and grows with demand. That means spending money on new film.

Buy it, shoot it, enjoy it.

Next, do your part for the community: feed the community by sharing your knowledge.

Write about it, talk about it, interact with your fellow film photographers. I see comments all the time on social media that say things like, “I wish there was a website/YouTube channel/etc., that did X”, or “I wish I could find an article about Y”. Often, these comments come from the very people that hold the knowledge they are talking about finding but for some reason or another are not getting it out there.

I speak from my own experience of three years trying to get more darkroom and photographic technique articles here on EMULSIVE. None of that content creation is easy but honestly, people won’t shoot you down in flames and yes, people will find your perspectives valuable. I didn’t start EMULSIVE as someone who could write a salient article – I still can’t – but for what it’s worth, I try and through trying I get better.

If you don’t want to start a blog, drop me a line, or Hamish at 35mmc, or Bellamy at Japan Camera Hunter, or Stephen at Kosmo Foto, or somewhere else you enjoy reading. There’s no shortage of people who want to help share knowledge and build a stronger knowledge base for the community. We’ve already lost so much, let’s try to not lose any more.

Finally, if you do something and do even reasonably well – product photography, street photography, portrait photography, something more esoteric – drop one of the podcasts a line. I know that Sunny 16, Negative Positives, and Classic Lenses would love hearing from you, and that’s only scratching the surface.

What ever you do, do something oh, and keep shooting folks!

~ EM

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11 responses to “Every single film stock still made today – Part 7: the complete A-Z plus thoughts on the future of film”

  1. Did I miss in this article where you say which ones are unique and which ones are rebranded? Thanks!

    1. You can check the “verified manufacturer” for each film in the series (where known/confirmed at the time the series was published). One example being this one: https://emulsive.org/articles/every-single-film-stock-still-made-today-part-4-kodak-to-maco-direct#kosmo-foto-mono-100

      The number of rebrands has exploded since the series was published though, so there are a lot of films out there that are not covered.

      It’s pretty safe to say that 99.9% of colour films not made by Kodak or Lomography today are rebrands of an existing stock/family like Kodak VISION3, Kodak ColorPlus 200 / Fuji Superia / Fujicolor. As with all things, I’d want to verify individually!

  2. I don’t find Polaroid films. I know that’s a narrow field, but, the “Impossible Project” films are a welcome addition to me. I find them fun to use, and, they amaze people that didn’t know they were available. Just say’n. Your research and information are extensive and valuable. Thanks!

  3. Nice. So pleased to see so many types still. I noted recently that more (e. g. Ilford Ortho) keep app… https://t.co/BuQRtNwF3L

  4. I didn’t realise there were so many stocks still made.
    And I have used a fair few over the years 😍

  5. Well done. Thank you. You’ve done a yeoman job! Looking forward to future revisions.

  6. Well made points. You have done a lot of work there! good effort.

  7. A fantastic effort Em. And you’re right, no more expired film for the foreseeable. (Except tungsten l… https://t.co/0KeOcyTepE

  8. great writeup, all 7 parts! And there may be even more film. You could argue about Fuji INSTAX (is it… https://t.co/Lu4sekBn5n

  9. Hats off sourcing and putting all this together. An invaluable resource and reference. LEGEND.

 

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