Cheap color film.

[Mike Kennedy]

I just returned from "The Dollar Store" with a roll of Likon color print film.
Figured it might be good for testing some of the "beaters" I,v acquired this summer. Get it processed at my local department store for $4.50.
Anyone familiar with this film? An offshoot of Lucky perhaps?

Mike

 

[Nick Zentena]

Where is it made?

Germany meant Agfa.
Japan meant either Fuji or Konica.

 

[Jordan]

I got some a few months ago at Dollarama. (the one in College Park, for any Torontonians). Claimed 200 speed. I have a roll in the camera now, but haven't processed it. I think it's made in China.

 

[pentaxuser]

I just returned from "The Dollar Store" with a roll of Likon color print film.
Figured it might be good for testing some of the "beaters" I,v acquired this summer. Get it processed at my local department store for $4.50.
Anyone familiar with this film? An offshoot of Lucky perhaps?

Mike

Give us a report and scan of a couple to compare with Fuji, Kodak etc. In the U.K. at the moment Fuji from certain suppliers is great value. At the prices being asked it would take some beating. I have never seen or heard of Likon. Maybe Fuji quality and prices has dissuaded the Likon distributor from entering the U.K.

Pentaxuser

 

[Photo Engineer]

If it is not made in Japan or the US, please let us know in about 10 years how the images look. You might not be too pleased. There are huge improvements in current films WRT dye stability that might not become evident for a number of years.

In addition, evaluating grain and sharpness sometimes is difficult unless you have a very good method of comparison. Sometimes, unless you make comparisons to color charts, color evaluation is rather subjective as well.

PE

 

[Brac]

If it is marked made in the EU it could be made by Ferrania in Italy (formerly 3M) who make a lot of private label films or by Fuji's plant in Holland. But as others have speculated it could come from China.

 

[Jordan]

Well, I've shot and developed a roll of the Likon film, but haven't scanned any of it yet. It is marked "Made in China".

 

[Brac]

Well, I've shot and developed a roll of the Likon film, but haven't scanned any of it yet. It is marked "Made in China".

In that case it is likely to be made by Lucky or perhaps it is made in Kodak's Chinese plant. I think Kodak gobbled up most of the competition in China.

 

[roteague]

In that case it is likely to be made by Lucky or perhaps it is made in Kodak's Chinese plant. I think Kodak gobbled up most of the competition in China.

I always thought foreign companies couldn't compete in China without a Chinese partner. That is the case for auto manufacturers in China.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I always thought foreign companies couldn't compete in China without a Chinese partner. That is the case for auto manufacturers in China.

Lucky is Kodak's Chinese partner firm. Kodak owns a substantial fraction of the company (or so I've read).

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Likon update.

I shot 2 rolls and had them processed at the local 1 Hr. lab for $5.00. I used them to test a Ricoh 500 G and Praktica Super TTL that I had repaired.
Nothing fantastic to report.The Likon seems like a fairly good every day sort of film. You wouldn,t want to photograph your daughters wedding with it or carry it when you scale Everest but all in all I like the $>result factor.

Mike
PS:Sorry,I don,t have a scanner.

 

[edz]

I'm quite surprized of the extreme margins the industry still seems to be able to make in the U.S. marketplace. In Germany, by comparison, C-41 film development costs as little as 99 EUROcents and prints are from 4 cents each (one drugstore chain goes as low as 1 EUROcent but charges more for the development and does not allow one to give back and not pay for prints one does not want). Film can be had for under 1 EURO (even brand name films!)--- earlier in the year 6 packs of Agfa Vista 200/36 where going for just under 6 EURO at the drugstores. And on that ~ $ 2.50 USD development + 36 prints at the drugstore? Done by CeWe and YES they are making a good profit and handling many millions of films a year and making a profit. The big lab too is quite profitable and CeWe printed last year over 3 1/2 billion prints! Talk about economies of scale!
The projections for 2005 are 2.6 billion analog colour prints and 0.9 billion digital prints. Within the last year they have had insignificant fluctutations in demand but a shift from analog to digital and thus an increase in profitability (there continues to be a higher willingness to pay "slightly" more for digital as the consumer thinks its cheaper).