Era pan 100, anyone tried it?

[tony lockerbie]

Just bought some Era pan 100 in 5X4 from China to give it a try. It's as cheap as chips at $11.00 AUD for 25 sheets. Just wondering if anyone out there has tried this film and has any thoughts- comments?
Tony

 

[JLP]

Will try it soon Tony, bought some last week and hope it will be here next week. Intend to try it in Pyrocat MC first and see how it looks.


jan

 

[marcsv]

Era

if thats the same as the era 35mm film i recently found, here's some images
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Era 100 (EI 80), processed in "parodinal" 1:100

 

[Schlapp]

Good stuff. i have used the 35mm option and like it very much in Rodinal.

 

[tony lockerbie]

Thanks for the images, I'll give it a go in rodinal
Tony

 

[buze]

I tried the ERA and the Shanghai. I love the Shanghai and only use the ERA for Pinhole. I've seen defects in the coating, while I have never seen that in the Shanghai. Also the base is a lot thinner, which makes the sheet curl (even when dry, and possibly in the holder too).
Otherwise sharpness wise it's good; grain is fine, but I would say I get a bit more density out of the shanghai.

Here's one done on ERA, with a 47mm pinhole:

 

[Jim Chinn]

There has been some discussion of ERA film over on the Large Format site and it sounds like it may be possible to get it cut for ULF sizes in the future. While it sounds wonderful from a cost standpoint, cost is irrelevant if there are flaws in the emulsion.

 

[Fanshaw]

ERA -Future?

According to a seller on Ebay, ERA have stopped production or are about to.

Fanshaw

 

[aldevo]

I have heard the same.

I have also heard that ERA 100 was really Lucky SHD 100. ERA just cut and boxed the stock and distributed in another part of the PRC. I did use some of the Lucky film, but never tried the ERA.

For all the griping that goes on about Lucky Film likely assuming total control of film production...please realize that this company is actually in increasingly tough shape. Their profits started falling in early 2005 and now their revenues are also in decline.

I don't see Lucky being the last guys standing...

 

[Brac]

According to a seller on Ebay, ERA have stopped production or are about to.

Fanshaw

There were a number of Chinese film manufacturers and in a shake up some years ago Kodak did a deal with the Chinese government under which they aquired and closed several of these. Era seems to be one of the 3 or 4 that continued independently. Their web site http://www.chinastera.com/index1.htm appears to be alive and kicking.

The problem with some of the ebay sellers of Chinese film is that their English is not always very precise. I've seen the advert you refer to. A lot of Era film is being sold at very low prices. It's possible that the factory has a glut of 35mm film & has stopped coating more until that clears. So if production has stopped that may not be permanent. And on their site they announce 5 x 4 sheet film as a new product & elsewhere on this forum there is talk of their producing ULF. So I don't think they are going out of business. I doubt whether their products are rebadged Lucky as everything I've read seems to indicate it is something quite different.

 

[RICHARDJ]

Hi There:
I have used ERA 120 x 165 mm sheet film in 5 x 7 holders for a few years, after I bought a few thousand sheets in Shanghai for pennies a sheet.

It is an Old Style film, not too sharp at enlargements greater thsn 2 or 3 x but it makes lovely contact prints. I develop i ntin D 76, or split D23 and am about to try PC TEA. NO complaints about Q Control or surface defects.

Cheers

 

[htmlguru4242]

Interesting. Is there a way to buy this here in the US or direct from the manufacturer?