ReflxLab · ISO 100 B&W negative
ReflxLab BW 100
Reflx Lab is a Shenzhen-based reseller that respools and rebrands film stock for the boutique market. Their BW 100 offering is Lucky SHD 100, the modern Chinese emulsion coated at the China Lucky Film Corporation site in Baoding. Lucky has been making panchromatic film since 1958. After the company joined the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation in 2011 the photographic line nearly went away entirely, and the New SHD 100 launched in 2017 was a deliberate revival on an updated base.
The emulsion is straight cubic-grain panchromatic. Not tabular, not delta, not anything modern. It develops in D-76 at 8 minutes stock or 12 minutes at 1:1, both at 20 degrees, with the kind of contrast curve that reads as Eastern European rather than Kodak-modern. Reviewers describe a mild yellow-warm base and grain that is more visible than you would expect from a current ISO 100 film. The coating is also known to be fragile. Handle the leader gently and expect occasional small dark spots from emulsion defects.
Compared to Fomapan 100, the look is similar in spirit. A bit less smooth in the mid-tones, a bit more contrast in the highlights. Compared to FP4+ or T-Max 100 it loses badly on resolution and shadow separation, but it also costs roughly a third as much by the bulk roll, which is the point.
Rate it at 100 in even light, drop to 80 when shadows matter. Rodinal 1:50 brings out the grain character if you want it visible. XTOL or D-76 1:1 keep things cleaner. Avoid pushing past 200; the emulsion does not have the latitude for it.
Reflx Lab sells it in 35mm 36-exposure rolls and 100ft bulk loads, plus 120 medium format and 4x5 and 5x7 sheet sizes. The same Lucky emulsion is therefore available across roll, medium-format and sheet sizes through this respooler.
Reciprocity exponent is 1.31. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second. A metered 30-second exposure becomes about 90 seconds at the negative. The math matches Tri-X and HP5+, so mixing stocks on the same tripod day does not require separate calculations.
How the app handles this stock
- Box speed: ISO 100. Picker exposes pull/push chips so you can shoot it at any speed you want and the meter follows.
- Reciprocity: Above one second the app raises metered time to the power of 1.31.
- Expired film: if you load an old roll, set the expiry year and storage in the app and the ISO scales for you. B&W negative decay rates are baked in.