Era 100?

bob100684 · Jun 26, 2007

Anyone know if its repackaged or its own film? Is it any good?

wildbill · Jun 26, 2007

Here's some previous posts

http://www.chinastera.com/index1.htm

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http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/28473-thinking-about-purchasing-lucky-film-advice-please.html[/url]

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Jun 26, 2007

I got 10 rolls and went back for another 20 recently. It seemed to suit me really well, there's plenty of shots made using it on my website. No curling problems and good grain. I have a box of it in 4x5 and I'll try that soon too. As the other topics indicate, it's pretty decent stuff and available in large format sizes.

ZorkiKat · Jun 26, 2007

Yes. It's a good film, with an "old style" emulsion. Behaves like film from the 1950s. Responds well to developing variations, resulting in contrast changes without the extreme reactions associated with more modern emulsions. Medium resolution and grain. Develops well in D76, Rodinal, and D23.

If you like it, better get as much as you can. Shantou Era is probably coating the last batches now, and is on its way to quitting the film making business.

Jay

titrisol · Jun 26, 2007

Not bad film, Bill Matocks borught sme to the USA and was a really funky ol'style film.

PhotoJim · Jun 26, 2007

Where does one buy it? It sounds interesting.

Michael W · Jun 26, 2007

It's pretty easy to buy off ebay - look for a seller in HK or China.
Someone gave me a couple of rolls of 35mm & I used it to test out Caffenol dev, thinking it was not a film worth serious shooting. I was very impressed with the results - the Era 100 was sharp & had nice tonal range. Definitely worth further exploration.

Scott Peters · Jun 26, 2007

Yes, I purchased in 7 x 17 and I like it. Haven't figured out all the nuances, but its a VERY workable film...I also have 8 x 10 and like the contrast capabilities in lower light vs. some of my other films....I purchased it on ebay. Nice experience.

JLP · Jun 27, 2007

Era 100 is a very nice film and the quality i have seen so far is better than Foma and Efke = No pinholes.
There's 8x10 for sale on the bay right now, seller quick to respond and ship (Taiwan)

jan

jim appleyard · Jun 27, 2007

If this film is good, and everyone is happy with it, why are they getting out of the business???

PHOTOTONE · Jun 27, 2007

jim appleyard said:
If this film is good, and everyone is happy with it, why are they getting out of the business???

It's probably just like Forte, the production plant is too big and cumbersome to run economically with the current low demand for b/w materials. Or..they need the production capacity elsewhere, such as their inkjet papers.

jim appleyard · Jun 27, 2007

OK, that make sense.

imazursky · Jun 30, 2007

I really like the era FILM also.
It has a really nice quality when printed and scanned.
The quality control hasn't always been the best.
The last batch i received was the best so far. No pinholes or deep scratches.
I think 1 out of every 8 or 10 sheets had some embedded dust.
Some of the older batches had more dust in it than my rugs.

I was actually in talks with a go between for ERA to produce special large cuts. 11x14 up to 12x20.
Unfortunately the minimum is 50 boxes of 25.
If they are still around at the end of the summer, i will try to put together a large order if anyone is interested?
I will probably start with 12x20.

-ian

mabman · Jun 30, 2007

Interesting. I don't understand the Chinese film business - late last year I learned that Lucky had halted production, was clearing out their stock, and was waiting for orders for 1.5 million rolls before restarting production (not sure if that's happened yet, but a quick search doesn't turn up any SHD400 on eBay).

I heard this from a Taiwanese eBay seller from whom I had bought some SHD400CN (c-41 process B&W) - which was a shame as it was nearly as good as BW400CN or XP2 (was on a clear base, the base ended up slightly greenish, but no problem to correct for that and print B&W for most Noritsu operators at least).

I thought there was supposed to be a huge film market in China

Brac · Jun 30, 2007

One reputable seller of Lucky film on ebay said Lucky was not currently manufacturing its ISO 400 colour negative film but the ISO 100 certainly seemed to still be available.

On the Era English language site its black & white film products are still listed and there is a reference to contract manufacturing. As well as the ISO 100 material there is a reference to a ISO 25 material available in 35mm bulk lengths.

It would be interesting to know from the person who stated that Era were coating their last films as to what the source of this is. It may well be correct but there are so many half-truths and rumours floating around about Chinese films (some of which get reported as facts on Apug) that I find it difficult to know what to believe,

As to Mabman's comments, there does seem to still be a huge film market in China but it seems to be more colour orientated than black & white. So if the demand for black & white film is declining then it makes sense that not so much is being manufactured. It's possible (and this is a pure guess) that manufacturers like Era might chose to just coat occasionally as demand warrants, so it would be interesting to hear something authoritative on this so that we don't need to make guesses.

What isn't a guess, is that in the past year there has been quite a push by photographic sellers in China, Taiwan & the US on ebay to sell Era films. Whether this is to clear existing stocks or to build up new markets to help replace a declining local one I don't know. Also recently Era have been marketing sheet films in an increasing number of sizes which seems strange if they are retreating from film production.

Fanshaw · Jul 4, 2007

Era Film

I don't think we can take much comfort from what is on the ERA Website. You wouldn't know that Forte have stopped making film from their current Website.

ZorkiKat · Jul 6, 2007

jim appleyard said:
If this film is good, and everyone is happy with it, why are they getting out of the business???

For the same reason which made Agfa, Konica, and other makers quit the film business. The environment is the same in China. Even if Shantou Era is a state enterprise (or it may have been privatised), low sales would force it out of the trade.

I've known Era since the mid-1980s. I've been shooting with it for a long time, until it became unavailable here. It was cheap and good, costing only 1/20 of the equivalent from Kodak or Agfa. Never found it to be inconsistent. In fact, I could say that about 65% of all the BW I shot was on Era film. I still have yellow and green Era film boxes from the 1980s when the factory was still a state enterprise, like all the other factories in China then. The current boxes now say a very capitalist tag, "Shantou Era Corporation".

Jay

marcsv · Jul 6, 2007

ZorkiKat said:
I've known Era since the mid-1980s. I've been shooting with it for a long time, until it became unavailable here.
Jay

Hey Jay, I get my Era rolls in Baguio, I always have someone purchase some for me whenever they troop down from Baguio.

nze · Jul 6, 2007

by the way it is a good film nothing to compare with the lucky.

Era 100?

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