Another Agfa paper rumor -- confirm, anybody?

[Matt5791]

I have a lot of confidence following this statement - thanks Mirko.

Be very interesting to see how you get on.

 

[Uncle Bill]

We are involved in this venture of revitalising what used to be Agfa products since August, yet at this point it is too early to make any type of an announcement.
I wonder actually who spread this word at this stage as it is way too early to do when you have not even ripened all emulsions fully.
All I can confirm is that the above named companies are at this stage not involved neither financally nor with knowledge or support.
One of them has announced interest in buying the readymade paper last week. That´s it for them.

I hope that this venture will be succesfull and will surely communicate more details as soon as they become available.

Where the paper will be coated has yet to be determined. At this point the emulsionists are working on the emulsions only and use small lab test coaters.
The grain structure looks promising, that is all we can say at this point.
More details will hoepfully become available around february 2007.

Regards and merry Christmas to everyone,

Mirko

ADOX FOTOIMPEX

Mirko,

Good luck with the project and I hope (along with everyone else here) it comes together for Fotoimpex.

I am starting enlarging at home and I will most likely wind up with some Agfa paper to play with for Christmas, it would be nice to know it continued on under another name. Merry Christmas!


Bill

 

[BruceN]

Bravo!

 

[Guillaume Zuili]

This is great news as I miss so much those agfa papers. I've just read the magic word "Portriga", I'm shaking already. And the Record Rapid...
But what about the ban on cadmium ?
Best to you, I hope it will work fine.
G.

 

[braxus]

Question- Mirko: You are bringing back both APX films and B&W paper? Or just the paper itself?

Second question- If APX films will be remade again- does this mean the beloved APX 25 will be coming back?

Thirdly did Maco/ FotoImpex buy the rights to the APX emulsion recipes?

If you have such info at this time, what will these films be called and under what name- Adox APX?

Finally what formats will be supported? I assume 35mm for sure, but what about 120 or 4x5?

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Bonus question: given that J&C have some form of association with Fotoimpex.de (after all they are "fotoimpex.us") are we to follow a red thread all the way back to John, or does his project have nothing to do with this endeavour?

 

[Ian Grant]

Michael

Use your common sense, there aren't two different projects.

Ian

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Ian, even the obvious needs confirmation!

 

[Ted Harris]

Read the posts from Fotoimpex in the thread ..... they are, after all, the parent company.

 

[vs1976]

dont forget apx 25 in 4x5

subj.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

What a great project to be working on.
I loved the old Portriga graded papers. Would be happy to support them again.
-Rob

 

[Robert Hall]

What great news! Very exciting!

 

[Fotohuis]

http://www.aphog.de/

Best regards,

Robert

 

[Maine-iac]

oh Great the French taking over production of Afga? Between their 12 months of vacation and national holidays when will they get around to it? =)

Well, there are advantages to the French work/vacation ratio--- like a much, much lower incidence of coronary/artery disease than the U.S., despite a relatively high-fat diet. And it's not all due to the red wine. It's the wine, it's the ratio of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet, it's the taking of a break religiouslyto have a good lunch, it's the longer vacation times, two weeks of which must be taken together, it's the walnuts, it's (IMHO) the enzymes in raw milk cheeses, it's the smaller (just right) portions of food in restaurants, it's the no junk food, it's the no junk snacks between meals . . . .

And just to keep things in perspective: the productivity of French workers is actually higher than that in the U.S.

Yeah, yeah, I know, sometimes they can be a pain in the patuckus, and their politics is as screwed up as ours, and their politicians as venal as ours, but hey, after living there for nearly ten years, I can honestly say that the quality of life far surpasses that in many parts of the U.S. And a much higher percentage of their population enjoys it.

Larry

 

[aldevo]

O/T, but...

There's no doubt that, in the USA, there is some confusion that quantity of live is an acceptable substitute for quality of life.

But your assertion that French workers are more productive is in error.

Economic productivity has exactly one definition - value of goods or services produced per unit cost.

You must be citing an alternate interpretation and I'm curious as to the source.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

A Classic paper with MultiContrast CMC...

The latest news on the project of rebuilding a paper which is similar in charakteristics like a paper formerly produced by Agfa and once named MCC (which I will call CMC from now on to make it easier) is: good news !

All emulsions ripened the way they were supposed to and all samples kept their desired properties. The samples also kept well in artificial aging.

The next step now is to make first build up samples (this means the paper is actually coated in multiple layers instead of coating the individual emulsions separately on individual sample sheets).

Now even all the separate emulsion coatings reached specs we are still excited to get our hands on these first "real" samples because only then we can actually see if the papers comes out as close as we expect it in actual image properties.

So again, there is still a long way ahead but no problems have come up yet.

The current expected timeframes are: Sample review in March, first test coatings on a production line from a batch of more than 500 liters of emulsion: Mai.
These first production line samples can then be handed out to selected knowledgeable fine printers to get multiple feed back.

Best Regards,

Mirko

 

[Jim Chinn]

That is great news. I will keep my fingers crossed that all the final tests meet expectations.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

Mirko, I'm a longtime MCC 111 user. Iif you need any testers for your new paper runs, please feel free to ship some my way. Sanders

 

[Aurelien]

Well it's a good news, but it would be better if forte was alive

 

[Uncle Bill]

This is really good news. I hope the testing goes off without a hitch. If you need a beta tester, I would love to help.

Bill

 

[aldevo]

While I know that Mirko can't declare victory yet...this is the best news I've heard in a very long time.

 

[Fotohuis]

Well it's a good news, but it would be better if forte was alive

We will try and do our utmost best to rescue Forte and/or their papers.

Best regards,

Robert

 

[Maine-iac]

The latest news on the project of rebuilding a paper which is similar in charakteristics like a paper formerly produced by Agfa and once named MCC (which I will call CMC from now on to make it easier) is: good news !

The current expected timeframes are: Sample review in March, first test coatings on a production line from a batch of more than 500 liters of emulsion: Mai.
These first production line samples can then be handed out to selected knowledgeable fine printers to get multiple feed back.

Best Regards,

Mirko

Thanks for this news. If it all works, you'll have the eternal gratitude and loyalty from all us MCC 111 lovers out here. I'm working my way through my remaining few boxes of MCC and with Forte now being uncertain, I'm beginning to despair.

If Ilford would coat their Warmtone emulsion on their Galerie or MGFB base, they'd be getting close to the look of MCC, I think, but Simon wasn't encouraging about the prospect of them doing that. Agfa's combination of slightly warm emulsion on a bright white base was unique, and greatly missed!

Larry

 

[Maine-iac]

O/T, but...

There's no doubt that, in the USA, there is some confusion that quantity of live is an acceptable substitute for quality of life.

But your assertion that French workers are more productive is in error.

Economic productivity has exactly one definition - value of goods or services produced per unit cost.

You must be citing an alternate interpretation and I'm curious as to the source.

I didn't say that French industry is more productive than US industry, just that the productivity of individual French workers is higher. I don't remember the source, since it was maybe a year ago I read it, but it could have been either the NY Times or the Int'l Herald Tribune or maybe the Economist. Sorry, I can't be more specific than that. By your definition of economic productivity (which of course is correct), it's true that the French aren't more productive-- there are a host of factors for that, one of the main ones being the labor laws heavily weighted in favor of the employee. Believe me, having run a "small shop" non-profit for nearly ten years, and knowing what we spent in time, energy, and money on such things as dismissing a two day-per-week bookkeeper, I'm well aware of the faults of the French system.

But on a worker to worker comparison, I do believe the French may be higher than the Americans.

Larry

 

[jstraw]

Most Americans (most, not *you* of course, whoever *you* may be ) that deride Europeans for their six weeks of vacation and their two-hour, cafe lunches have never been across the pond to witness the quality of life that's possible in a culture where people work to live, rather than live to work...who put time with family ahead of having three large cars and a half-dozen televisions...and who haven't let themselves become slaves to corporations that have propogandized their workers to be proud of a mythical "AMERICAN work ethic." I finally made the trip and I didn't feel derisive when I left Europe. I felt unconsolably envious.

Most Americans that dutifully accept all the "greatest country on earth" stuff have *nothing* to compare it to.

I love my country. I'm a patriot. That's why I'm always thinking about how we can make America better.