It's not your dream yet.

As you're aware, British weather can be a little bit of a variable. This time, I decided to control my environment, get a little bit more technical, go into a studio, and shoot with this film to make sure that I would capture each image to the best possible standard.

Neopan Acros II is a panchromatic film. Which means, it is sensitive to all spectrums of light. It's made on an acetate base. The reason why it's made on an acetate base is the previous versions of film stocks, which were made back over 120 years ago now, were extremely flammable. As film stocks improved over time, they moved towards an acetate base, which was less flammable, and more stable as a film stock itself.

This film has a ‘box speed’ of ISO 100 but officially has a speed rating between 50 to 800 ISO. If you're familiar with film stocks, then you would know that Acros I existed prior to 2018. Fujifilm have upgraded this film stock. If you're going to be shooting with this film stock, you should expect to get really fine grain, and really crisp shots. With that in mind, we should find that the mid-tones are well balanced, and we're going to get some really nice detail in the highlights and the shadows.

Neopan Acros II is very simple and straightforward to use. You might be outside on the street. You can just get your camera out and roll up some in your chosen 35mm camera. You can start shooting straight away within 60 seconds. Alternatively you might be on the beach, a hillside somewhere, or even you're having a studio portrait shoot. It will be challenging to take a bad picture with the Neopan Acros II.

As you can see from the images already, they're showing some serious contrast, the dynamic range of the film is fabulous. As mentioned before, ranging between 50 to 800 ISO. So, even if you decide that it's a little bit too dark, you can push the film a little bit further, and you should expect to get some great results from it.

There's only a limited range of ISO 100 black and white film stocks out there. Generally, the most popular ones are by Ilford. Ilford Delta 100 and Ilford FP4. You've also got Kodak T-Max 100, and Fomapan, I believe, also do a 100 ISO range as well.

Fujifilm say that you can push this film from 50 ISO all the way up to 800 ISO, and it has excellent reciprocity. Now, I think that's a challenge. And for sure, I want to try and go out, and see what I can get by pushing this film further too. Why not you too?

Building on a previous point about it's wide exposure latitude, this means that you can really use this film for a multiple range of projects. Whether it's sports photography, whether it's landscape photography, portraits, and Fujifilm themselves on their documentation, say that you can use Acros II for Astrophotography. Yep, it's there. I think that's worth checking out. So, if you live somewhere where you've got beautiful open skies at night time and fancy a little test, go for it.

As this is a panchromatic film, I think it will be fun to see how it handles and manages filters. So if you've got some filters at home, take them out, take them for a whirl, see what you get with them.

Now there's two reasons why you probably don't want to shoot with Neopan Acros II. The first one is, it's £12 pounds a roll, that's $16 [US] dollars guys. That’s quite pricey. Shout out to anyone in the US: Can you just ship me some Neopan Acros II? I'd really appreciate it. Seriously, that's probably one reason why you probably want to test it out, and if it's for you, then great, go ahead, shoot with it if you can.

The second reason why you probably don't want to shoot with this film is because obviously the grain is substantially less than what you would get on other black and white film stock. If you prefer the mysterious dark, sort of grainy sort of look that you get with HP5 or Tri-X, or T-Max, for example, then this film is definitely not for you. Now, I say that with a caveat, because I don't know if I pushed Acros II to 400 or 800, whether it would start to exhibit similar qualities. And then, the only way I'm going to do that is by doing it myself. It might be worth pursuing if that's the sort of look you're going for. Just on a hunch, I don't think it will be, as you see it with HP5 or Tri-X, for example.

I think Neopan Acros II is a reliable film stock if you're shooting on ISO 100.

You've got the wide exposure latitude, which is available to you, should you want to push it. And they themselves say that it has excellent reciprocity. Although, I think that remains to be tested. And you can see from the highlights and the shadows in the images that I've shown you, that the image has come out really, really beautifully.

So definitely, I would highly recommend going out and shooting with it. Obviously, the downside is the expense involved. But I think if you love photography, and you're exploring new ways to shoot, maybe you'll find something new with this film stock that you resonate with, and you will create something really cool.

Choosing the favourite image can be tricky too, no? Which one was your favourite from the shoot?

Do go ahead and subscribe and turn on the bell icon so you'll know exactly when the next video of this series of videos is gonna drop and I look forward to seeing you in a workshop with me very, very soon.

For more Subscribe and turn on the notifications for your weekly video drop!