Film has undergone a healthy resurgence over the last few years, and nowhere more so than with black-and-white films.
Not only have a lot of the traditional black-and-white producers like Ilford, Foma and Kodak kept some of their most popular emulsions in production, but there’s also been a wealth of new black-and-white films produced by upstart new film brands such as Japan Camera Hunter, Bergger, Silberra and, yes, Kosmo Foto itself.
And there’s also been the return of new black-and-white films from the likes of Italy’s Ferrania and the Soviet Union’s Svema, which now produces film from eastern Ukraine.
In all, there’s almost 100 different black-and-white films currently available. Some of them are extremely specialised examples that take a little digging to find, while others are much-loved classics – think the likes of Kodak’s wonderful Tri-X, Ilford’s atmospheric HP5 and the budget-friendly Fomapan 100.
Every photographer will have their favourites, the one they turn to time and again. Each photographer’s pick will be as individual as them – the grain, the range of tones, the way the blacks graduate to grey.
But which is the world’s absolute favourite?
Kosmo Foto wants to find out – so we’re launching the Black & White World Cup to find the world’s favourite black-and-white film. And you get to choose.
Taking part couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is look through the list of films below and choose your three favourites. Your first choice gets three points, your second two points and your third choice one point. Email those choices to us
These points will be added up and after voting finishes on 30 June we’ll tote up the scores and crown one film World Cup champion.
There are of course, a few rules:
- You can only vote once.
- For your vote to be eligible, you have to email it to foto.dowling@gmail.com with the title “Black & White World Cup”.
- You should vote for three films – please don’t vote for four or five or six.
- Voting is open from midnight on Sunday 26 May to 23.59 on Sunday 30 June (British Summer Time). Any votes received after that will not be counted.
- You can only choose from films in the list below. Films like Kodak Plus-X, Fuji Neopan and ORWO Isopan SS are all great emulsions from the past but not eligible, sorry.
- The list includes some rebrands of films (such as Kosmo Foto Mono, LOMOgraphy’s black-and-white films, Silberra’s Agfa-made films). This is because many people are fans of particular branded films, not just the original emulsion.
- After votes have been counted, the World Cup results will be posted on Kosmo Foto in mid-July.
If you have any questions, please contact me at foto.dowling@gmail.com
Ready to vote? Here’s the list:
ADOX CMS 20 II
ADOX HR-50
ADOX IR-HR PRO 50
ADOX CHS 100 II
ADOX SilverMax
AGFA Copex Rapid
AGFA PHOTO APX 100
AGFA PHOTO APX 400
Argenti Nanotomic X
Argenti Scale-X
Argenti PAN-X
Argenti ARF+ Reporter Film Plus
Bergger Pancro 400
CatLABS X FILM 80
CatLABS X FILM 320
Cinestill bwXX
Ferrania P30 ALPHA
Film Washi ‘W’
Film Washi ‘V’
Film Washi ‘P’
Film Washi ‘A’
Film Washi ‘D’
Film Washi ‘F’
Film Washi ‘S’
Foma FOMAPAN 100 ‘Classic’
Foma FOMAPAN 200 ‘Creative’
Foma FOMAPAN 400 ‘Action’
Foma RETRO PAN 320 ‘Soft’
Foma FOMAPAN R 100
FOTOIMPEX CHM 100
FOTOIMPEX CHM 400
HOLGA 400
ILFORD Pan 100
ILFORD Pan 400
ILFORD Pan F Plus
ILFORD FP4 Plus
ILFORD HP5 Plus
ILFORD DELTA 100
ILFORD DELTA 400
ILFORD DELTA 3200
ILFORD Ortho Copy Plus
ILFORD SFX 200
ILFORD XP2 Super
JCH Streetpan 400
Kentmere PAN 100
Kentmere PAN 400
Kodak Tri-X
Kodak T-MAX 100
Kodak T-MAX 400
Kodak T-MAX P3200
KONO! Monolit 64
KONO! Rekorder 100-200
Kosmo Foto Mono
LOMOgraphy Earl Grey
LOMOgraphy Orca
LOMOgraphy Lady Grey
LOMOgraphy Potsdam 100
LOMOgraphy Berlin 400
Lucky New SHD 100
Oriental Seagull 100
Oriental Seagull 400
Rera Pan 400
Rollei RPX 25
Rollei RPX 100
Rollei RPX 400
Rollei ATP1.1
Rollei Ortho Plus
Rollei Retro 80S
Rollei SuperPan 200
Rollei Retro 400S
Rollei Infrared 400
Rollei Blackbird
Shanghai GP3
Silberra Orta 50
Silberra Orta 100
Silberra U200
Silberra Ultima 100
Silberra Ultima 160
Silberra Ultima 200/Pan 200
Silberra Cinema UN54
Silberra Cinema 74N+
Silberra Cinema 52XX
SPUR DSX
SPUR UR
Street Candy ATM 400
Svema / Astrum МЗ-3 (MZ-3)
Svema / Astrum ФН-64 (FN-64)
Svema / Astrum Фoto-100 (Foto-100)
Svema / Astrum Фoto-200 (Foto-200)
Svema / Astrum Фoto-400 (Foto-400)
Svema / Astrum А-2Ш (A-2SH)
Tasma / Astrum НК-2Ш (NK-2)
Ultrafine Xtreme 100
Ultrafine Xtreme 400
Thanks for reading – and make sure you get voting.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
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Films I miss…. Fuji Acros, Kodak Panchromatic 32, Agfachrome
Done and dusted. No I’m not going to post my votes here, I don’t want to unduly influence 🙂
I’m missing films from ORWO FilmoTec GmbH: ORWO UN 54 and ORWO N 74 plus.
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