Film Ferrania - Developments from October 2023 onward

[kitspics]

just got my p33 in the mail, I looked at a roll and it has number 00002275, which says it's a roll of P30 from September '22, and the DX code is covered with a Ferrania branded sticker, presumably so if your camera automatically reads the speed you don't actually shoot at ISO1000. Indeed the top row of contacts is backwards, if you read it the other way it correctly reads 160, and the second row is correct.

The company that claimed to have made the Who Am I? website and presumably the tracking system to go with it seems like vaporware, which would make sense as they claim to be a blockchain company. Without finding the actual owner of roll #2275 I can't be certain but I'm pretty sure the whoami labeling system is no longer maintained and is now broken.

On the positive side, and as others have noted, these rolls all came with proper expiration dates and batch numbers! 2026 is pretty pessimistic about the shelf life of the film, but I think it's probably good sense from them to be very conservative with that kind of thing especially because these emulsions are so young. I think these batch numbers are accurate, because the very last valid whoami code I can find is 000079FF, which was a roll of orto from batch #252, while the rolls of P33 I have are all from #315 and #317. I expect the the missing 60 or so batches are some measure of P30, smaller P33 test batches, and whatever else they made in that time, but at 60 batches hopefully a lot of that went onto store shelves because that's about 30k rolls of film at full production. To date, Ferrania have made somewhere around 170k rolls of film according to the batch numbers and the whoami system.

 

[Agulliver]

Doesn't most film now come with an expiry date roughly two years after it goes on the market? Due to tightening of laws, especially in the EU....the manufacturer must absolutely guarantee that a product will perform as if it had just emerged from the factory within it's expiry date.

 

[loccdor]

Doesn't most film now come with an expiry date roughly two years after it goes on the market? Due to tightening of laws, especially in the EU....the manufacturer must absolutely guarantee that a product will perform as if it had just emerged from the factory within it's expiry date.

Don't know much about those laws but they'd have to be enforceable and provable to be effective.

Last time I bought Lomography film their expiration date was 4 years in the future, doesn't look like anything is restricting them to 2 years.

 

[Agulliver]

Don't know much about those laws but they'd have to be enforceable and provable to be effective.

Last time I bought Lomography film their expiration date was 4 years in the future, doesn't look like anything is restricting them to 2 years.

DEpending on which Lomography film it was....part of the fun of their films is that they are imperfect.

"generally"..."roughly".....some years ago several territories including the EU tightened the regulations around expiry dates on various products and most film expiry dates changed to about two years after they hit the shelves rather than four or five.

 

[hasselbladuser]

"wonder why they selected 98.4 feet, rather than the typical 30.5 meters or 100 ft"
In Europe we measure in meters and take a round number (30 meters) which translates to 98.4 feet.

 

[cmacd123]

"wonder why they selected 98.4 feet, rather than the typical 30.5 meters or 100 ft"
In Europe we measure in meters and take a round number (30 meters) which translates to 98.4 feet.

years ago, when I was a kid spending my alowance, some Ilford and Agfa film came in a 17 meter roll. (equivelnt to about 56 feet am told) since this was more than half a hundred feet, and less than half the price of a Kodak 100ft roll, I used a few of them.
But I can't imagine why both firms used 17 meters rather than 15 or 20? (unless it was an even number of rolls of some lenth)

 

[Agulliver]

You can still get 17m rolls of Fomapan and Ilford HP5 I think.

 

[Klaus_H]

10 films with 36 shots each can be spooled from 17 m of film.

 

[cmacd123]

10 films with 36 shots each can be spooled from 17 m of film.

I do see the 17m rolls online at some European Vendors. Gut alas they seem to stay on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

 

[cmacd123]

was surprised when I checked the Film Ferrania Web site that EVERYTHING that they offer is shown as "sold out".

Products

Explore and purchase our photographic films, capturing the imagination of filmmakers, photographers, and artists worldwide. The film that shaped the history of cinema has returned to tell stories through the art of analog photography. In black and white.

www.filmferrania.com

I have been waiting for a while for B&H to get some more P33 in stock.

 

[AnselMortensen]

I got an email from Cinestill yesterday that they just got restocked with P33.

 

[Chuck1]

I got an email from Cinestill yesterday that they just got restocked with P33.

Just in 35mm

 

[Nzoomed]

I wonder if we will see any more updates from Ferrania this year?
Looking forward to their colour film!

 

[Agulliver]

Film Ferrania have made it very clear that due to abuse and threats on social media and web forums, they will only now issue any kind of update when a product is about to launch. So we won't get any news on works in progress from Ferrania themselves. Occasionally something leaks via a photo news website.

I'd still love to see P30 in 8mm but presumably they can make more money with 35mm, and the priority is to keep going...hopefully towards their goal of colour film.

 

[Mackinaw]

Wonder if Dave Bias is still with the company? He was a regular contributor here, until the constant negative comments got the best of him.

Jim B.

 

[warden]

Wonder if Dave Bias is still with the company? He was a regular contributor here, until the constant negative comments got the best of him.

Jim B.

His LinkedIn says his tenure there lasted until June 2023 After a 9 year run.

 

[pentaxuser]

Looking forward to their colour film!

My understanding is that given its problems it has decided to concentrate on b&w film for the indeterminate time being. That being the case and given Harman's entrance into the colour film market in the meantime, is it likely that it will ever enter the colour film market?

However and this is based on an assumption on my part that "looking forward" to something indicates you have reason to believe this will happen in the foreseeable future, can you share any info you may have on the likelihood of what it is doing in terms of working on the introduction of colour film


Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[Nzoomed]

Wonder if Dave Bias is still with the company? He was a regular contributor here, until the constant negative comments got the best of him.

Jim B.

I have been in contact with him over the years, i could flick him another message, last contact I had was a couple of years ago and told me covid had got in the way a bit, but ended up being a good thing because it allowed them to focus on getting everything produced in-house instead of relying on other third parties.

 

[CMoore]

My understanding is that given its problems it has decided to concentrate on b&w film for the indeterminate time being. That being the case and given Harman's entrance into the colour film market in the meantime, is it likely that it will ever enter the colour film market?

However and this is based on an assumption on my part that "looking forward" to something indicates you have reason to believe this will happen in the foreseeable future, can you share any info you may have on the likelihood of what it is doing in terms of working on the introduction of colour film


Thanks

pentaxuser

They certainly have run their business in a unique manner.

 

[cmacd123]

They certainly have run their business in a unique manner.

the two founders appoched the idea from a Movie background. (one apperently runs or Ran a small 16mm Movie Lab) although the Fellow who they identify as a big investor is from the packaging industry apparently.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I doubt they'll abandon colour.

 

[CMoore]

I doubt they'll abandon colour.

Have they ever had it.?

 

[MattKing]

Have they ever had it.?

Ferrania once were one of the largest producers of colour film in the world. And the equipment that was saved by the people behind the current version of Ferrania is/was capable of much of what is needed to bring it back.
It takes a lot more than equipment to bring it to fruition.

 

[albireo]

Their new P33 is absolutely wonderful stuff. A giant FP4+ killer for me.

True 160 ISO to boot. I can't buy it fast enough.

I have not followed the social media soap opera about this company and I know virtually nothing about it, but based on what they were able to do with P33, I will strongly support with my wallet anything else they will release in the future.

 

[Agulliver]

From what I remember, Dave Bias stopped posting around the time Film Ferrania decided to engage less with forums and social media....again, due to threats, insults and abuse from people who accused them of fraud, lies and worse.....people who don't understand or didn't read the Kickstarter....believed they had ordered film and got angry when they discovered that what they'd actually signed up for was to donate towards saving equipment to manufacture film.

From what they've said, I think they are concentrating on B&W as it is something they can now reliably manufacture and actually brings in funds. P30 was an unusual film, one I happen to like in certain circumstances. P33 seems more "general purpose" and I've not used it yet but have seen some truly lovely photos taken with it. There was a rumour they were going to release P36 too (320ASA) but that hasn't happened yet. They did mention a good while back that research was continuing in the background on colour film. But as they have consistently stated in recent years, they are only going to release news when they are ready to share a product with us.

That strategy is supposed to put an end to the entitled folk who cry and scream about Ferrania being crooks every time this small company misses a target that was always aspirational rather than realistic....or when the Italian government cuts their campus in two and turns off the gas and electricity.