Adox Film

RattyMouse · Jan 18, 2017

Can someone help me understand Adox filims? I look at B & H and see that they have 2-3 films that look like they are very specialized films. This company is very old and has presumably been making film since 1860! I don't understand why they are so small and tiny making only very specialized films. I am sure that I am missing quite a lot so am posting here to learn more about this company and their films.

Thanks.

railwayman3 · Jan 18, 2017

The present "Adox" has no connection (other than the trademark) with the 1860 company....there is an interesting history on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADOX .
The current company is one of the sponsors of APUG. Click on the link on the Home Page here.

Ian Grant · Jan 18, 2017

Adox films today are made by and for Fotoimpex in Berlin, they've had film coated by Innovision? (an exAgfa coating line), Ilford, and now have their own facility at MArly in Switzerland which is the old Tellko site which became part of Ilford when both were owned by Ciba Geigy. In recent years it was seperate to Ilford in the UK and made Cibachrome/Ilfochrome.

Adox was a brand name of the "Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH" company which was bought by DuPont in 1963, Later part of the machinery was sold to EFKE - Fotokemika in Zagreb, Croatia, who made the Adox films under license from Dupont. Dupont retained the brand name for X-ray films, eventually the name went out of use and was revived by Fotoimpex who were able to register and use the lapsed trade name.

Mirko from Adox/Fotoimpex posts here on APUG and has discussed why it's taking time and future plans.

Ian

chrisaisenbrey · Jan 18, 2017

railwayman3 said:
The present "Adox" has no connection (other than the trademark) with the 1860 company....there is an interesting history on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADOX .
The current company is one of the sponsors of APUG. Click on the link on the Home Page here.

Well there is some continuity via efke:

AFAIK:

There was the old Adox company. They closed down photo business and sold their machines and recipes to efke in the 60ties.

Mirko Böddecker /Fotoimpex bought the name Adox and sold for many years Adox films made by efke. So in a way they were original Adox products from the old Adox company.

After there is no efke anymore Adox developed films like the silvermax and CHS II.

KPA40 · Jan 18, 2017

Ian Grant said:
Adox films today are made by and for Fotoimpex in Berlin, they've had film coated by Innovision? (an exAgfa coating line), Ilford, and now have their own facility at MArly in Switzerland which is the old Tellko site which became part of Ilford when both were owned by Ciba Geigy. In recent years it was seperate to Ilford in the UK and made Cibachrome/Ilfochrome.......

Ian

The correct company name is InovisCoat. http://www.inoviscoat.de/en/

Ian Grant · Jan 18, 2017

KPA40 said:
The correct company name is InovisCoat. http://www.inoviscoat.de/en/

That's why I added the ? Thanks.

Ian

BAC1967 · Jan 18, 2017

So the Adox films are not just re-branded emulsions but specifically made by or for Adox?

Ricardo Miranda · Jan 18, 2017

BAC1967 said:
So the Adox films are not just re-branded emulsions but specifically made by or for Adox?

Today's films, yes.

Alan Johnson · Jan 18, 2017

The original Adox became better known in the early 50s when they introduced some thin emulsion films that gave high acutance.It was often developed in Beutler developer.
This series was continued by Efke and later marketed by the present Adox until production ceased around 2012.

RattyMouse · Jan 18, 2017

Thanks for the replies everyone. Now it's a bit easier for me to understand why this company exists. I was perplexed at how such an old company can be so relatively irrelevant to the film world. No offense intended but their product line is extremely limited. Not what I would expect for a 150+ year old company!

Lachlan Young · Jan 18, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. Now it's a bit easier for me to understand why this company exists. I was perplexed at how such an old company can be so relatively irrelevant to the film world. No offense intended but their product line is extremely limited. Not what I would expect for a 150+ year old company!

Go for a look around here for 'Adox' and you'll get a better idea of what they make/ brand/ sell: https://www.fotoimpex.de/shopen/

Mirko has stated that for the time being they intend to fill the niche gaps that other manufacturers don't have the scale to be able to do - they could make a modern ISO 400 BW film, but it would have to sell at a higher price than Ilford or Kodak to make the investment back in a reasonable time. Their re-working of the CIBA/Ilford plant in Marly will give them an ability to manufacture much more efficiently than previously - look in their subforum here on APUG for more.

AgX · Jan 18, 2017

BAC1967 said:
So the Adox films are not just re-branded emulsions but specifically made by or for Adox?

The last years the firm Fotoimpex was busy establishing an own film manufacture. To make them independant from both, rebranding and tollmanufacture. The recent acquisition of a production coating-line was an important step in closing their major manufacturing gap.
Their first selfcoated film is to be expected these weeks.

But film manufacture also means film design. Thus brainpower. So far the expertise for this was typically at firms that offered also film manufacture and of course would like to sell the whole package.

horacekenneth · Jan 18, 2017

Here's an excerpt from an interview with Mirko from Adox and a link to the full interview:

TFF: Tell us more about your current film line-up? You have still a wide range of black and white films.
Being a small manufacturer we cannot compete with mainstream film products at current price levels. What we offer are specialties.Our films are for example optimized for reversal process, are offered in the largest off the shelf variety of sheet film sizes or in case of CMS 20 have the highest resolution of all halftone recording materials.

http://www.japancamerahunter.com/2014/06/film-news-adox-interview/

Arklatexian · Jan 18, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. Now it's a bit easier for me to understand why this company exists. I was perplexed at how such an old company can be so relatively irrelevant to the film world. No offense intended but their product line is extremely limited. Not what I would expect for a 150+ year old company!

Maybe the fact that their product line is extremely limited is the reason the they are still in business. Bigger is not always better or as good as being a "survivor" for many years.......Regards!

karl · Jan 18, 2017

That and the fact that the CHS 100 II is a beautiful film. I'm looking forward to trying the next production run.

AgX · Jan 19, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Not what I would expect for a 150+ year old company!

It is not a 150+ year old company.

The only historic link between Fotoimpex and the late Adox company is that Fotoimpex in the past imported films made by a third manufacturer on machines they bought from Adox in the 60s.

Fotoimpex started 1992 with a tiny shop in Berlin selling imported films.

The start as a manufacturer is hard to establish, as is the term manufacturer as this covers various grades of depth of production and may include all forms of tollcoating.

The production entity was established in 2009.

As I said above it was a long way to reach full production level, marked by building/rebuilding facilities and machines over these years.

I appreciate the continuous effort Mirko has shown over all these years in doing his part on paving a path for the future of analogue photography.
But I find that link to a century-old history very far fetched.

Alan Johnson · Jan 19, 2017

There is a link. Adox CHS 100 II is a continuation of the original Adox 21 via Efke 100 and Adox CHS 100.

Ian Grant · Jan 19, 2017

Alan Johnson said:
There is a link. Adox CHS 100 II is a continuation of the original Adox 21 via Efke 100 and Adox CHS 100.

Mirko indicated Adox CHS II is a new emulsion, however designed to have some similar characteristics. EFKE used festoon coating which had gone out of use many years ago elsewhere, modern coating lines use cascade coating heads based on work done by Ilford, the emulsions needed are quite different.

Ian

Lachlan Young · Jan 19, 2017

Ian Grant said:
Mirko indicated Adox CHS II is a new emulsion, however designed to have some similar characteristics. EFKE used festoon coating which had gone out of use many years ago elsewhere, modern coating lines use cascade coating heads based on work done by Ilford, the emulsions needed are quite different.

Ian

I might be wrong, but isn't festoon drying the predecessor of current drying tunnels, not coating methods? I'd suspect that the Fotokemika coater was a slot die extruder or similar for the film coating, not sure whether they used a different coating method for paper.

AgX · Jan 19, 2017

"festoon drying" is at first sight not related to coating.

BUT it is a time limiting factor, thus being of impact on the manner of coating, thus on the characteristics of the emulsion.

Ian Grant · Jan 19, 2017

Lachlan Young said:
I might be wrong, but isn't festoon drying the predecessor of current drying tunnels, not coating methods? I'd suspect that the Fotokemika coater was a slot die extruder or similar for the film coating, not sure whether they used a different coating method for paper.

Well technically it's the drying but it's a crucial part of the coating process ans it can lead to coating problems and imperfections..

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) (#29) shows the Fotokemika coating line, it's very crude compared to modern standards

Ian

Agulliver · Jan 19, 2017

I think the key point about the current Adox operation is that they're not trying to compete in the mainstream film market. They're not attempting to offer films that are in competion with Ilford, Kodak or Foma. They deliberately make more unusual, specialised films for enthusiasts and a range of chemicals that generally fill the gaps in the market rather than compete with the big guns.

So far I've only tried Silvermax from their line of films, and it's a really interesting film...quite beautiful in the right circumstances. I've also used Adofix P mostly because it is the cheapest fixer I can buy...and it seems to work fine.

Adox CHS 100 II is said to be the nearest they can produce to the old Efka KB100 which was an old formula from the original incarnation of Adox. KB100 has it's own reputation as a wonderful film, though again probably less "modern looking" and less versatile than TMAX or Delta.

Lachlan Young · Jan 19, 2017

Ian Grant said:
Well technically it's the drying but it's a crucial part of the coating process ans it can lead to coating problems and imperfections..

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) (#29) shows the Fotokemika coating line, it's very crude compared to modern standards

Ian

Absolutely - that thread was the one I was trying to remember - and confirms that it's dip coating that they used - which makes the technological jump between CHS and CHSII even greater.

K-G · Jan 19, 2017

Mirko and his ADOX/Fotoimpex team are doing a great job when comes to supply us with alternatives to the larger manufacturers. Also remember that ADOX resurrected the cancelled, and by many missed, black and white paper Agfa MCC 111 . The present denomination is ADOX MCC 110 and I use it as my main paper with great plesure.

Karl-Gustaf

Ektagraphic · Jan 19, 2017

K-G said:
Mirko and his ADOX/Fotoimpex team are doing a great job when comes to supply us with alternatives to the larger manufacturers. Also remember that ADOX resurrected the cancelled, and by many missed, black and white paper Agfa MCC 111 . The present denomination is ADOX MCC 110 and I use it as my main paper with great plesure.

I am sure this has been covered in depth here, but just to add the info to this thread, who is manufacturing the paper for them? Inoviscoat?

Adox Film

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