Tales on Film

Everybody knows the b/w film from Ilford and Kodak, but there are some other great manufacturers, like agfa was one day. Although the company is no longer producing some film, there is a replacement for it. A German company Rollei has bought a lot of 35mm of apx and is distributing it under the Rollei retro 100. The 120 is apparently not the same according to the info I found around the internet is a slightly different emulsion, very similar to Agfa APX 100 but not the same. Anyway, for the moment we only use the original Agfa film, so this review is only on the original 35mm agfa apx 100.

The film is a 100 iso black and white film from the early 90′s. It was introduced as an answer to the new films from Kodak and Ilford of that time. It was still using the older technique for the emulsion, which means it’s supposed to be more forgiving but has more grain.

The film is pretty contrasty in natural light situations, but still produces a pretty nice dynamic range

Because of the pretty high dynamic range, you also have a lot of info left in the shadow areas. That makes it a good all round film, from using it in natural light during street photography or like I did in the above photo, you can mix natural light with flash pretty nicely.

Agfa APX 100 handles overexposure very well. On the other hand, as this image shows, the grain is quite pronounced, it’s not ugly, but it’s definitely there.

At the moment this film is my go to low iso black and white film. It is pretty forgiving and with it’s high contrast and great dynamic range, it’s a great all purpose film for black and white. I like it and I don’t leave home without being in one of my cameras and a reserve roll in my bag.

I noticed in the search results of this site, that there is a huge interest in the different film types you can find. I’m only reviewing the film I have used till now and keep in mind that these are my personal opinions