New: MONOPAN 50
Wetzlar, 18 June 2025

The new black-and-white 35 mm film from Leica

To honour a century of 35 mm photography, Leica Camera AG is introducing a high-resolution black-and-white film with enhanced spectral sensitivity.

The Leica I transformed photography when it made its debut back in 1925, establishing the 35 mm format as the new industry standard. The compact format swiftly gained traction with retailers and photographers commonly referring to it simply as “Leica film”, even though the 35 mm film packs used with the Leica I originated from manufacturers like Kodak, Agfa or Perutz. To celebrate the Leica I’s centenary and pay homage to 35 mm photography, Leica Camera AG is unveiling its first true Leica 35 mm film: MONOPAN 50 black-and-white film, offering 36 exposures.

Honouring the origins of 35 mm photography and its distinctive aesthetic, Leica is introducing its high-resolution MONOPAN 50 film, featuring an extended spectral range. The name MONOPAN 50 is derived from its components: “mono”, “pan” and the number “50”. “Mono” refers to Leica’s renowned Monochrom series, a line of digital black-and-white cameras first introduced in 2012. “Pan” denotes the film’s outstanding panchromatic properties, while the number “50” represents its ISO rating.

Leica MONOPAN 50 features an ultra-fine grain, delivering an impressive resolution of up to 280 line pairs per millimetre. With superpanchromatic sensitivity of up to 780 nm, it ensures remarkable sharpness and an exceptional tonal range. The film encapsulates Oskar Barnack’s vision of “small negative – big picture”, the very principle that gave rise to the original Leica. With its refined specifications, the black-and-white film is perfectly suited to Leica lenses, showcasing their remarkable optical performance, particularly in high-end large-format prints and detailed scans. Back in Barnack’s day, most films had low sensitivity. Leica has embraced this historical context in its choice of ISO 50/18°. With high-performance Leica lenses like the Noctilux-M, Summilux-M and Summicron-M, the film’s low sensitivity enables wide-aperture shooting, rendering the distinctive Leica bokeh – even in bright lighting conditions. Thanks to its enhanced spectral sensitivity, the new Leica black-and-white film is also ideal for infrared photography, demonstrating exceptional responsiveness to filtration. As such, MONOPAN 50 pairs seamlessly with Leica colour filters. This enhances photographs with striking contrast and a dramatic aesthetic, granting photographers greater creative freedom in their compositions.

Produced in Germany, MONOPAN 50 is particularly perfect for landscape, architectural, cityscape and travel photography. The film is compatible with all black-and-white developers. It guarantees complete control over black-and-white photography, ensuring the highest degree of detail. Its vintage-style packaging evokes the pioneering era of 35 mm photography, while its outstanding specifications encourage photographers to carry forward this legacy by creating impressive images.

Leica MONOPAN 50 will be available worldwide in Leica Stores and through authorised retailers from 21 August 2025. The recommended retail price is €12.00 incl. VAT.

 

100 Years of Leica: Witness to a Century

In 2025, Leica Camera AG is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Leica I, which was first presented to the public at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925. As the first 35 mm still camera to be mass-produced, it exceeded all expectations. Because with its compact and handy format, it opened up a whole new range of new photographic applications. All around the globe, under the motto “100 Years of Leica: Witness to a Century”, Leica Camera AG will be celebrating this camera, which revolutionised the world of photography. Cultural projects and extraordinary special-edition products will be launched throughout the year at international events organised by the Leica national subsidiaries in the major cities of Dubai, Milan, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo. The anniversary week, taking place in Wetzlar, the company’s headquarters, in June, marks the high point of the celebrations. On top of that, visitors can look forward to top-class exhibitions in the worldwide network of Leica Galleries with works by outstanding photographers.
 

Please find further information at:

Leica Camera AG
Ann-Kristin Schneider
Global PR Manager
E-Mail:  Ann-Kristin.Schneider@leica-camera.com

Press-Release_Leica-MONOPAN-50_June-2025.pdf
English
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Leica Camera 소개

Leica Camera AG는 150년 이상의 역사를 자랑하는 세계적인 프리미엄 카메라, 렌즈 및 스포츠 광학 제품 제조업체입니다. 회사의 성장 전략의 일환으로 모바일 이미징(스마트폰), 고급 안경 렌즈 및 시계로 사업을 확장했으며, 자체 프로젝터를 통해 홈 시어터 부문에 진출했습니다.

Leica Camera AG는 베츨라(독일, Wetzlar)에 본사를 두고, 빌라 노바 드 파말리캉(Vila Nova de Famalicão, 포르투갈)에 두 번째 생산 시설을 운영하며, 전 세계 120개 이상의 라이카 스토어를 포함한 자체 유통 네트워크를 보유하고 있습니다. 라이카에서는 2,400여 명의 직원이 근무하고 있으며 회계 연도 2023/24에는 5억 5,400만 유로의 매출을 달성했습니다.

라이카 브랜드는 우수한 품질, 독일의 장인 정신과 산업 디자인과 함께 혁신적인 기술을 상징합니다. 라이카의 브랜드 문화에는 사진 문화를 지원하는 활동이 포함되어 있으며, 전 세계 약 30여 개의 라이카 갤러리, 라이카 아카데미, 그리고 Leica Hall of Fame Award 및 Leica Oskar Barnack Award(LOBA)와 같은 국제 어워드가 이를 뒷받침합니다.