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

[Harry Callahan]

I see. I had the year 2003 in my mind, but its possible that this was the years when the company was sold to someone else... i only wanted to point out that the factory was abandoned and partially ruinous when the founders of Ferrania got there.

 

[Nzoomed]

I see. I had the year 2003 in my mind, but its possible that this was the years when the company was sold to someone else... i only wanted to point out that the factory was abandoned and partially ruinous when the founders of Ferrania got there.

I think the LRF may have been last used around 2003 (which is where they are making the film now) I believe i read on their post somewhere that it was last entered by someone back in 2006 or something!
It would have been in a pretty poor shape by that stage as it was evident they were not performing any R&D and they were simply coating film in very poor conditions.

 

[twelvetone12]

AFAIK, but I can be wrong, last coatings happened around 2009-2010. In the second video about building H a comment says it is 2009, but obviously I can't say if it's true.

 

[CMoore]

I have been wondering how in the heck they have been staying in business. I had no idea they made other things that generated income.
Hopefully it starts to work out for them.

 

[Harry Callahan]

I think the LRF may have been last used around 2003 (which is where they are making the film now) I believe i read on their post somewhere that it was last entered by someone back in 2006 or something!
It would have been in a pretty poor shape by that stage as it was evident they were not performing any R&D and they were simply coating film in very poor conditions.

Ah, then the year 2003 wasn`t entirely wrong.

 

[twelvetone12]

I have been wondering how in the heck they have been staying in business. I had no idea they made other things that generated income.
Hopefully it starts to work out for them.

You mean old Ferrania or new Ferrania? If I understood correctly from the interviews it seems that old Ferrania was very strong in the medical sector, and stuff started to crumble seriously when it was sold/closed.

 

[CMoore]

You mean old Ferrania or new Ferrania? If I understood correctly from the interviews it seems that old Ferrania was very strong in the medical sector, and stuff started to crumble seriously when it was sold/closed.

OH. Maybe i misunderstood some of the comments here.
I thought they were still involved in other endeavors besides film.?

 

[Agulliver]

Film Ferrania, the new company formed with the Kickstarter campaign, only makes film. Film is it's raison d'etre.

The old Ferrania which was mainly known to the public as a film manufacturer had some other interests but they closed down around 2009.

There are very few employees at Film Ferrania, indeed I wonder if some are more volunteers?

 

[Nzoomed]

AFAIK, but I can be wrong, last coatings happened around 2009-2010. In the second video about building H a comment says it is 2009, but obviously I can't say if it's true.

Quite possible, another post here by Agulliver says they closed around 2009, so that would sound about right.

I have been wondering how in the heck they have been staying in business. I had no idea they made other things that generated income.
Hopefully it starts to work out for them.

Well the business was split up AFAIK, they had several divisions, a chemical company and a solar company (Ferrania Solis, even using the old logo) IIRC, they are operating just across from where the LRF stands, I think the chemical division still stands as Ferrania Technologies.

 

[CMoore]

Quite possible, another post here by Agulliver says they closed around 2009, so that would sound about right.

Well the business was split up AFAIK, they had several divisions, a chemical company and a solar company (Ferrania Solis, even using the old logo) IIRC, they are operating just across from where the LRF stands, I think the chemical division still stands as Ferrania Technologies.

Not sure if going back to Page-1 would help me or not.
I had never even heard of this company until this thread got started.
I did not realize how "diverse" they were. I thought they were a small and defunct film manufacture and that was it.
Must be frustrating for the new owners.
Good Luck to them again.

 

[Agulliver]

Not sure if going back to Page-1 would help me or not.
I had never even heard of this company until this thread got started.
I did not realize how "diverse" they were. I thought they were a small and defunct film manufacture and that was it.
Must be frustrating for the new owners.
Good Luck to them again.

They were a *huge* company....but many of us never heard of them because the millions of rolls of film they produced every month mostly ended up with other brand names on them. For example, many of the British and Continental European labs would do a deal "free 100ASA C41 film with D&P"....and *very* often that was Ferrania film disguised with the name of the lab as it's brand. Supermarkets also used them as an OEM. As did Scotch/3M when they owned Ferrania. The old Ferrania company also manufactured cameras and was a chemical company, even manufacturing acetate base for it's films. But unless you bought an actual Ferrania branded film or a 50s/60s Ferrania camera, you might not have heard of them.

I also think that the Ferrania name would have been even less common outside of Europe/UK. I certainly did see and occasionally use Ferrania branded film but I used way more branded "Prinz Color", house brand of the Dixon's group who ran the huge lab I used in the 70s and 80s. I bet any Ferrania made film that reached the USA and Canada was Scotch branded.

But for a time they were the biggest producer of photo film in Europe. And the last in the world to make 126. It's just that 90% of their output had other brand names applied to it.

The solar energy thing is news to me but appears to operate out of part of the old Ferrania campus with the classic Ferrania logo so is probably connected.

 

[CMoore]

They were a *huge* company....but many of us never heard of them because the millions of rolls of film they produced every month mostly ended up with other brand names on them. For example, many of the British and Continental European labs would do a deal "free 100ASA C41 film with D&P"....and *very* often that was Ferrania film disguised with the name of the lab as it's brand. Supermarkets also used them as an OEM. As did Scotch/3M when they owned Ferrania. The old Ferrania company also manufactured cameras and was a chemical company, even manufacturing acetate base for it's films. But unless you bought an actual Ferrania branded film or a 50s/60s Ferrania camera, you might not have heard of them.

I also think that the Ferrania name would have been even less common outside of Europe/UK. I certainly did see and occasionally use Ferrania branded film but I used way more branded "Prinz Color", house brand of the Dixon's group who ran the huge lab I used in the 70s and 80s. I bet any Ferrania made film that reached the USA and Canada was Scotch branded.

But for a time they were the biggest producer of photo film in Europe. And the last in the world to make 126. It's just that 90% of their output had other brand names applied to it.

The solar energy thing is news to me but appears to operate out of part of the old Ferrania campus with the classic Ferrania logo so is probably connected.

10-4
Thanks for all that info

 

[cmacd123]

I know in North America, 3M was one of the major suppliers of "Photofinishing" services (D&P in Agullivers post) and they used their "Own" paper, made by what was at the time "3M Italy" Here in Canada, Zellers and K-mart sold 3M made film packed as their own brand. Arista color Film was also made by 3M. (I have used some with "Ferrania" or "Imation" as the edge print, Most 3M film was not shown as branded on the edge print.)

As mass market film was winding down 3M lumped their Media Business, (Diskettes and film under the Imation Trademark which they spun off)

while 3M has made film in the US, (they owned Dynachrome for example) they said that the Italian Plant had better coating ability. the Italian plant also made recording tape. (I have an example of a roll of Ferrania branded tape, as well as a couple of rolls of the European (Ferrania made) Scotch brand tape. {see this item from a seller site : https://reeltoreelwarehouse.com/product/scotch-215-superlife-reel-tape-lp-7-reel-1800-ft-new-nos/ }

3M was very big in the Microfilm, and X-ray film business, and so also produced those products at Ferrania. As was recently mentioned, the Plant ended up producing some X-ray film for Kodak.

the venture capital (vulture capital) folks who bought Imation were interested mainly in the chemical and solar businesses.

one of the "Bitter" comments in Film Ferrania's summary was that most of the Ferrania Products lost the Ferrania Name and were often Not even credited to being made in Italy. Labeled just 3M or Scotch.

products that did not fit 3M color photofinshing model were Phased out.

 

[MattKing]

Here in Canada, Zellers and K-mart sold 3M made film packed as their own brand.

Sears as well.

 

[Agulliver]

And the Ferrania-made film was good. Maybe not *quite* as up to date as Kodak, Fuji and Agfa but still very good stuff. Even into the early 21st century Truprint were using it as their "buy D&P, get a film free" offer with the Ferrania Solaris 200 and 400 rebranded "Truprint". The colours were beautiful on both though the grain was certainly noticeable on the 400, as far as most end users were concerned it did the job for 5x7 prints. The Ferrania 200 C41 film at that time was as good as anything else on the market except the pro products from Kodak and Fuji. And what's more, because they were manufacturing it in such vast numbers, it was cheaper.

Part of the unfortunate legacy of the 3M years was that the Ferrania name fell out of collective memory and when it reappeared in shops, at budget prices, I know people were wary.

If they ever are able to get Solaris back into production, I'd probably be a customer. I do like P30 too, in the right lighting conditions. My hope is that they continue to beaver away towards their eventual goal of producing C41 and E6 colour films in various formats, in the quantities needed for the times we live in, at prices that are competitive with Kodak and the others.

 

[foc]

This was a typical Ferrania private label film edge marking, from around the late 1980s/early 1990s.

 

[cmacd123]

This was a typical Ferrania private label film edge marking, from around the late 1980s/early 1990s.

yes, and as usual the ratio of Dots to crosses indicated the version. I recall seeing a number like 87-2 or 87-7 to also indicated the version. the 87-7 is the same as used in the DX code to mention the exact version.

i think I downloaded this from Ferrania in 2016 before the old company dissapered. this is part of a brocuse for the photofinishing industry showing the ifentifcation ofr one version of Solaris. it also shows the "Extra" barcode on the cassettes beside the DX code which was one of the identifing features of Ferrania Made film.

 

[cmacd123]

at the risk of Matt King being after me for image size, this is a magnification of the Markings for the diagram above. I think that I have seen that particular Ferrana logo being used by one of the OTHER Ferrania companies, so I doubt we will see it on Ferrania film in the future.

 

[MattKing]

at the risk of Matt King being after me for image size

Hey, I was going to complain that the previous example was too small for me to see!
Thanks for the enlarged version.

 

[cmacd123]

Sears as well.

HI Matt, I think it was during the Kickstarter that FF posted a piture that they had found in the building showing labels from some of the Private brands. Both Sears, and also "Sooters" which was a regional chain of Minilabs (at least one store still exists in Ottawa) were represented.

 

[foc]

View attachment 329948
at the risk of Matt King being after me for image size, this is a magnification of the Markings for the diagram above. I think that I have seen that particular Ferrana logo being used by one of the OTHER Ferrania companies, so I doubt we will see it on Ferrania film in the future.

Ferranis also had negative edge markings with orange dots, I think it was from the 3M time.

You could also identify the Ferrania private label by the film cassette. See below the private label was a printed sticker attached to the cassette and you can see the white and black area ( CP 36 100/21 etc) on the cassette which was printed onto the metal of the cassette.

 

[cmacd123]

every generation would have had a different code, in the sprocket area, as the older Printers almost needed a "channel" up for each variant set up to get the automatic printers to work well.

the White bar with CP36 or CP24 also did generally indicate Ferrania And The paper label was on many of them.. olthough I have also seen the brand printed on the Cassette itself. I am also of the understanding that the Ferrania plant was one of the suppliers of empty cassettes to other film packing entities.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Would be nice to be able to get 100' bulk rolls of P30...

 

[cmacd123]

Would be nice to be able to get 100' bulk rolls of P30...

One barrier is that their "Mini-Jumbo" rolls really are Mini, so would not provide many Bulk rolls. when assked, they indicated that bulk was a lower priority than getting other formats.

 

[pentaxuser]

One barrier is that their "Mini-Jumbo" rolls really are Mini, so would not provide many Bulk rolls. when assked, they indicated that bulk was a lower priority than getting other formats.

Well the latest announcement of their new product was not another format but was simply a version of P30 which may or may not be really much different. Unless Ferrania retailers are finding themselves with P30 languishing on their shelves I'd have thought that movement into bulk rolls may have given an immediate return and still allowed production of another film

However we seem to be in the era of having to announce "new" products, be they real or otherwise, to ensure continued interest in those companies or so the thinking goes

pentaxuser