Wolfen NP100 Review: Shooting ORWO’s 35mm Black and White Film

Earlier this year, I bought a roll of Wolfen NP100 35mm analogue film from the brand ORWO. I knew nothing about this film; I hadn’t even heard of it, so I had zero expectations for what it might be like to use.

On a recent trip to Serbia, I decided it was the best place to shoot the film roll. I had the roll developed there (no risk of airport X-ray scans), and when I got my scans back, I was genuinely surprised by how beautifully the images turned out.

Read on for my Wolfen NP100 review, with everything you need to know about the film and a gallery of sample images.
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How I Came Across Wolfen NP100

I’d never heard of Wolfen or the brand ORWO before I came across it at The Photography & Video Show 2026 in Birmingham, UK. It was a fruitful outing, as I discovered analogue brands and film stocks I’d never seen before, and this one intrigued me more than others. I picked up this roll of 35mm film for only £4 as part of a promotional sale. I had zero expectations, only knowing it was a fine-grain black-and-white film.

I believe analogue photography, especially, should be all about experimentation: different rolls of film, different cameras and lenses, different labs and development techniques. So I went away with an open mind about this film and thought, “When the time is right, I’ll give it a whirl.”

That time came quite recently on a trip to Serbia. Its capital, Belgrade, is well renowned for its brutalist architecture, concrete, graffiti, spomeniks and, in general, excellent urban and environmental photography opportunities. So I thought it would be the best place to try it, and I shot the entire 35mm, 36-exposure film roll there.
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This Film (and Brand) Has an Interesting History

Wolfen NP100 comes from a brand with an intriguing past. The Wolfen factory began life as part of Agfa, and in 1964, on the East German side of the border, it became ORWO. If you’re a bit like me and fascinated by everything behind the Iron Curtain, I think you’ll get a kick out of this film, which has its roots there.

At the end of the Second World War, US forces took over the plant and handed key colour film patents to Western rivals such as Kodak and Ilford, before the Soviets dismantled much of the factory and shipped it east to start their own colour film industry.

Interestingly, the US Library of Congress still uses ORWO black-and-white stock, so many of the classic films it has chosen to preserve in recent years were likely copied onto ORWO film.

For the full story, ORWO has a detailed history on its website that’s worth reading.
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Wolfen NP100 Film at a Glance

Type: Black-and-white negative
Speed: ISO 100
Format: 35mm, 36 exposures
Grain: Very fine
Canister: DX-coded steel
‍Price: £11 a roll from the ORWO shop
Data sheet and processing guide: on the product page

What I Shot Wolfen NP100 With

Camera and Lens

Chinon CA-4, 35mm lens

The Locations Where I Shot the Film Roll

Belgrade, Serbia, across the city, with notable spots including the Genex Tower (Western City Gate), the Eastern City Gate, Port of Belgrade, Novi Beograd, Belgrade Waterfront and Avala Tower, plus the Kosmaj Spomenik outside of the city.

Exposure and Development

My camera has a quirk: I can only shoot at 1/100s because I cannot use any of the battery-operated auto-exposure features. So I keep it on the setting that doesn’t require any battery-operated elements and adjust the aperture to get the best exposure possible at a 1/100s shutter speed.

I did this without a light meter. I would say (and not to blow my own trumpet here) that I have many years of photography experience, so I feel generally confident in the f-stops (aperture) I chose for these and in guessing which ones will work best. But sometimes I do get this wrong, as is evident from some of the discarded frames on the film roll. If you’re in a similar situation to me, where you’re limited in what you can control with your camera settings and don’t know the exact calculations you need to dial in, I’d highly recommend you use a light meter.

I got the film developed at Karmir Film Lab in the centre of Belgrade. I’d known about Karmir beforehand, having bought some of their film stock at the Karmir lab in Yerevan, Armenia. If you’re looking for a film lab in Belgrade, I would highly recommend them they’re reasonably priced and produce stellar scans that get sent to you directly via email.

Also, getting the film developed locally before heading home meant I wasn’t taking a risk with the film roll potentially going through an airport X-ray scanner. While I managed a hand inspection on the way out at Edinburgh Airport, there was no guarantee that I’d be able to get one on the way back from Belgrade. So getting the film roll developed beforehand was a huge weight off my shoulders, as you never know what damage it can do. You can read about my adventure with film and X-ray scanners here.
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The Results: Wolfen NP100 Sample Images

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Final Thoughts

What I Loved

Really quite a lot! First of all, the grain is gorgeous, visible and fine, but not too much. The tonal range is beautiful too, and the scans have an ever so slightly warm tone, which I think works really well across the highlights and shadows.

What’s more, it feels surprisingly resilient. It held up very well to my guesswork when it came to exposure, with my camera only shooting at 1/100s. That definitely hasn’t been the case with other film rolls I’ve shot the same way in the past.

I even really like the final frame on the roll, of Avala Tower (below), where you can see the end of the film roll. This is what analogue is really about, in my opinion, these unusual, gorgeous effects that you can’t replicate in digital.

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What to Watch Out For

For more muted scenes, where there’s little in the way of contrast or variations in light and colour (which is still hugely important in black-and-white photography), this film might not be as suitable, as it may make some images look flat. It’s not a look I go for, but I know it is for some, so each to their own; that’s just my opinion.

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Would I Shoot Wolfen NP100 Again?

I absolutely would! While it wouldn’t be my go-to film for everything (I’m very much a colour photographer at heart), I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again for black-and-white photography, especially when I know the scenes will feature lots of contrast. The tones throughout are gorgeous. If you’re looking for a fine-grain ISO 100 black-and-white film for your 35mm camera, Wolfen NP100 is well worth a try.

Overall, I approached shooting with this film stock as an experiment and learning curve, using subjects I love to shoot and feel well-versed in. I am very pleased with the results and how these shots have turned out. Not all of them on the film roll were amazing, but well over 50% were, and for me, that’s a winner.

As I’ve said throughout this article, I really am genuinely surprised!
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Sources:

WOLFEN NP100, ORWO Film

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