110 Back & Montreal Gone
Reflx Lab has launched Fortuna C200 and 100R Color Reversal, the first new 110 supplier besides Lomography in roughly 15 years.
Week of 12 July 2026
A week that puts both the expansion and the fragility of the analogue world into close proximity. Reflx Lab has meaningfully broadened the 110 format for the first time in roughly fifteen years, while Montreal's MELS laboratory — Canada's only professional full-service film processing facility — announced the closure of its photochemical division. Light Lens Lab moved closer to releasing its first still-photography film stock, and Analog Cafe published its H1 2026 film price report with broadly reassuring findings.
Film & Analogue
Reflx Lab Enters the 110 Format
Reflx Lab has launched two new 110-format films — Fortuna C200 and 100R Color Reversal — becoming the first company, other than Lomography, to produce 110 cartridges in approximately 15 years. The format, introduced by Kodak in 1972 and used primarily in compact pocket cameras through the 1970s and 1980s, has had a quiet but persistent following in the analogue community, sustained almost entirely by Lomography's ongoing supply of film and cameras.
Both films are respooled from 16mm stock into 3D-printed cartridges manufactured by Reflx Lab. The Fortuna C200 is a colour negative stock, respooled from Lucky C200 — the same Chinese-made base film Reflx has used for several of its other products. The 100R Colour Reversal is a slide film, respooled from 16mm Ektachrome stock, and requires E-6 processing. Each cartridge holds 24 exposures. Because both films originate from 16mm stock, they carry 16mm perforations on one side and 110 perforations on the other — a functional compromise that does not affect image quality but is worth noting. Pricing is $19.99 for the Fortuna C200 and $24.99 for the 100R.
The announcement that "more expensive, high-quality 110 film" is planned suggests this is not a one-off: Reflx Lab appears to be treating the format as a viable product line rather than an experiment. For those shooting Lomography's Tiger, Peacock or Lady Grey stocks in 110, having a second source — and specifically a slide film option — adds a dimension the format has not had for many years.
Sad news in the world of professional film processing — MELS in Montreal, Canada's only professional full-service photochemical film lab, has announced the closure of its processing division, a significant loss for Canadian productions shooting on film.
MELS Film Lab, Montreal — Photochemical Division to Close
MELS, located near downtown Montreal, is the only full-service professional film laboratory in Canada equipped to develop 16mm and 35mm motion picture stock. The company has announced the closure of its photochemical laboratory division, citing industry shifts towards digital technology. The broader MELS post-production operations are moving to a new location, but the lab itself is closing.
The impact is significant for the Canadian film industry: without MELS, productions shooting on photochemical film stock in Canada — which includes some commercial productions, art-house features and film school work — will have no domestic option and will need to send material to labs in the United States or Europe. Concordia University professor and filmmaker Michael Yaroshevsky has initiated a petition which has gathered thousands of signatures; whether this translates into any practical intervention is unclear at this stage. The closure is a reminder that the infrastructure underpinning film photography and filmmaking remains fragile, and that the revival of interest in analogue materials does not automatically translate into the stable commercial volumes needed to sustain large-scale processing facilities.
Analog Cafe's H1 2026 Film Price Watch found an average increase of just 2.5% across 37 tracked products, broadly below the rate of general inflation.
Light Lens Lab: Film and 35mm f/2 APO Imminent
Leaked screenshots of a redesigned Light Lens Lab website, published by Leica Rumors, confirm that both the company's first still-photography film stock and a new 35mm f/2 APO Double Aspherical lens for the Leica M-mount are described as coming soon. No specific date or pricing has been announced for either product.
The 35mm f/2 APO Double Aspherical is an 11-element design with four aspherical surfaces and a floating element system, designed to produce apochromatic correction — the elimination of secondary chromatic aberration — in a rangefinder-coupled M-mount package. Light Lens Lab has accumulated considerable experience with Leica-reference optical designs, including their much-discussed recreations of the Summicron and Noctilux lineages.
Alongside this, 35mmc published a detailed review this week of the Light Lens Lab 35mm f/1.4 Aspherical — the company's interpretation of Leica's legendary but never-commercialised AA (Aspherical Aspherical) design from the early 1990s. Reviewer Hamish Gill describes it as less a copy than an evolution of the original optical concept, with particular attention to sharpness and rendering at the edges of the frame. The lens is priced at approximately €1,230 before VAT. Distinctly a niche product given the price and the platform, but a notable piece of optical engineering in the Leica M ecosystem.
On the film side, Light Lens Lab's development roadmap covers black-and-white still-photography film in 135, 120, 127, 126, 4×5, and 8×10 formats. The company's stated ambition remains to produce the first commercially available stock in 2026, though a specific release date has not been confirmed.
Film Price Watch — H1 2026
Analog Cafe has published its H1 2026 Film Price Watch report, which tracks 37 film products across 13 major retailers. The headline figure is a 2.5% average price increase over the first six months of 2026, which is below the typical annual inflation rate of 3% and follows a flat six months beforehand. The overall picture is one of stability rather than the accelerating cost spiral that many photographers feared following the price surges of the early 2020s.
Within the tracked set, Kodak Ektapan (T-Max) 400 prices fell by 4.9%, Ilford Delta Professional 3200 dropped by 3.5%, and Kodak UltraMax 400 declined by 2.6%. Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100, Lomography Lomochrome Purple and HARMAN Phoenix 200 also fell. At the other end, Kodak Kodacolor ColorPlus 200 rose 10.5%, Ilford XP2 Super 400 rose 10.4%, and Ilford FP4 Plus 125 rose 9.2%. The report notes that Kodak Gold 200 in 36-exposure format averages $10.34 in 2026 — by some measures a more competitive price than its equivalent in the 1990s when adjusted for inflation.
Olivia Wilde at Kodak's New York Film Lab
A short promotional video released by Kodak and A24 this week documents director Olivia Wilde's tour of Kodak's film processing facility in New York City, timed to her new feature "The Invite" which was shot on photochemical film. The four-minute video — available via DPReview and ISO 1200 — covers the processing sequence from darkroom assembly through developer, stop bath, bleach, fixer and stabilisation, with technicians explaining each stage. It has circulated widely in photography communities this week as an accessible and well-observed look at a process most photographers have never seen at industrial scale.
Also This Week
Gear, Glass & Light
Fujifilm has announced a Fujikina event in New York City for 16–18 October 2026, in addition to the previously announced Fujikina Cologne. New York events of this kind from Fujifilm tend to coincide with product announcements; the October date is consistent with a late-2026 X-T6 release following a September announcement. Also from Fujifilm this week: the Fujinon GF19-35mm T3.5 PZ OIS WR was officially launched, adding a wide power-zoom complement to the GFX ETERNA 55 medium-format cinema system. Available from late July, it covers a 15–28mm equivalent range and is the widest lens yet produced for the GFX mount.
The Photographic Arts
The Rencontres d'Arles Pro Week concluded on 12 July. The public programme continues until 4 October. The Fonds Bustamante opened 9 July as scheduled. No significant new awards or book announcements this week.
The Digital Darkroom
Blackmagic Design released DaVinci Resolve 21.0.1 this week, with improvements to RAW image workflows and HDR delivery relevant to still photographers using the new Photo page. The update improves DNG and Apple ProRAW decoding for more accurate colour and brightness representation. The Photo page remains new and developing — the bug-fix cadence suggests Blackmagic is actively iterating on it.
Looking Ahead
The Reflx Lab 110 stocks are available now; the Light Lens Lab film and 35mm f/2 APO have no confirmed date but are described as imminent. The MELS situation will develop — whether the petition and industry pressure produce any result, or whether this follows the pattern of many other lab closures where the decision proves irreversible, remains to be seen. The Fujifilm Fujikina New York event (16–18 October) and the Sigma 85mm F1.2 DG DN Art (September) remain the most clearly defined points on the near-term hardware horizon. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 shortlist announcement is expected later this month.
