DNP Photo Marketing Launches CENTURIA Film Series of Color Negative Film

mtjade2007 · Jun 30, 2008

Konica is a brand far more popular in Asia than in America. I believe DNP acquired Konica Minolta's film coating factories for the reason that they can still make a profit by selling the Konica films in Asia alone. I like Konica films very much. I hope they will sell the films in America soon again.

FilmIs4Ever · Jun 30, 2008

Aurum said:
I suspect like a lot of big Japanese companies, they have many parts and many interests. I always find it interesting, but slightly strange from a Western perspective that a company like Misubishi would encompass Electronics, heavy engineering, Aircraft, and Automotive products, as well as apparently film and paper.

The auto manufacturer Mitsubishi is not the same one that makes/made photographic paper. The reason that the logo is the same is because the name "Mitsubishi" means three triangles.

One thing that the auto manufacturer Mitsubishi *did* do is build the engines in the planes that attacked Pearl Harbor :rolleyes:

ed110220 · Nov 30, 2008

I noticed this film on sale in convenience stores in Japan recently and was interested because I'd never heard of it. Obviously I remember the name Centuria, but not as a brand of DNP. The only clue I could get from the packaging was that it was made in the USA, which rather surprised me.

Could it perhaps be a spin off of 3M? They once made colour film and are a US company. It's only a wild guess though.

wogster · Nov 30, 2008

Aurum said:
I suspect like a lot of big Japanese companies, they have many parts and many interests. I always find it interesting, but slightly strange from a Western perspective that a company like Misubishi would encompass Electronics, heavy engineering, Aircraft, and Automotive products, as well as apparently film and paper. Western companies tend to stay more within their sector which could be considered either a strength or a weakness depending on POV.

Bit like Ilford taking over the JCB plant, and knocking out 35mm film under the famous earthmoving brand

Not really, Asian companies tend to have fingers in a lot of pies, some names though are just common. Take Fuji for example, Fuji is a mountain in Japan, so a lot of Japanese company's have Fuji in the name. It's more like a company making earth moving equipment setting up shop in Ilford, and calling themselves Ilford Earth Movers, there is no connection at all to Ilford Photo. This is common in Europe and the Americas as well, what isn't common is when several of these small companies get large enough to be international in scope, without first being acquired by someone else who merges it with another business, with the name disappearing.

Lee L · Nov 30, 2008

FilmIs4Ever said:
The reason that the logo is the same is because the name "Mitsubishi" means three triangles.

Mitsubishi means three water chestnuts, which are shown as rhomboids or diamonds, and the name is often translated as "three diamonds" (as opposed to triangles). The logo is also a stylized ship's propeller, and BMW's logo is a stylized airplane propeller.

Lee

mtjade2007 · Dec 1, 2008

I have used several Konica negative films. They are very decent. In fact I like them and stuffed my freezer with several hundred rolls of them before they disappeared from the US market. Most of them in fact are 400 speed 220 films. It's called Konica Pro400. With proper processing I can not see any grain on my 8x10 inkjet prints. Inkjet prints are very sharp and will reveal film grains if present. Konica used to win a sizable market share in Asia. They did not do a good job in the US market. But the films are definitely very high quality. I have used Agfa films before and never liked them. In my opinion Konica produced better films than Agfa did. But of course this is just my opinion. I do like them and if they return to the US market I will use them again. For now I have plenty of them for snap shots on weekend trips that I often have during warmer Spring, Summer and Autumn months.

JanaM · Dec 1, 2008

Hello,

the DNP films are made by Kodak.
The DNP color photo paper is the original Konica paper, they have continued the production and have a leading position in the market (higher sales numbers than Kodak and Fuji).

Regards, Jana

Kirk Keyes · Dec 1, 2008

Aurum said:
Bit like Ilford taking over the JCB plant, and knocking out 35mm film under the famous earthmoving brand

I think Kodak would complain about the yellow color scheme of the JCB packaging.

Photo Engineer · Dec 1, 2008

Mitsubishi banks owned parts of both Mitsubishi Photo, Mitsubishi Paper and Konishiroku. I got this from the President of Konishiroku. The Konishiroku plant was located next to the Mitsubishi Steel mills in Hachioji.

I doubt if DNP films are made by Kodak. They may be derived from early Kodak formulas transmitted to the Chinese firms but Kodak has never coated anything in Japan and the Konica analog production facility was shut down as of 2006, the last time I talked to a Konica representative. At that time, it was all digital. Of course, my translator at that conversation was Tadeki Tani of Fuji.

PE

JanaM · Dec 1, 2008

Photo Engineer said:
I doubt if DNP films are made by Kodak. They may be derived from early Kodak formulas transmitted to the Chinese firms but Kodak has never coated anything in Japan and the Konica analog production facility was shut down as of 2006, the last time I talked to a Konica representative. At that time, it was all digital. Of course, my translator at that conversation was Tadeki Tani of Fuji.

PE

Sorry Ron, but your information is not right. Only the film manufacturing at Konica was stopped, not the paper production.
And yes, the films are from Kodak. Kodak has entered the house branding market after AgfaPhoto and Konica left it. Some films in german drug store chain house brands are from Kodak, too. And we know about the origin of Arista Premium .
I've got my information directly from someone dealing with DNP. And DNP and Fuji are no friends at all.....

Regards, Jana

Photo Engineer · Dec 1, 2008

Thanks Jana. I'll have to get more information, if I can.

PE

pentaxuser · Dec 1, 2008

I search most of the supplier sites in the U.K. and it seems somewhat strange that I have never seen any paper under the name of DNP or Konica. Neither have I seen any Centuria film.

Seem strange that since the thread's start about 18 months ago that neither the film nor paper has appeared in the U.K.

Does any UK based APUGer know differently?

pentaxuser

Photo Engineer · Dec 1, 2008

Jana;

I have verified that Kodak has no film coating facilities outside of Rochester. Paper is coated in Colorado and at the Harrow plant in England. I am now checking on the sources of this film and any rebranding.

PE

ed110220 · Dec 1, 2008

Well if it is made by Kodak, that would explain why the packaging clearly says "Made in the USA" on it! (I am speaking of the Centuria DNP films I saw on sale in Japan last month).

I don't know where the idea that this film is made in Japan came from; it is definitely made in the USA.

Photo Engineer · Dec 1, 2008

Kodak was restrained by a US law from rebranding film until just recently. That law was changed so that Kodak can now rebrand film. I am unable to get any information about whether this takes place, but since Kodak is the only US manufacturer, I assume it must be Kodak.

All Kodak film is slit and packed in Mexico, but it is all made in the US in Rochester.

PE

wogster · Dec 1, 2008

Photo Engineer said:
Kodak was restrained by a US law from rebranding film until just recently. That law was changed so that Kodak can now rebrand film. I am unable to get any information about whether this takes place, but since Kodak is the only US manufacturer, I assume it must be Kodak.

All Kodak film is slit and packed in Mexico, but it is all made in the US in Rochester.

PE

I wonder if DNP is just buying master rolls, and doing the slitting and packaging in Japan. Would give them more format flexibility as they move on, depending on the Asian market.

jun · Dec 4, 2008

I think that packaging is done by Kodak.
This is because that the packaging box, plastic canister, the metal magazine is EXACTLY as same as the curent Kodak 135 films.
Oh, the emulsion side of this film is pinkish --- just like the T-MAX films, which I bet it is some spectral??? sensitizing dye commonly seen in Kodak films.
The results that I get from this film are just like the one that I expect from Kodak films.
I don't think it is Fuji nor Ferrania.
I have seen somebody saying it may be Ferrania, if so, Technology level, Ferrania = Kodak now.
I think Konica still may coat industrial films(B&W X-Ray etc), but for color I dont think so.
Do I buy DNP film often?
No, because if you by Kodak's 5 roll pack, the Kodak one is usually cheaper per roll than DNP's one (approx. 1.5 USD per 1 roll of 24 exp. 135 Kodak 400 gold film) in Japan.

Heinz_Anderle · Dec 4, 2008

Photo Engineer said:
Kodak was restrained by a US law from rebranding film until just recently. That law was changed so that Kodak can now rebrand film. I am unable to get any information about whether this takes place, but since Kodak is the only US manufacturer, I assume it must be Kodak.

All Kodak film is slit and packed in Mexico, but it is all made in the US in Rochester.

PE

The private label films for a German drugstore chain (similar to Walgreen's) are manufactured and packaged by Kodak, among them Kodak Elite Chrome 100 for about half the price of the Kodak yellow/blue box. But Fuji does the same (with print film only), for competing German drugstore chains, where you get the most recent film types for a fraction of the original Superias' price.

The slide film is a real bargain.

ed110220 · Dec 5, 2008

Unless Konica-Minolta, Ferrania etc have set up film manufacturing in the USA (surely very unlikely) they can be ruled out as the makers of this film.

It would be useful to see the edge markings on the negatives. That way we would be able to tell just what sort of Kodak film this is.

Ray Rogers · Dec 5, 2008

Sorry guys I have a very short attention span.

What is the main thing you want to know?

DNP Photo Marketing Launches CENTURIA Film Series of Color Negative Film

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DNP Photo Marketing Launches CENTURIA Film Series of Color Negative Film