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Reflx Lab’s Two New 110 Film Stocks
credits: Reflx Lab
110 film has long been one of the most niche formats in analog photography, with Lomography being the only company producing fresh 110 film for the past 15 years. That is now changing, as Reflx Lab has announced two new 110 film stocks, giving photographers another option for the cartridge-based format. The new releases include Fortuna C200 color negative film and 100R Color Reversal slide film, with Reflx Lab also saying that more premium 110 films are already planned for the future.
The Fortuna C200 is respooled from Lucky C200 film stock, while the 100R Color Reversal is made from respooled 16mm Kodak Ektachrome slide film. Both films are packaged in 3D-printed cartridges, which help keep production costs down but come with one notable drawback. There is no rear window to show how many exposures remain. Instead, you simply load the cartridge, wind the film until it stops, and continue shooting until the advance lever can no longer be turned. Both films retain standard 110 perforations on one side, while the original 16mm perforations remain on the other.
Reflx Lab recommends using higher-quality 110 cameras such as the Canon 110ED, Pentax Auto 110, Minolta 110 Zoom, and Rollei E110, rather than the inexpensive fixed-focus cameras that helped make the format popular decades ago. According to the company, those simpler cameras do not make the most of what these new film stocks can offer. The Reflx Lab Fortuna C200 is priced at $19.99, while the 100R Color Reversal sells for $24.99.
Panasonic’s Retractable Macro Lens Patent
credits: Panasonic
A newly published Panasonic patent suggests the company could be working on a much more compact macro lens, one that retracts when it is not in use to make it easier to carry around. The patent, P2026104790, describes a lens with a control ring that switches between three different positions. A fully retracted transport mode, a standard shooting mode, and an extended macro mode. As is always the case with patents, there is no guarantee this will ever become a real product, but it does offer an interesting glimpse at what Panasonic could be developing.
According to the patent, the control ring mechanically moves the internal lens groups along the optical axis depending on the selected mode. In the retracted position, the lens pulls back toward the camera body to reduce its overall size. Turning the ring moves it into its normal shooting position, while rotating it further extends the lens into a dedicated macro mode for close-up photography. Panasonic also describes separate distance scales for each position, helping maintain accurate focusing no matter which mode the lens is being used in. The goal is with this is to combine the convenience of a retractable lens with true macro capability, something that is currently not available on the market.
Retractable lenses already exist, including Nikon’s Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 and Z 26mm f/2.8, Canon’s RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3, and Sony’s 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS, but none of them are dedicated macro lenses. Panasonic’s current Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro is already regarded as one of the strongest macro options for the L-Mount system, so a smaller retractable version would certainly be an interesting addition if it ever reaches production.
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