The retro trend is alive and kicking, with more young people getting into what the older generation (like myself) used to use in photography – film (missed those days in the darkroom). Leica is jumping on this film-resurgence bandwagon by introducing its own 35mm black-and-white film, called the MONOPAN 50.
The press release said that the MONOPAN 50 is Leica’s true 35mm film, offering 36 exposures (duh!). Actually, oldies like us will know how to cheat to get that extra one or two frames out of a roll of film. But hey, I am not going to divulge such secrets here.
Anyway, the MONOPAN 50 is said to feature an ultra-fine grain with an impressive resolution of up to 280 line pairs per millimetre. It will only be available in ISO 50 (hence the name MONOPAN 50). No, you cannot change sensitivity of the film like you can do on digital cameras.
The Leica MONOPAN 50 will be available from 21 August 2025 at a price of S$20 per roll. I think I can finally afford something from Leica!