Rollei Blackbird - 35mm Black & White Creative Film

Deliberately dramatic. Unapologetically high-contrast. Not for the faint of heart. Rollei Blackbird is an orthopanchromatic black and white creative film that lives for contrast, atmosphere, and making everything look more cinematic than it has any right to be. With a nominal sensitivity of ISO 64 (flexible from ISO 25 to 100 depending on how adventurous you're feeling), this film delivers phenomenal sharpness, finest light transmission, and the kind of charismatic contrasts that make you question whether you actually need midtones. Spoiler: sometimes you don't.

What Makes Rollei Blackbird Good

ISO 64 (Nominal) - Slow enough to demand good light or a tripod, but that's part of the charm. You can rate it anywhere from 25 to 100 depending on your mood and the scene. Flexibility meets intention.

Orthopanchromatic - Slightly less sensitive to red light than standard panchromatic films, which affects how it renders certain colours as grayscale. Translation: skies go darker, skin tones shift slightly, and everything gets a bit more moody.

High Contrast - This film has strong opinions about blacks and whites. Shadows go deep, highlights stay bright, and the overall look is bold and graphic. Not subtle. Never subtle.

Phenomenal Sharpness - Despite the drama, detail stays crisp. You get contrast and sharpness, which is rarer than you'd think.

Finest Light Transmission - Technical speak for "your scans will look great and printing will be a dream."

Best For

Scenes with lots of contrast and atmosphere, architectural photography, graphic compositions, moody portraits, anything where you want drama over documentary realism, and photographers who think "too much contrast" is a myth invented by cowards.

Perfect for photographers who want their black and white work to look like it belongs in a gallery, a noir film, or at minimum, framed on a wall with good lighting.