British made camera equipment

Iancognito · Feb 14, 2011

Hi, at the moment I am undertaking a photographic project in which i aim to use nothing but British made eqipment. At the moment I have managed to source cameras (Ensign and Ilford,) tripod (Benbo), bag (billingham), enlarger (paterson). However, when it comes to British made colour film, I am finding it almost impossible to source any. Im pretty sure none is manufactured here today, but can anyone think of film that was made in the Uk? I know ilford still make b+w film but i need colour

benjiboy · Feb 14, 2011

Ilford used to make a 35mm slide film called Ilfochrome
M.P.P ( Micro precision Products) made Microflex120 TLRs andlarge format cameras,also enlargers.
A.G.I ( Aeronautical and General Instruments ) made Agiflex and Agifold cameras Dead Link Removed
Kershaw & Co., later called Rank Kershaw made cameras and lenses
Reid and Sigrist made 35mm Leica clone 35mm range finder cameras
Ross & Co. made Cameras, binoculars and photographic lenses
Taylor Taylor and Hobson made lenses
Ilford made cameras
The list is too long to relate.

Ian Grant · Feb 14, 2011

There's still an Ilford E6 slide film, well at least here in Turkey, I saw some in Istanbul over the summer, but it said made in Italy on the box so will be Ferrania distributed by Ilford.

Ben, I still have an unprocessed roll of E6 Ilfochrome which was rebadged Sakura/Konica E6 film which was never as good as Fuji/Kodak/Agfa.

Any B&W work should be printed with a Welsh Gnome enlarger

Ian

Ian Cooper · Feb 14, 2011

Iancognito said:
...I know ilford still make b+w film but i need colour

I realise it's not directly what you're after, but assuming the subject matter is fairly static you could always try taking three seperate exposures on Ilford B&W film using Red, Green and Blue filters?

I guess subsequently getting the registration right on each of the negatives to print them optically could be interesting - as would the source of colour paper made in Britain to print them on?

Steve Roberts · Feb 14, 2011

Iancognito said:
I know ilford still make b+w film but i need colour

B/W film and photo tints?
Johnsons of Hendon made them and I imagine a search on ePay would turn up a set sooner or later. That technique would be contemporary with most of the equipment mentioned.
Steve

Ian Grant · Feb 14, 2011

Steve Roberts said:
B/W film and photo tints?
Johnsons of Hendon made them and I imagine a search on ePay would turn up a set sooner or later. That technique would be contemporary with most of the equipment mentioned.
Steve

PhotoTecnology also made them, they are now part of Paterson and I'm not sure if they are still made. Inkjet cartridge refills (made in the UK) are a good source of colour dyes as well.

I still have a set of Barfen dyes as well.

This is what Steve mean

Ian

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Feb 14, 2011

Iancogito ,

If I am not wrong Saxons and Normans immigrated to England from Germany and France. So the source of materials is widened . If you hate Germans now , you could produce your own british made emulsions , films and papers. Tank , tripod , bag and the camera dont effect final results too much but a Cooke XV does. If I were you , I forget to investing secondary things but the lenses. May be you can scan it with british made Crossfield drum scanner and print with british made pigment inks.

benjiboy · Feb 14, 2011

Ian Grant said:
There's still an Ilford E6 slide film, well at least here in Turkey, I saw some in Istanbul over the summer, but it said made in Italy on the box so will be Ferrania distributed by Ilford.

Ben, I still have an unprocessed roll of E6 Ilfochrome which was rebadged Sakura/Konica E6 film which was never as good as Fuji/Kodak/Agfa.

Any B&W work should be printed with a Welsh Gnome enlarger

Ian

I've never used Ilfochrome Ian, in those days I used to use Agfa Professional 50S.

MattKing · Feb 14, 2011

Did Kodak Limited make colour film in England at one time?

EDIT:

This link isn't totally current, but there is a contact link on it:

http://www.kodak.com/UK/en/corp/manufacture.jhtml?id=0.1.4.16&lc=en

Ian Grant · Feb 14, 2011

Yes Kodak Ltd once made a full range of films in the UK, colour & B&W but I think they only coat colour paper now for the photographic market.

Ian

MattKing · Feb 14, 2011

Ian Grant said:
Yes Kodak Ltd once made a full range of films in the UK, colour & B&W but I think they only coat colour paper now for the photographic market.

Ian

I wonder how old the (outdated) colour film would be, if it was made in the UK.

Mike Wilde · Feb 14, 2011

My fave bit of British photo gear is a Melico analyser/timer. It uses tubes and has a glowwing phospor vacuum tube to tell you whan the bridge is balanced. I will be a sad guy when the thing finally dies.

erikg · Feb 14, 2011

Ian Cooper said:
I realise it's not directly what you're after, but assuming the subject matter is fairly static you could always try taking three seperate exposures on Ilford B&W film using Red, Green and Blue filters?

I guess subsequently getting the registration right on each of the negatives to print them optically could be interesting - as would the source of colour paper made in Britain to print them on?

I was thinking along the same lines. It is possible to make a color photograph using b&w materials. Any UK made separation filters? Printing process could be gum. I don't think you have the option for color paper anyway. Digital printing is an option too, or not depending on how pure you want to be. Registration can be looser than you think, I've seen it done with hand held images. Registration holds in some places goes off in others, can be very interesting.

Ian Cooper · Feb 14, 2011

erikg said:
...Any UK made separation filters?...

Dead Link Removed?

or perhaps

LEE filters?

Ian Grant · Feb 15, 2011

Wratten filters. Wratten & Wainright were a British company bought out by Kodak, I think their filters may still be made in the UK.

Ian

Iancognito · Feb 15, 2011

Thanks for the advice. it will be interesting to use the coloured filters. Other than that, it looks lke my other option would be to locate some very old ilfochrome as I have found some kodak supra endura that claims to be made in England,

Diapositivo · Feb 15, 2011

Ian Grant said:
There's still an Ilford E6 slide film, well at least here in Turkey, I saw some in Istanbul over the summer, but it said made in Italy on the box so will be Ferrania distributed by Ilford.

That's interesting. Ferrania does not sell any more slide film in Italy. They don't have slide film in their English site either. On the other hand, I can't imagine another firm making colour film in Italy.

Does anybody have any more information about this Ilford/non-Ilford film?

It might be an Ilford "project" for which Ferrania only acts as a manufacturer.

If somebody (Umut to name a name ) could confirm such a film is around and tell the expiry date, that would be nice. I don't know if Ferrania is still navigating into troubled waters. Any news of vitality would be nice.

Fabrizio

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Feb 15, 2011

Diapositivo ,

There is a big photographic products selling industry at the center of Istanbul. There is a big Ilford distributor over there and sells Ilfochrome in very handsom packages. Until I buy a Leica or Leicina this summer , I will have no business in this market. But I must do whatever for you APUGers and I will call Pamuk Co. tomorrow morning and ask them the availability and expiry dates of that film. I think best method to industrial archaeology of this product , is sending a message to Ilford or Italian manufacturer.

Fabriozo , You can call this Italian manufacturer and learn the truth.

Umut

Ian Grant · Feb 15, 2011

It wasn't Pamuk Ticaret who had the Ilford E6 film, it was the Ilford importers who are almost next door anyway, I did post about it in the Autumn when I saw it there was quite a lot. you could get me a couple of rolls UMut

The film said Ilford Diapositive I think, Harman don't use the Ilfochrome Brand name. Ferrania haven't sold film under their own name for years now in most markets, I don't know about inside Italy itself though, but they have made own label C41 & I think E6 films for other distributors bfor years. I remember they had a big marketing campaign in the UK back in the early 1980's and being given free samples of C41 & E6 films as well as colour paper, that was when they were owned by 3M and they tried to break into the professional market which just didn't happen.

Ferrania was effectively bankrupt and only survives because the Italian government propped them up.

Ian

Diapositivo · Feb 15, 2011

Just wrote to Ferrania asking information regarding their production (negative and positive), whether the film sold as Ilfochrome in Turkey and labeled as "made in Italy" is produced by them, whether film production seems "sustainable" at the moment, under which labels are Ferrania slides available.

Did not think about writing because this kind of agreement might be kept somehow confidential among firms. Ilford wouldn't like to be widespread that a film branded by them is not produced by them.

Many years ago rumours wanted that Ilfochrome material was produced by Sakurachrome, in Japan. I am quite surprised there still is some "Ilfochrome" available as Ilford web site does not seem to mention it.

Fabrizio

Diapositivo · Feb 15, 2011

Ferrania sells their products in Italy under the Ferrania brand, they only seem to produce one line of products, the Solaris colour negative. Solaris is a product name, the film is branded "Ferrania" in Italy.

Fabrizio

Diapositivo · Feb 17, 2011

I received an answer from Ferrania today. They state they don't produce slide film any more since many years, therefore if the film seen on sale was made by Ferrania, it should be of a quite old production.

They confirmed they are still producing negative colour film, future plans about this production will depend on market circumstances.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but now it becomes interesting to know the expiry date of this "made in Italy" slide material sold in Turkey. If the expiry date is in the future, that should mean there's another colour film maker in Italy or - maybe - the film is coated elsewhere and only some subsequent parts of the production (such as cutting and putting in canisters) are performed in Italy. That would maybe grant the "made in Italy" writing on the label.

Fabrizio

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Feb 17, 2011

I will not go more than 300 meters outside of home until the heat reaches 30 degrees and I have a Leica , Ian. I used every kind of Ilford products and its not me. I love darker tonal photography and films like
plus x or tri x. But this summer would be interesting , may be I buy Leicina Super 8 and make 4000 photographs until I develop 10 dollar kodak tri x roll. This is the most sensible thing I can do with photographic gears , 40 times cheaper and 40 times better than toyotas.

Dan Fromm · Feb 18, 2011

Mustafa, a few predictions for you.

You won't buy a Leicina.

If you buy a Leicina, you'll discover that ISO 400 Tri X is too fast for most of the situations in which you try to use the camera.

If you buy a Leicina, you'll discover that making good quality prints large enough to see from a Super 8 frame is nearly impossible, even with Plus X.

2F/2F · Feb 18, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Iancogito ,

If I am not wrong Saxons and Normans immigrated to England from Germany and France. So the source of materials is widened . If you hate Germans now , you could produce your own british made emulsions , films and papers. Tank , tripod , bag and the camera dont effect final results too much but a Cooke XV does. If I were you , I forget to investing secondary things but the lenses. May be you can scan it with british made Crossfield drum scanner and print with british made pigment inks.

Excellent advice.

British made camera equipment

Iancognito

benjiboy

Ian Grant

Ian Cooper

Steve Roberts

Ian Grant

Mustafa Umut Sarac

benjiboy

MattKing

Moderator

Ian Grant

MattKing

Moderator

Mike Wilde

erikg

Ian Cooper

Ian Grant

Iancognito

Diapositivo

Mustafa Umut Sarac

Ian Grant

Diapositivo

Diapositivo

Diapositivo

Mustafa Umut Sarac

Dan Fromm

2F/2F

British made camera equipment

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency