Back in June 2018, the Ferrania Folks hoped to be in continuous production by Fall

[Diapositivo]

Grandi!

 

[cmacd123]

Love the last few seconds, there. He's down to an error of 1/100 of a mm on the surface flatness, and just getting ready to start the real precision work on the part.

yes, some parts only work if they are "Just Right"

 

[FILM Ferrania]

so are there any other stocks in he production plan? between P30 and FerraniaChrome2019? (if their are I know you don't want to speciy details.)

We certainly have a wish list, as well as some ideas about a timeline.
But speculating about the potential future has proven to be, at minimum, not exactly the right way to conduct our communications.
Plus, we are still a very tiny team and we need to stay focused on what's happening right in front of us.

That said - yes we have a plan and yes there are other stocks in that plan.

 

[Don Harpold]

Now I know why it's taking so long, to many people looking at the girls on the locker.

At least they can still have "girls on the locker" at work

 

[mshchem]

We certainly have a wish list, as well as some ideas about a timeline.
But speculating about the potential future has proven to be, at minimum, not exactly the right way to conduct our communications.
Plus, we are still a very tiny team and we need to stay focused on what's happening right in front of us.

That said - yes we have a plan and yes there are other stocks in that plan.

OK, so that's a definite, you will have Ferraniachrome in 8 mm up through 8x10 sheet and Polacolor pack film by the end of 2019. Go Team!
Best Regards Mike

 

[cmacd123]

OK, so that's a definite, you will have Ferraniachrome in 8 mm up through 8x10 sheet and Polacolor pack film by the end of 2019. Go Team!
Best Regards Mike

I would be quite happy to see the sizes that they featured in the original kickstarter, plus regular 8. (even if the regular 8 was only in 100 ft or 400ft rolls.) I am most likely to use E6 film in 16mm and 35mm slide format.

 

[mshchem]

I would be quite happy to see the sizes that they featured in the original kickstarter, plus regular 8. (even if the regular 8 was only in 100 ft or 400ft rolls.) I am most likely to use E6 film in 16mm and 35mm slide format.

I think 1st goal is produce a product that will pay the bills. The E6 stuff is got to be down the list. Make some nice P30 or anything that pays the bills and the salaries. If it's E6 that would be great. But, if they had all the E6 8 and 16mm in the world, I would be surprised if that was enough. The original plan of slicing up existing material was a bust.
Just get the machines going and get some profit to sustain the plant and employees.

 

[cuthbert]

Things are moving forward. Film is coming soon.

http://www.filmferrania.it/news-articles/2019/the-workshop

I almost finished the P30 I had and I need more product. I was also an original backer from 2014, do I still have to expect the four color films that were then in discussion?

 

[mshchem]

I almost finished the P30 I had and I need more product. I was also an original backer from 2014, do I still have to expect the four color films that were then in discussion?

I would be amazed to see any color reversal film. My recommendation to Ferrania would be to focus on survival. The Kickstarter was a crap shoot anyway. If I understand the current situation, there are private equity investors now. That's probably their 1st priority.

 

[faberryman]

If I understand the current situation, there are private equity investors now.

Unfortunately, we don't know whether the total investment was $100 or $1,000,000.

 

[cuthbert]

I would be amazed to see any color reversal film. My recommendation to Ferrania would be to focus on survival. The Kickstarter was a crap shoot anyway. If I understand the current situation, there are private equity investors now. That's probably their 1st priority.

The original kickstarter project regarded an E-6 film if I remember correctly.

 

[Pioneer]

That is true cuthbert but that little promise dropped off the radar a very long time ago.

Fortunately for all of us Kodak followed through on their promise so we do have some very nice E-6 film to work with.

As most in this thread have already mentioned, it is probably best for Ferrania to focus on their black and white product since it does appear they have some chance of producing that one.

BTW, if I can make a small suggestion. Perhaps it would be best to close this thread and start a new one with a title that doesn't immediately point out that a target was missed. Just a thought.

 

[FILM Ferrania]

I think 1st goal is produce a product that will pay the bills. The E6 stuff is got to be down the list. Make some nice P30 or anything that pays the bills and the salaries. If it's E6 that would be great. But, if they had all the E6 8 and 16mm in the world, I would be surprised if that was enough. The original plan of slicing up existing material was a bust.
Just get the machines going and get some profit to sustain the plant and employees.

You make a good point that it seems many people have forgotten.

The original plan was pretty simple. Use a single window of opportunity to make one big batch of E6 from existing components (not existing material) prior to the factory being taken out of our hands for refurbishment.
We also wanted to secure a lot of equipment before it was destroyed.
Hence the Kickstarter. Help us buy the equipment for future use, get a bit of film from the one big batch we were preparing to make.
For reasons out of our direct control, the window was closed before we could make the batch.
We put major effort (and money) into continuing the E6 plan until, in early 2016, it became clear that:
a) the factory itself was both functionally and legally much different than it was in late 2014 - so that returning to the original plan was pretty much out of the question
b) the existing components, which we were in the process of purifying back in early 2015, were unusable by the time our team came back to the factory in mid-2016.

We have published all of this before, but over time, it gets lost.
Maybe a summary or an overview is due...

 

[mshchem]

You make a good point that it seems many people have forgotten.

The original plan was pretty simple. Use a single window of opportunity to make one big batch of E6 from existing components (not existing material) prior to the factory being taken out of our hands for refurbishment.
We also wanted to secure a lot of equipment before it was destroyed.
Hence the Kickstarter. Help us buy the equipment for future use, get a bit of film from the one big batch we were preparing to make.
For reasons out of our direct control, the window was closed before we could make the batch.
We put major effort (and money) into continuing the E6 plan until, in early 2016, it became clear that:
a) the factory itself was both functionally and legally much different than it was in late 2014 - so that returning to the original plan was pretty much out of the question
b) the existing components, which we were in the process of purifying back in early 2015, were unusable by the time our team came back to the factory in mid-2016.

We have published all of this before, but over time, it gets lost.
Maybe a summary or an overview is due...

The saving and continuing refurbishing and preservation of the equipment and site should be reward enough for the analog community. Kodak imploded buildings and destroyed equipment all around the world. Not out of a desire to destroy, but in an attempt to manage and repurpose assets.
The fact that Ferrania has managed to preserve and persevere is a miracle.
I visit the Ferrania website for updates, until I read it there it's just rumor.

 

[cuthbert]

Maybe a summary or an overview is due...

Yes to be honest I didn't have the time and patience to follow all the entire story through the years, the threads became kilometric with most people discussing esoteric details of film production, what I know was that the beginning of the story (first year), the P30 made aware that was supposed to be a sort of ad interim product before producing the E-6, and right now your post.

I appreciated the P30, I finally developed two rolls, one was finished today and I have another one ready to use, however it's a product difficult to use and I underexposed a lot of shots, I would be happy to get more in a reasonable amount of time but to be honest the fact you cannot make the color film is a little bit a letdown for me.

 

[Cholentpot]

I would just like some color Ferrannia some day. That was some of the nicest unique film I've ever shot. I have a soft spot for it.

 

[Pioneer]

The saving and continuing refurbishing and preservation of the equipment and site should be reward enough for the analog ..

From that statement it appears that we should all be happy that there is a wonderful Ferrania museum.

The reason that many of us contributed to the kickstarter was for the production of color film. We understood that along the way the Ferrania equipment had to be moved and refurbished so the production of color film could happen. But the intent at the end of the day was to produce color film.

That seems to be the sticking point.

I really do wish them well and I understand that what they are trying to do is difficult. They have worked hard to get to their current situation. Good luck guys.

 

[cmacd123]

yes, the story was that they have apparently set aside Much of the equipment needed to make a new small film factory. They do have the documentation. they seem to have the rights to the name. they have been working on the B&W stuff to work up to the Aim products, But I suspect that we will see several B&W films beofre they are brave enough to try any E-6 (the Hardest possible film to make as it has to be 100% perfect)

the P30 project did make usable B&W film that is truly different from anything else on teh market, and gave them an idea of what they would need to change to make film at a profit. (I strongly suspect that the P30 they sold lost them Money over all as the condition of the factory caused much material and film to be wasted)

That said, I would love to see more and different B&W film from the Pre-3M archives. I look at Type 28 Reversal for example and think how my Super 8 camera would find that the perfect speed (if it can be processed in the current reversal process of course) If I72 came back their would be folks visiting the factory to buy it in person, judging by all the threads on similar products.

 

[mshchem]

When this started Ektachrome was dead and gone, people had convinced themselves that Fuji was plotting to destroy Fujichrome. Sounded like a straight forward task to just fire up the plant and make a bunch of film. It's not. Asbestos, government, decay, return of Ektachrome, Fuji is still making film.

Just look at the Ektachrome Super 8 program. B&H sells Ektachrome Super 8 for 48 USD per cartridge, cheapest I can find processing is Dwayne's at 12 bucks a roll. (This is about half the price of most I've seen) This gives you, if I remember correctly about 3 and a half minutes of silent movie film, NOW ready for a 50 year old projector.

There are no new cameras being made movie or still, except for Leicas. (Nikon F6,?. You could buy a new F3 for 13 years after Nikon stopped production ) What kind of business model is this?? I can understand Kodak trying to keep the brand alive, they can make money selling clothes to hipsters.

 

[Europan]

The very wound of the market is that movie theaters no longer play film. That’s what the film manufacturers could make many miles of stock for, Agfa-Gevaert, Eastman-Kodak, Fujifilm. Printers are not busy today. People no longer watch movies subtractively in white light but mixed additively on LC and LED displays. Cinema as it was invented and developed has become a museum piece and the generations growing up today and tomorrow don’t know it. Maybe that someone starts an initiative to bring film back to the cinema, Kodak maybe? Film Ferrania? Question is, what are the advantages of photochemical prints.

 

[fdonadio]

Maybe that someone starts an initiative to bring film back to the cinema, Kodak maybe? Film Ferrania? Question is, what are the advantages of photochemical prints.

I don't have a link, but look at what Quentin Tarantino did for the release of "The Hateful Eight".

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

The very wound of the market is that movie theaters no longer play film. That’s what the film manufacturers could make many miles of stock for, Agfa-Gevaert, Eastman-Kodak, Fujifilm. Printers are not busy today. People no longer watch movies subtractively in white light but mixed additively on LC and LED displays. Cinema as it was invented and developed has become a museum piece and the generations growing up today and tomorrow don’t know it. Maybe that someone starts an initiative to bring film back to the cinema, Kodak maybe? Film Ferrania? Question is, what are the advantages of photochemical prints.

I still watch film at IMAX theatres. At least we still have that!

 

[MattKing]

I still watch film at IMAX theatres. At least we still have that!

Are you sure Andrew? I believe that the local IMAX theatres have all converted to digital IMAX projection - but I would be happy to learn I am wrong.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Are you sure Andrew? I believe that the local IMAX theatres have all converted to digital IMAX projection - but I would be happy to learn I am wrong.

As far as I know, Langley and Richmond's theatres have 15/70 and 2K digital.

 

[MattKing]

As far as I know, Langley and Richmond's theatres have 15/70 and 2K digital.

I expect (and hope!) that you are correct.