Fujifilm Acros II [120]

Fujifilm used to produce a variety of film, but they seemed to enjoy the irony in their name considering the actions taken recently. By late 2018, Fujifilm killed off the last of the BW line with the demise of Neopan Acros 100 film, citing a lack of raw materials. That decision was reversed by 2019, as Fujifilm came out with the updated Neopan Acros II, but still supposed to be the same as its predecessor. With a little bit of digging, online communities noticed that Acros II might look almost the same as before, but the box notes “Made in the UK”, rather than Japan. By simple elimination, people figured that Harman (who makes Ilford film), rather than Fujifilm, now make Acros II. On one hand, it shows Fujifilm is trying to get out of the business; but on the other hand, Acros was well loved, and having one more stock is always better. I assumed that hurt the reputation, and stores stocked way too many of these. By late 2021, many of these Acros II were about to expire, and were let go for cheap. I jumped on the opportunity to grab some.

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We were looking for the last pulse of fall along the Columbia River Gorge. The travel restrictions to Multnomah Falls have been restricted (to reduce foot traffic, on top of social distancing) so we stopped by the majestic fall. Acros is known for fine grain and excellent for long exposure. I did not test the long exposure, but found the latitude to be excellent. This shot was taken in the shade on a cloudy day, but the fall is much brighter than the surrounding, and it still looked good.

We headed to some of the lesser known state parks on the Oregon side, and found the sun peaking through the thick clouds. Quite love this shot, film was able to produce the scene well. (Though compositionally, much to be desired)

Docks are pretty common sight in the Pacific Northwest, due to the large numbers of rivers. This was taken on a overcast day, but nothing was overblown, both shadows and highlights were still preserved (you can still make out the clouds). Not the most difficult scene, but film did render the picture well.

We were driving around Bainbridge Island in Washington, and found an abandoned industrial building. It was since turned into a city park with indoor skating rink. On the outside, it was filled with graffiti, a stark contrast to the surrounding which is more natural and filled with wildlife. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG, a Supreme Court Justice, passed away recently and was still on people’s mind. I’m not a fan of worshiping political figures (as that indicates they wield too much power for a political structure), but she was a torchbearer for various issues throughout her life and was worthy to be remembered for the struggle she been through. Notice the lack of grains, it is true that Acros has very fine grains!

A final shot in the shade on an overcast day. Mt Rainier hides behind these clouds, barely visible with the naked eye. Here, the shadows are slightly underexposed and I brighten up in post, and you can still make out the shapes of the leaves. Grains are slightly more visible here and rather pleasant.

The main competitor to the Acros II are the Ilford FP4 and the Kodak T-Max 100. I’m not a fan of T-Max (everything seems underexposed and flat), and would easily recommend Acros II over that. On the other hand, I’ve yet to try Ilford FP4, so I should save my judgement. All in all though, neither Acros II nor T-Max are my cup of team. I much prefer Rollei IR, Kodak XX and Lomography Potsdam. I’ll continue to shoot the rest of my discounted stock, and monitor the price to decide if it is something I will shoot regularly.

 

 

 

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Spec:

FUJIFILM 16648282 Overview

FUJIFILM Neopan 100 Acros II is an orthopanchromatic black and white negative film characterized by its extremely fine grain structure and wide tonal range. Super Fine-Σ Grain Technology is employed to deliver the distinct tight grain structure and alignment along with high acutance and smooth tonal rendering to suit both scanning and enlarging applications. Its medium-speed ISO 100 nominal sensitivity suits working in a variety of outdoor conditions and enhanced reciprocity characteristics also benefit working with longer exposure times. Additionally, Acros II incorporates P.I.D.C. Technology (Precision Iodine Distribution Control), which provides stable processing results when manually developing the film in small tanks or automatically in larger processors.

Film Type Orthopanchromatic B&W Negative
Film Speed ISO 100
Film Processing Standard Black and White Chemistry
Film Base Cellulose Triacetate
Number of Rolls 1
Layer Thickness 134.0 µm
Resolution 200 lines/mm (At Contrast 1000:1)
Granularity RMS = 7