Rera Pan 100

Rera Pan 100 is one of the few options for shooters keeping their Yashica 44, Baby Rolleiflex, or Komaflex alive. Kawauso-Shoten in Japan, working through their EZOX manufacturing arm, cuts and spools master film onto 127 backing paper. EZOX is better known for bicycles and agricultural equipment than photographic chemistry. The film side of the business is small.

What is actually inside the 127 spool has been the subject of years of forum speculation. The most credible theory, supported by matching development times, is that Rera Pan 100 is Rollei RPX 100. The RPX line is coated by Harman Technology in the UK for Maco in Germany. Bulk master rolls travel from the UK to German bulk distribution to Japan, where Kawauso cuts the 46mm width down and spools it onto backing paper, then ships finished rolls back out. The label confirms only assembled in Japan.

The character matches what RPX 100 photographers know. Fine grain, long mid-tone scale, slight tendency toward higher contrast than the Ilford counterparts. It develops in any standard B&W developer. Rodinal 1:50 at the times listed on the Rollei RPX 100 datasheet works almost identically. D-76 stock and 1:1 both behave normally.

The 127 format gives you twelve 4x4cm square frames or eight 4x6.5cm rectangles depending on your camera mask. For these vintage cameras the lens limits sharpness long before the film does.

Format is exclusively 127. No 35mm, no 120, no sheet. The supply chain is fragile. When Kawauso decides to stop assembling, the global supply of fresh 127 B&W goes away with them. Freeze a few rolls if you have a 127 camera you actually use.

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. Most 127 cameras need a tripod and a cable release to land exposures past a second cleanly anyway.