Rollei Superpan 200 is a curious sort of film… all the better reason to run a Film Friday feature on it. The first impression we would give you of Superpan 200 is that on the surface it can be easily unimpressive, but dig a bit deeper and Superpan quickly reveals that it has quite a bag of tricks at its disposal. Every film should have a hook - that reason you show it to another photographer and say, “you really have to try this stuff because …”. With Superpan 200 its hook for us is its infrared capabilities.

Yes, you can shoot Rollei Superpan straight up, unfiltered, as a normal b&w ISO 200 film. Personally this is not our preference. When we shoot Rollei Infrared, we typically use an R72 filter and rate the film at about ISO 6 - a six stop filter factor compensation from the film’s “native” ISO 400. Using infrared film with just a red filter will darken blue skies and make skin glow.

In terms of grain, we would say that Superpan is average. We wouldn’t call it fine grain but it also is not normally quite as grainy as most ISO 400 films either. It has a cubic grain structure, so it does have a classic look to it. While Superpan may be quick to show grain, the film is also very sharp and seems very detailed. This would make sense given its history as a surveillance and industrial film where sharp detail is generally desired.

While the film can be used in a few different ways, our favorite is clearly as an infrared film and we’d encourage you to try it this way as well. The sunnier days make for great opportunities to do some infrared photography!

If your dream camera is a large format field camera that you can easily trek miles up a trail, this is the camera for you. It folds to 355mm x 310mm x 97mm, which fits into dedicated large format backpacks.

The Dallmeyer 2B 220mm f/3 is a legendary, highly sought-after large format portrait lens. Introduced in the 1860s by the renowned British manufacturer J.H. Dallmeyer, it belongs to the iconic "Series B" (Patent Portrait) family. J.H. Dallmeyer, and the company that followed him, produced lenses that were widely used in professional portrait studios. Today, the Dallmeyer 2B is considered a "dream lens" for fine-art and alternative-process photographers.

Featuring a six-element symmetrical Gauss design, the lens delivers high resolution with a vintage look. It is known for its lower contrast than modern lenses and a beautiful rendering of black and white tones. The lens is extremely sharp in the center, though edges can be softer when shot wide open. When stopped down to f5.6 or f8, the lens performs exceptionally well, rivaling later lenses in resolving power.

The Olivetti Lettera 32 is an iconic ultra-portable mechanical typewriter designed by Marcello Nizzoli and introduced in 1963 as a successor to the Lettera 22. It is widely regarded as one of the best portable typewriters ever made due to its light, computer-like key strike and modern, minimalist Italian design.

The Lettera 32 is prized for its compact "all-metal" construction and portability, often described as the "original laptop" because its enclosed bottom allows for comfortable typing on one's lap.