Acros 100 in peril?

redrockcoulee · Apr 1, 2018

I use film from 5 different companies. I do not understand why some posters are encouraging users to assist in putting 3 or 4 of those companies out of business. Acros is the least expensive 120 and the most expensive 4X5 b&w film. Bergger appears to be more the opposite in pricing. 8f Ilford had zero competition I am not sure I would trust their pricing. Switching from Acros to any Ilford 120 film represents a fairly large increase in my cost of film, by about one third.

I will further stock up on Acros and decide on an alternative. I find it sad when someone' favorite film is discontinued, even if it is an emulsion I don' use. Sad that others do not have empathy for those who are lamenting the loss of an emulsion and worse encouraging other film stocks to go away. Talk about not supporting the analogue c9mmunity.

Sirius Glass · Apr 1, 2018

mooseontheloose said:
Well, I just ordered 150 rolls of 120 and 30 rolls of 35mm - it's all I can afford right now. Hopefully I can keep buying more stock after every pay period, until I can order no more. In the meantime, I'll be moving over to another 100 speed film, and save the Acros mostly for what it does it best.

Good! Better that you should have it, rather than the film hoarders.

K-G · Apr 1, 2018

paulbarden said:
My thoughts exactly. I have some Acros in storage I bought last summer, and that's the end of it for me. Ilford and Bergger will get my business from here on in.

Don't forget ADOX. They are really committed to analogue photography and once they get their ADOX CHS 100 II going again, it's a wonderful ISO 100 film.

Karl-Gustaf

RattyMouse · Apr 1, 2018

faberryman said:
I always used to shoot Kodak black and white films, but when I came back to photography in 2012 after a long hiatus, in view of Kodak's bankruptcy and reduced offerings and support for photography, I shifted to Ilford exclusively for film and chemicals. I've not been disappointed.

I shoot Delta 3200 during those rare times I need a high speed film. I dropped TMAX400 and moved to Neopan 400. Yes, I made a nice score of expired Neopan 400 and that has kept me in stock for the past few years for 35mm film and one year for 120. I have several years worth on ice now.

mshchem · Apr 1, 2018

I just bought over 100 rolls of over stock Acros, not expired, from our shop that's closing for 3 bucks a roll. I guess now I will grow to love it since my freezer is full. I wish someone could explain what the hell Orthopanchromatic means? It's kinda like Jumbo Shrimp or Military Intelligence .
Ha, Mike

bvy · Apr 1, 2018

mshchem said:
I wish someone could explain what the hell Orthopanchromatic means?

For my money it just means less sensitivity to red.

mshchem · Apr 1, 2018

bvy said:
For my money it just means less sensitivity to red.

Looks like this has already been decided a couple years back, mostly marketing.
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ning-of-orthopanchromatic-acros.142757/page-2

Andrew O'Neill · Apr 1, 2018

It has just as much sensitivity to red as Tmax, Delta... or Hp5, TMY-2...

mshchem · Apr 1, 2018

From Flavio in 2016 Hilarious
Dec 24, 2016#35

flavio81Member
Messages:
2,955
Joined:
Oct 24, 2014
Location:
Lima, Peru
Shooter:
Medium Format
↑
I think Neal found the definition of orthopanchromatic which applies to Acros.
The explanation is different. It is a translation error.

The original ACROS datasheet, in japanese, stated that the spectral response was "sakura-chan-kotesu-asahi", which means:

"the quality of panchromatic response good for representing cherry blossom flowers correctly in film, despite caucasian people ending up looking like spending way too much time on a tanning bed."

Which of course describes perfectly Acros 100 spectral response. Japanese people are honest. At the release of Acros 100 the original brochure consisted solely on pictures of Cherry blossom flowers, plus a fine portrait of Muhammad Ali. No other people was portrayed in the brochure.

The english translator thought this meant "correct panchromatic" and thus the english datasheet says ORTHOPANCHROMATIC.

Last edited: Dec 24, 2016

NedL · Apr 1, 2018

K-G said:
Don't forget ADOX. They are really committed to analogue photography and once they get their ADOX CHS 100 II going again, it's a wonderful ISO 100 film.

Karl-Gustaf

+1

CHS 100 II is a very different film from acros, not tabular, but it has a spectral response similar to acros.

RattyMouse · Apr 1, 2018

K-G said:
Don't forget ADOX. They are really committed to analogue photography and once they get their ADOX CHS 100 II going again, it's a wonderful ISO 100 film.

Karl-Gustaf

ADOX???

GarageBoy · Apr 1, 2018

Why bring up E6 in a thread about across? Because we can't guarantee that it's not next. Hell, look at the trend of what we have lost and there's a high chance velvia/provia/400H could get the ax at any point, AND it wouldn't surprise any of us.

Thanks for everything Fuji, could at least be honest of your plans.

cmacd123 · Apr 1, 2018

RattyMouse said:
ADOX???

the trade name used by Photo-impex of berlin for their line of films. CHS was originally re badged EFKE, which was based on the original 1950-ish Adox product. when EFKE went under the Photo impex folks had CHS-II made by an undisclosed supplier. they have since bought the rights to use the old CIBACHROME pilot line and they are intending to use that to make CHS-III

I agree that them using the ADOX name can be confusing, especialy for us who rember buying adox film made by Dupont Fotowerk.

Helinophoto · Apr 2, 2018

RattyMouse said:
How long will this film last at room temperature? I do not have much fridge space to store more than 50 or so rolls. I want to buy more, much more than that.

Just purchase a small freezer and use it exclusively for film
Like, something like this: https://www.power.no/hvitevarer/fry...VGIGyCh3KRwK_EAQYAiABEgJvC_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have such a freezer only for film, it sits in a small storage-room/closet in the apartment (I live in a fairly small apartment in the city) and doesn't really take up much room at all.
- I had to get one a few years ago, since the film was taking up all the space for food in my fridge/freezer combo

This way, I can keep Acros "forever", in fact, a couple of days ago, I thawed some Acros with expire date 2013, works just fine.

RattyMouse · Apr 2, 2018

cmacd123 said:
the trade name used by Photo-impex of berlin for their line of films. CHS was originally re badged EFKE, which was based on the original 1950-ish Adox product. when EFKE went under the Photo impex folks had CHS-II made by an undisclosed supplier. they have since bought the rights to use the old CIBACHROME pilot line and they are intending to use that to make CHS-III

I agree that them using the ADOX name can be confusing, especialy for us who rember buying adox film made by Dupont Fotowerk.

I see almost every ADOX film at B & H out of stock, and has been so for many many months. I dont think produce much film of significance.

Lachlan Young · Apr 2, 2018

RattyMouse said:
I see almost every ADOX film at B & H out of stock, and has been so for many many months. I dont think produce much film of significance.

That would be because they are building/ upgrading their coating & manufacturing facilities in Fribourg & Bad Saarow to take most of their coating in-house, instead of the toll-coating that they have used previously. CHS100II & (hopefully) Polywarmtone should be on their way once they are totally happy with coating quality etc. There are several threads here about all of this, & on Adox's own website.

K-G · Apr 2, 2018

Lachlan Young said:
That would be because they are building/ upgrading their coating & manufacturing facilities in Fribourg & Bad Saarow to take most of their coating in-house, instead of the toll-coating that they have used previously. CHS100II & (hopefully) Polywarmtone should be on their way once they are totally happy with coating quality etc. There are several threads here about all of this, & on Adox's own website.

ADOX is also a part of the PHOTRIO partners forum. Take a look.
https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/partner-adox.20/

Karl-Gustaf

RattyMouse · Apr 2, 2018

K-G said:
ADOX is also a part of the PHOTRIO partners forum. Take a look.
https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/partner-adox.20/

Karl-Gustaf

Pretty much a ghost town.

Cloudy 8 · Apr 2, 2018

RattyMouse said:
Pretty much a ghost town.

As mentioned above, ADOX is currently expanding their plant in Bad Saarow, to double their production capacity:
http://www.adox.de/Photo/new-factory-building-in-bad-saarow-near-berlin/

Status updates (in German only), with pretty pictures:
http://www.adox.de/Photo/category/neubau2017/

NedL · Apr 2, 2018

And I wish Mirko and everyone at photo-impex the best of luck with it, understanding that it is a huge endeavor and difficult to make profitable. It could be a long time before we see CHS 100 III, but I'll wait patiently and buy it if and when it becomes available, probably from Freestyle, another Photrio sponsor. I'm still thinking about what to do in the meanwhile if acros goes away -- I'm not really sure yet.

warden · Apr 2, 2018

Cloudy 8 said:
As mentioned above, ADOX is currently expanding their plant in Bad Saarow, to double their production capacity:
http://www.adox.de/Photo/new-factory-building-in-bad-saarow-near-berlin/

Status updates (in German only), with pretty pictures:
http://www.adox.de/Photo/category/neubau2017/

That is really cool. Thanks for sharing!

B.S.Kumar · Apr 3, 2018

As some you may know, I sell Fuji film and ship worldwide. I spoke to one of my distributors today, and being Japanese, he said that there is no official word from Fuji. But he did suggest that I should think of increasing my order quantities...You can come to your own conclusions. Fuji tends to make such announcements on a Friday, towards the end of the day.

For some years, Fuji has been moving away from film, simply because it is a very, very large company. It is not simply about "commitment to film". The resources used to produce film must generate a rate of profit similar to their other businesses. Otherwise it gets axed. The comparisons with Ilford, Foma, etc are not meaningful.

Fuji used to make glass plates and enlargers. I'm sure there are/were people who cursed them when they stopped making those products.

Kumar

RattyMouse · Apr 3, 2018

B.S.Kumar said:
For some years, Fuji has been moving away from film, simply because it is a very, very large company. It is not simply about "commitment to film".

Then why did Fujifilm's CEO keep blathering on about Fuji's commitment to film?

removed account4 · Apr 3, 2018

RM maybe they are committed, until it becomes a pair of cement shoes
i'm going out on a limb here, but maybe they are like any company they are not in business to lose money ..

RattyMouse · Apr 3, 2018

jnanian said:
RM maybe they are committed, until it becomes a pair of cement shoes
i'm going out on a limb here, but maybe they are like any company they are not in business to lose money ..

Fujifilm is not in any danger of losing money. So forget that thought. Lots of companies have less than profitable parts of their business, my own included. We support a lot of legacy customers with products that have no so great margins because we treat customers with respect and not just as cash registers.

Acros 100 in peril?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency