Kodak announces new b&w film, VariSpeed 100-400, in 35mm - 20 stops of latitude and five layers

[Karim D. Ghantous]

From No Film School:

Film got very exciting today: Kodak announced a brand new black & white film product called VariSpeed. It has a native ISO rating of 100-400, and does not need pushing or pulling if used within this range. It has a claimed 20 stops of latitude - more than any digital camera. It will be soon available in 36 exposure cassettes, and will later be available in 400’ rolls.

Over the last decade, digital sensors have started to encroach on the one technical advantage that film had: dynamic range, or latitude. Film has clearly out-performed electronic image sensors, until Sony, ARRI and Red made inroads in sensor design.

On paper, some digital sensors can now exceed the latitude of film, although in practice it’s not a simple matter. Sometimes, we see film retain saturation without clipping in light sources that would appear as pale if captured on digital cameras. A typical example would be tail lights on cars at night.

Looking at the spec sheet, Kodak shows that VariSpeed has five layers instead of the usual two that panchromatic films usually have. There is a slow speed layer, then a super-fine layer, a medium speed layer, a high speed layer, and finally a high speed 2 layer. This final layer is slightly more sensitive than the high speed layers, but not at the cost of excessive grain size.

Some cinematographers and directors, such as Jonathan Schwartzman, Linus Sandgren, Colin Trevorrow, and Sam Mendes, are very enthusiastic about this new product. We spoke to a few DPs recently and they were keen to try this new film. They were also hopeful that Kodak could find a way to add a fourth set of layers to Vision 3 stocks, so that they could hypothetically capture 20 stops in colour.

https://nofilmschool.com/topics/cinematography-cameras

https://www.kodak.com/en/still-film/product/professional/varispeed-100-400-film

[Mark Dunn]

Hah! You got me,  I clicked through.

[John Salim]

... well actually, Kodak did produce a varispeed B&W film called BW400CN about 30 years ago with usable speed ratings from 50 to 800 ASA. It was a chromogenic film, processed through C-41. Sadly not with a 20 stop range !

The same thing exists today from Ilford called XP-2 ( which I'm sure you've all heard of )

Happy April Fool's day !
John S 😊

Edited April 1 by John Salim

[Roy Cross]

Got me too! I was super stoked for a few seconds! Well, actually a few minutes before I figured it out.

Edited April 1 by Roy Cross

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

I really wanted this to be true...well crafted Sir.