This year was another eventful one for film photography.
For more than a decade, film photography news most often dealt with closures and discontinuation. Now we’re mostly seeing announcements of new products – even if those don’t, as yet, currently include new colour films and cameras like many want.
Here’s Kosmo Foto’s guide to some of the year’s releases and news stories covered on the blog.
January
- Kodak Alaris announces it will be releasing new products in 2022 – though as of late December it doesn’t include any new film. Will that be on the plan for 2020?
- Reveni Labs in Canada announces a follow-up to their well-received hot shoe meter – an ingeniously designed spotmeter.
- One of the most unpopular events of the year – Fujifilm reveals it is pulling the plug on the much-loved Pro 400H film. It leaves Fujifilm with no more professional-level films other than the black-and-white Acros II and the Velvia and Provia slide films.
- Boutique film brand Street Candy announces the release of its new MTN 100 rebranded film.
February
- LOMOgraphy announces its Atoll ultra-wideangle lens for Leica M-mount cameras.
- Cosina reveals out two new lenses for Leica M-mount cameras.
- Harman joins the simple camera bandwagon with their motorised simple camera, the EZ-35.
- Pentax announced three new K-mount lenses compatible with their K-mount film cameras.
March
- German film producer Adox discontinues its high-contrast Silvermax film.
- The Minuta Stereo pinhole camera launches on Kickstarter.
- Resurrected film producer FILM Ferrania says it is committed to producing 127-format film in the future.
- Meyer Optik Görlitz reveals a new version of the classic 58/1.9 Primoplan lens.
- British large format photography company Intrepid Camera announces its new portable darkroom enlarger for 35mm and 120 film. When the Kickstarter is launched, it reaches its funding target in less than 10 minutes.
- Fujifilm adds further bad news with details of another price hike affecting its remaining roster of films – with some films in the UK rising by more than 40%.
- German film brand ORWO teases a return to producing films. The formerly East German film maker had been created out of the original Agfa plant in Wolfen.
- Ilford Imaging (not the people who make the Ilford-branded film) unveil a colour-film-loaded disposable camera sporting the old Ilfocolor branding.
April
- Pixl-latr launches an accessory film mask to block stray light and to keep the pixl-latr from slipping during scanning.
- Polaroid launches its latest film format – Round Frame, which features a round image in an extra large white border.
- Polaroid releases its smallest camera yet, the Polaroid Go. The camera is an instant hit, aimed at the same younger market enthusiastic about Fufifilm’s Instax cameras.
- A somewhat chargrilled (fire damaged) Leica M4 sells for £1,200 at an auction in the UK.
May
- Retropro launches a range of retro-inspired, Kodak-branded large-size film cases.
- One of the most exciting film releases of the year – CineStill launches its BwXX black-and-white film in 120 format.
June
- Experimental film brand KONO! releases three new films – Monolit 3, Monolit 100 and Delight Art 100.
- After many months of planning, Kosmo Foto launches the Kickstarter for the new Agent Shadow 400-ISO film.
- Barcelona-based film brand Dubblefilm releases two new ‘everyday’ films – DAILY Color and DAILY Black & White.
July
- Negative Supply in the US launches the new high-end LM-1 light meter via Kickstarter.
August
- Well-known YouTuber David Hancock launches the 5119 Cameras Large-Format Pinhole Kit, featuring a number of large format camera designs for DIY photographers.
- Lithuanian film brand No Color Studio launches with an ISO 5 film called No 5.
- After nearly four years of setbacks and delays, the Kickstarter-backed Reflex project call an end to their attempt to build a new 35mm SLR.
- ORWO says it is launching a new colour cinema film for release “in the middle of 2022”.
- Australia’s Film Never Die launches a Kickstarter for its design for an automated film processor. Although the Kickstarter is ultimately unsuccessful, the company says it will continue with its development.
September
- The first Analogue Spotlight features at The Photography Show in Birmingham in the UK, now the biggest photography event in Europe after the end of Photokina. The special area features analogue photography brands such as Kosmo Foto, Chroma Cameras, Intrepid Camera, pixl-latr, Analogue Wonderland and Pinsta.
- Harman announces an Ilford-branded pop-up darkroom tent – even featuring light proofed hole for ventilation – as part of its stall at TPS this year.
October
- Hot on the heels of its BwXX announcement, CineStill also unveils a new 120 film – the redscale-look Redrum.
- An airline passenger in the US is hauled off a flight by security after a fellow passenger mistakes one of his vintage cameras for a bomb.
- Both TTartisan and Doomo unveil new hot shoe light meters.
- The Pinsta – an all-in-one pinhole camera, developing tank and enlarger devised by Oliver New – launches via Kickstarter.
- UK film retailer Analogue Wonderland opens its own film processing lab, called Wonderlab.
- The book ‘Analogue Photography in the Pandemic’ launches, showcasing work by dozens of film photographers during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Part of its funding raises money for the family of Sunny 16 co-host John Whitmore, who sadly died in November.
- Kodak Alaris announces a price rise of around 20% on all of its film products starting from January 2022, blaming rising costs of raw materials, supply chain issues and the need to invest in future manufacturing.
November
- LOMOgraphy unveils a new batch of its Turquoise experimental colour negative film, which has been discontinued since 2017. The new film will be released in the summer of 2022.
- LOMOgraphy says the formula of its new colour film Metropolis, released in 2019, has been tweaked.
- Fujifilm admits that it mothballed its film production during the early stages of the pandemic but remains committed to producing film.
- Intrepid Camera releases a new range of 4×5 cameras finished in various hardwoods.
- British brand LensFayre announces its ‘eco-friendly’ simple camera, the Snap LF-35M.
- British camera maker Chroma Cameras unveils its first 35mm camera, the Chroma Cube.
- An original Leica MP rangefinder from the 1950s sells for €1.2m at the Leitz Photographica Auction in Austria.
December
- There may be no new film announcements from Kodak Alaris in 2021, but it does reveal a new disposable camera, loaded with its classic Tri-X black-and-white film.
- ORWO launches a new website and teases the release of a new black-and-white film.
Make sure you’re following Kosmo Foto in 2022 to see more film photography news as it happens, and also subscribe to Nico’s Photography Show on YouTube, a fantastic channel reporting on film photography happenings produced by Nicolas Llasera. Watch his sum-up of the year’s most important news stories below:
Founder and editor at Kosmo Foto
I’m Kosmo Foto’s founder and editor.
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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