- Leica announced a new 35mm film
- Monopan 50 is a monochrome film with fine grain
- At a price of £ 10 (around US $ 13 / $ 20 in) for 36 exhibitions
Leica decided to celebrate her centenary with a surprise. To honor 100 years since the first Leica Production camera, the brand with the DOT Red drops its very first 35 mm film. A monochrome jet with fine grains with 36 exhibitions is a niche product to be launched in 2025. But the largest bomb is the price: the Monopan 50 costs only £ 10 (around US $ 13 / $ 20 in).
Leica is not a brand often associated with affordability. Its camera equipment is known for its quality crafts that is price. When I tested the Leica Q3 43 last year, I was both amazed by the quality of construction and terrified to damage it. Because it costs $ 6,295 / £ 5,900 / $ 11,890 at. Leica is and has always been a premium shameless brand.
For most people, the prospect of buying or shooting with everything Leica is somewhere between the list of buckets and the territory of the lottery. So far, the most affordable way to shoot Leica has been D-Lux 8-A high-end compact with a third-party micro-four sensor, which you can buy today for $ 1,595 / £ 1,450 £ 2,790 at. Or cross all your fingers and toes in the hope of finding a used analog Leica case.
The Monopan 50 changes that. Admittedly, it is a 35 mm film, not a camera. But it also looks like the first Leica product which is accessible enough for Stills photographers to use daily.
Leica for all
The Monopan 50 lands 100 years after the Leica I, the camera which actually invented 35 mm photography as we know it. Unlike most of Leica’s versions, the new film looks like something to use, not collected.
This does not mean that it is not special. The Monopan 50 is a fine -grained monochrome film made for lovers of black and white. With a resolution of up to 280 pairs of lines per millimeter, it promises the quality details gallery. Its ISO note of only 50 makes a film with low sensitivity, inspired by the original rolls when the Leica that I launched. In this sense, it is also Leica as possible. But above all, it is not scandalously expensive. In fact, completely the opposite.
Even for someone like me who does not regularly shoot a film, it is a convincing proposal. It is even more attractive for those who do it, including more and more.
The photograph of the cinema is not only back: it is quietly booming. The prices of vintage cameras have increased and new analog versions arrive in greater numbers. According to rumors, Fujifilm would resuscitate colored stocks, Kodak improves his factories to meet demand and Pentax abandoned his new movie camera half-rame last year. All of this talks about a film to rediscover new generation.
It is in this analog renewal that Leica rises. The company always produces three fully mechanical 35 mm film cameras, the MA, the MP and the reissued M6. Equipped with high quality optics designed for a deliberate approach, the three are expensive models that are aimed at purists.
In this sense, the Monopan 50 is a natural companion. The supply of these cameras with a fine and white film with a fine grain will give magnificent results, while leaning in the slower and almost meditative experience of the shooting with a 35 mm telemeter camera.
But the broader attraction of Monopan 50 film will reside in the fact that it is democratic. With rollers’ prices for standard emulsions passing beyond £ 10 per pop, tenner for 36 premium monochrome film exhibitions looks like a little theft. The fact that he comes from Leica only softens the agreement.
Next to the metal body cameras that have made its name, there is something refreshing and humble in the most feasible Leica product of recent memory being a roller of plastic coated acetate. But it also makes sense. While the film becomes more common again, the brands wake up to the fact that the public has changed.
It is no longer just enthusiasts who develop ilford rolls in a dark room at home. They are photographers of the Z generation in search of slower and more tactile ways to create. And if they will spend their money in film, why not give them a reason to spend it on Leica?
Yes, the actual cost of Leica body and glass shooting is in thousands of people. But Monopan 50 opens at least the door. More than a nod to Leica’s past, it could be the sign of a different future for the brand, where more people are able to manage and pull something with Leica’s name.
Obviously, Leica would love that you cut Monopan 50 with a MP or a deputy. Maybe a vintage M6. But even with a Nikon F, or one of the best used movie cameras, its potential for fine details and tone is exciting.
Anyway, I am intrigued. The film with low ISO content is not always easy to shoot, in particular in the United Kingdom, where the cash failure conditions are the default. But the Monopan 50 feels like a film that deserves to be tried. Not only for what he can do, but for what he represents: Leica, leaning towards the medium, he helped to define a century ago, in a way that is unexpected accessible.
So I did not expect to buy Leica actions this year. But now I plan to do so.
