6 Foma 400 films with only one cassette - desperate or innovative?

[Dustin McAmera]

I see the label on the cardboard box says 'open in darkness only', so there may be no inner packing inside the plastic pots. There seems to be a leaflet. I see no mention at all of these sets at Foma's own site.

 

[Ajven]

I think the leaflet is quite descriptive:
https://fomaobchod.cz/inshop/files/11024/FOMAPAN 6 ks EN.pdf?timestamp=20230110094833

There is no inner packing.

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

I think the leaflet is quite descriptive:
https://fomaobchod.cz/inshop/files/11024/FOMAPAN 6 ks EN.pdf?timestamp=20230110094833

There is no inner packing.

Thank you for that. The set-up looks very convenient to handle.

 

[Romanko]

There is no inner packing.

So this is just a cost-saving option for those who don't shoot enough to justify bulk-loading from a 100 ft roll.
Still nice. Daylight-loading would add extra convenience for the user saving the bulk and weight of the changing bag.

 

[snusmumriken]

Foma have been offering these for quite a while now via their own store. As for cassette shortage - they've been selling them as well: https://fomaobchod.cz/en/photographersrequirements/metalsnapcapdxcoded/

I've been wondering why only Fomapan 100 & 400 and not 200? Has to do with the more fragile emulsion of the latter?

Good old-fashioned cassettes that are easy to dismantle and reload. I have plenty of them myself from before the digital revolution, but it's nice to know they are still available somewhere.

 

[choiliefan]

I may have missed it but is the leader already cut on each refill?

 

[Ajven]

Yes, it is fully prepared including the leader. You just open the container in the dark, remove the rubber that secures the film on the spool and insert it into the empty cartridge. One minute of work including warning the family not to turn on the toilet lights

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

Yes, it is fully prepared including the leader. You just open the container in the dark, remove the rubber that secures the film on the spool and insert it into the empty cartridge. One minute of work including warning the family not to turn on the toilet lights

You have lights in there? That's pretty advanced.

 

[cmacd123]

I may have missed it but is the leader already cut on each refill?

it is apperently a roll of film just as it would be prepared normally, except the step of inserting it into a Cassettes has been omitted. so the leader would be cut, the other end attached to a spool. One assumes the edge printing and frame numbers are also in place

 

[cmacd123]

Foma have been offering these for quite a while now via their own store. As for cassette shortage - they've been selling them as well: https://fomaobchod.cz/en/photographersrequirements/metalsnapcapdxcoded/

Out of curiousity, I asked Freestyle if they might carry these, and was told that they checked with Foma, and the stock available was not unlimited, and so freestyle would not be getting any. anyone in Europe who wants some probably should order faster rather than slower.

 

[mshchem]

This is actually a sensible thing to do, not sure if modern folks would take to it though. This would be a great luxury compared to what the pre-Kodak 135 cartridge practitioners had to use.

 

[Ernst-Jan]

Well, for Foma it's ofcourse good, new product, people get curious and people that otherwise would have bought 2 rolls now buy more.

But I doubt if it's really giving less waste. I don't consider the actually filmroll (as on the metal housing) as waste. You save a couple of those, but they still use plastic containers to keep the actual film away from light.

I think it's better to package them like Ilford does/did with there 100 pcs package of 135 films: no box, no container, just wrapped in foil. Then it's even better for Foma since they don't use plastic foil but paper and aluminium.

 

[snusmumriken]

I dimly remember that in the late 1960s when 35mm loads were available like that in the UK, each film length was cunningly wrapped in light-proof paper (like backing paper). Intuitively I imagine that would be more eco than putting each one in a plastic tub, but could be wrong.

 

[Agulliver]

Presumably the plastic container can be recycled. As can the plastic cassette? Or reused?

Backing paper cannot be recycled, and I am sure that the wrappers Foma use for their films are not simply foil but have some coating on them? They don't feel simply like foil. And I don't think they are recyclable. Whereas most plastic containers, if they are made of the same types of plastic as food containers, are recycled widely. I routinely put my 35mm plastic canisters in the recycling because they have a number 1 or 3 on them with the arrows logo.

 

[mshchem]

Kodak aluminum cans of the 50's.

 

[Dustin McAmera]

Good old-fashioned cassettes that are easy to dismantle and reload. I have plenty of them myself from before the digital revolution, but it's nice to know they are still available somewhere.

I was about to buy a couple of boxes of those little metal cassettes; I have three bulk loaders, and I think two of them have film in that I should be using. I have a small supply of old cassettes, but more and newer might be good. But as far as I can see, Foma won't ship outside the EU.

Shipping and payment options

 

[snusmumriken]

I was about to buy a couple of boxes of those little metal cassettes; I have three bulk loaders, and I think two of them have film in that I should be using. I have a small supply of old cassettes, but more and newer might be good. But as far as I can see, Foma won't ship outside the EU.

Shipping and payment options

I’m heading out to Hungary in October. If you like, I can see if I can pick some up and bring them back to the UK?

 

[choiliefan]

Looks like Freestyle carries this but pre-spooled(?):

Foma Fomapan 100 ISO 35mm x 36 exp. - Set of 6

Fomapan 100 Creative is panchromatic sensitized, black and white negative film of the speed ISO 100. This film is characterized by high resolution, wide exposure latitude and fine grain.

www.freestylephoto.com

Comes in other speeds as well.

 

[cmacd123]

Looks like Freestyle carries this but pre-spooled(?):

Foma Fomapan 100 ISO 35mm x 36 exp. - Set of 6

Fomapan 100 Creative is panchromatic sensitized, black and white negative film of the speed ISO 100. This film is characterized by high resolution, wide exposure latitude and fine grain.

www.freestylephoto.com

Comes in other speeds as well.

Yes, freestyle has carried the 4 Foma films for many years. 100, 200 and 400, and also the 100 Reversal B&W. In addition that have a line of 100, 200 and 400 as "Arista EDU Ultra" that happens to come from the Czech republic. Up to now, all of those films come in Non-reloadable, metal cassettes.

the reloads on spools set comes with one PLASTIC cassette. that is the item you shared.

 

[snusmumriken]

Do they really mean that Fomadon is a “menthol-hydroquinone developer”?

Edit: Ah, if you switch to Czech language, it does say ‘metol’. So it’s just a translation error.

 

[MCB18]

I know I’m a bit late to this, but I quite like the idea actually. Less packaging and i don’t need to buy cassettes from my lab. I considered selling my 35mm cine films like this, wrapped in a rubber band and in tin foil/a black container for a reduced cost, but with how few good reusable cassettes there are, I know that would go poorly.

 

[loccdor]

During the USSR area, there was a 35mm 36 exp. film sold , here in Europe, standard wrapped in black paper and packed in a cardboard box. You had to put the film in a reusable cassette yourself.
I can't recall the brand's name because I couldn't read the Cyrillic alphabet...

I believe 35mm film was sold that way in the FSU back in the 1960's & 1970's.

Svema 35mm, until at least the 90s, was being sold in a cardboard box, containing a foil wrapper, containing a black "backing paper" wrapper, which had the 36 or so exposure length of film, and no spool inside. I have a few dozen of them.

The fact that these are already on a spool makes them more convenient than those.

 

[cmacd123]

SO far I have found the pre-loads will fit nicely into one of my A-P reloadable metal casettes I normally used for Bulk film. that actually provides a roll of Fomapan with actual DX coding for my EOS camera.

Have not gotten to develop the roll yet.

 

[cmacd123]

interesting that Foma really seems to be having to use alternatives to metal.

first their was the Arista EDU Ultra in Plastic cassettes marked "Made In Canada" I saw that Studio Argentique has some Fomapan in a new design box. I odered a few rolls and beside the expiration date and Batch number on the box, it also said plstic cass in Dot matrix printing. Sure enough the film is in the Vertical split snap together cartridges that the last batch of Arista EDU was packed in.

all of these were in the same sort of Plastic Can that FOMA generally uses. As were the "spool only" films.

the kicker was that Flic Film posted some Questions and answers this week, and "dave seems to hve locked up the Plastic Cassette business at 6000 rolls a day.