"Definition of micro-detail was of a very high standard - higher, in fact, than found with any standard film."
  (Geoffrey Crawley, writing a review of Bluefire Police in Amateur Photographer Magazine, July 9 2005, p. 38).

Bluefire Police™ is a medium-speed (EI 80) ultra-high resolution 35mm black and white film that can be enlarged to extremes without showing noticeable grain.

Click here to see examples of Bluefire Police used as a photolithographic mask for micromachining. Grain-free resolution of 10-micron images.

Click here to see what Donge's whiskers look like from 60 feet away when photographed with high-resolution Bluefire Police film. 

Click here to see Bluefire Police enlarged more than 60x with no image degradation due to grain (most films cannot be successfully enlarged beyond 10x).

Click here to go to the Bluefire catalog page.

Bluefire Police
6-roll trial pack with Bluefire HR pictorial developer
Item: BPP6
 
Use this Add To Cart button to buy a trial pack of six rolls of Bluefire Police film with 100 ml of Bluefire HR developer concentrate.
      

Bluefire Police is an excellent replacement for 35mm Kodak Technical Pan. It is now in regular use in research laboratories and in industry in North America and Europe for nanoscale masking, microscopy, and DNA analysis.

Click here for an explanation of what "high resolution" means.

Now available: photographic chemicals and darkroom equipment. With so many full-line camera stores getting away from darkroom supply, chemistry we took for granted a few years ago is becoming difficult to find. Click here.

 Shanghai GP3 — a very good 120 b/w film, priced appropriately for students and experimenters. Widely used as a Holga/Lomo film.

 

 The Frugal Photographer's
Non-toxic Film Developer — make it at home from instant coffee and vitamin C. Develop Shanghai GP3 film shot in your Holga or pinhole camera. Click here for details.

A most amazing site: the
American Museum of Photography

Polaroid fans, click here.

Fujicolor 110 film
outdated but guaranteed

   Item: FU-110
  per roll
(3 roll minimum)
Use this Add To Cart button to buy three or more single rolls.
      
Most of the 110 available outside Japan is now past its "process before" date. We test each new batch we receive for deterioration, and try to describe its condition accurately. Films that are still excellent (that is to say, as good as fresh) are shipped to you from our freezer. Refrigerate or freeze them on receipt and they will last many more years before they start to get that pink tinge.
We have several interesting 110 color print  films in stock.

Click here to go to the 110 catalog page

  Item: RO-LLE/8
  per 8-oz bottle
Use this Add To Cart button to buy:
      
(8 oz. covers about 12 square feet)

To scan or not to scan...

Photographers all over the world are rapidly converting from darkroom printing to electronic printing. This involves scanning your negative or slide on a dedicated film scanner, and then printing on an inkjet printer.

Inkjet printers are readily available, but film scanners are not. We recommend the pro-quality Nikon scanners for their superior software, excellent workflow, and quality optics. However, there are now less expensive alternatives that are a very good choice for home use.

Advantages of scanning

• many people find it faster and easier to adjust image qualities like contrast, shadow and highlight detail, and color balance using Adobe PhotoShop or similar programs rather than by trial and error in a darkroom.

• no dedicated darkroom space is required

• scanned images can be distributed by e-mail and on the web.

Disadvantages

• Good image modification software is not cheap, nor is it easy to master

• inkjet printing is more expensive than darkroom printing

• most dye-based inkjet inks and papers fade more easily than correctly-processed traditional photographic prints. Pigment inks resist fading, but you have to get a printer specifically designed to use them.

• the scanning and printing process is, surprisingly, no faster than darkroom printing, and can be significantly slower.

It's important to read Amazon's customer reviews of these inexpensive scanners, so you can be sure you know what you're getting. While not of professional standard like the Nikons, they are nevertheless highly regarded for home use, and give very good quality results.

Click here for information on making Instamatic pinhole cameras.

126 Instamatic film
We have many rolls in stock and expect to be able to supply you into the year 2011.
If you use 126 regularly, this is the time to put a stock into your freezer — it will never be better or less expensive than it is now.
Solaris FG-Plus 200-126 is a much better film than the Kodacolor II your grandmother used. Fits all 126 "Instamatic" cameras.

"My kid's having a lot of fun with the instamatic and 126 film. The results are fantastic, far better than when I was a kid, but the same camera. Must be the quality of the film and the processing."  Australia

   Item: SOL126-1
  per roll
(3 roll minimum)
      
Please note: a few of these 126 films carry 2009 "process before" dates. Most are dated 2010. They are guaranteed to give excellent images but should be stored cold or frozen when you receive them.
Click here to go to the 126 catalog page

Minox film
We're proud to be an authorized Minox dealer and  ship to you directly from our freezer.

Genuine Minox film and supplies, imported from Germany. Click here. How good is this ultra-tiny film? Click here to see.

Unfortunately, Minocolor Pro and  Acmel Reala Ace film for 8x11 cameras have been discontinued by the manufacturers and are no longer available. Minocolor 100 remains available.

Holgography, the art form formerly known as Lomography (the art and craft of making compelling photos with crappy cameras). It's a serious art form and also a lot of fun.

Introducing "Holgawood," the camera formerly known as Holga.
 

New book: Holga: the world through a plastic lens