This black-and-white film is designed in England, made in Germany, distributed in Hong Kong and named after a cat
(Image credit: Camera Film Photo)
Film photography is great fun, which is one of the reasons why the form has been making such a big comeback over the past couple of years. However, the film itself is usually pretty boring.
Enter Kiki Pan 320, a new black and white 35mm film is designed in England, manufactured in Germany and distributed in Hong Kong – where its packaging was designed by somebody who decided that it should look like a cat, and be named after one as well.
Yes, pick up a roll of Kiki Pan 320 and you'll be greeted by a delightfully designed box that looks like a black cat – complete with cute little pads on the bottom, and a bright pink starfish on the rear. The cat is actually a specific one, named KiKi – and it's owned by the founder of Camera Film Photo, which distributes the film, himself an avid street photographer.
Described by Japanese retailer Cura (to add a fourth country to the mix) as "a completely new, traditional black-and-white film", this ISO320 speed film "has a large grain, making it ideal for street photography and travel photography. It produces a very sharp image while being unique."
Camera Film Photo itself describes the stock as, "a brand-new roll film, not a self-roll film with a sticker label, provides classical high speed panchromatic film result. It is available to process by most of the standard B&W developers such as Rodinal, Berspeed, HC-110, etc. it also can be processed by Monobath."
A 36-exposure roll of Kiki Pan 320 sells for $8.25 / £7.25 / AU$11.25. And while some may describe independent, limited edition rolls like this as novelty film stocks, there is an increasing place for low-price film – especially with news that Kodak is hiking prices by as much as 40%, with a 36 roll of E100 set to cost $42.58 / £35.08 / AU$61.85!
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If you want to pick up some feline flavored film, head over to Camera Film Photo – and you can check out some sample images below.
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The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine, Digital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.