Film Ferrania - Developments from October 2023 onward

[dcy]

New website. Some friends lost. Some friends gained. But APUG's heartbeat still echos in Photrio.

 

[pbromaghin]

APUG hasn't said a whole lot since it went out of existence.

There's no place like APUG.
There's no place like APUG.
There's n

 

[foc]

There's no place like APUG.
There's no place like APUG.
There's n

 

[flavio81]

New website. Some friends lost. Some friends gained. But APUG's heartbeat still echos in Photrio.

There's no place like APUG.
There's no place like APUG.
There's n

I am from APUG and this will always be APUG for me.

 

[Agulliver]

What will happen is people will crawl out of the woodwork claiming they were ripped off and defrauded because they "ordered colour film" when in reality they donated funds to save equipment. But there's no telling these people.

Then you'll get the demands for a Kodachrome-like film at 1960 prices in all possible formats.

Personally I'll be happy to see P30, P33 and Orto back with steady work towards more products. Of course, in time, I'd love to see colour film. I'd love to see 8mm cine film, actually P30 in the 8mm format would be amazing stuff. But slow progress is better than no progress.

 

[abruzzi]

What will happen is people will crawl out of the woodwork claiming they were ripped off and defrauded because they "ordered colour film" when in reality they donated funds to save equipment. But there's no telling these people.

Then you'll get the demands for a Kodachrome-like film at 1960 prices in all possible formats.

Personally I'll be happy to see P30, P33 and Orto back with steady work towards more products. Of course, in time, I'd love to see colour film. I'd love to see 8mm cine film, actually P30 in the 8mm format would be amazing stuff. But slow progress is better than no progress.

If all we get is those three films in 120 I'll be happy. I will be even more happy if they make some sheet film, but I know that LF shooters are a tiny minority of a tiny minority.

 

[Agulliver]

Under the previous management the focus was in 135 and 120 with other formats possible in the future. Part of the Kickstarter funds went to saving the 127 finishing machinery but it's not been used in many years and would need a complete overhaul to bring back into operation. Sheet film might just be more easy. Time will tell what the focus is under Jake Seal. Film Ferrania has a successful niche product in P30 while P33 began to acquire a good reputation too.

 

[abruzzi]

Under the previous management the focus was in 135 and 120 with other formats possible in the future. Part of the Kickstarter funds went to saving the 127 finishing machinery but it's not been used in many years and would need a complete overhaul to bring back into operation. Sheet film might just be more easy. Time will tell what the focus is under Jake Seal. Film Ferrania has a successful niche product in P30 while P33 began to acquire a good reputation too.

yeah, I don't expect sheet film because its unlikely to be a moneymaker, though I suspect it would lose less money than 127, 110, or all the other rare, no longer manufactured formats that people want them to make. (I'd prefer a financially solvent Ferrania with no sheet film to a couple boxes of sheet film before they go under.)

 

[dcy]

yeah, I don't expect sheet film because its unlikely to be a moneymaker, though I suspect it would lose less money than 127, 110, or all the other rare, no longer manufactured formats that people want them to make. (I'd prefer a financially solvent Ferrania with no sheet film to a couple boxes of sheet film before they go under.)

Polaroid has an interesting approach to financially unviable film formats: Typically they don't make any, but every once in a while they switch over the machines to make a batch. They do not make a lot of profit from it, but it helps keep the format alive.

The prominent example for them is 8x10 Polaroids. Not a lot of people shoot that. Right now they are out of stock, as they usually are. But once in a while, they'll make a few, and the few shooters that do shoot 8x10 Polaroid will snatch them up quickly.

Ferrania could do something similar with sheet format. You'd definitely have to buy it directly from them of course. You couldn't buy a niche rarely-produced product from B&H Photo. But I bet that if Ferrania did this, you would buy some. They could have a mailing list to let interested parties know when there's a new batch available.

Ferrania could even have a sign up sheet where people give them their credit card details and sign up for X sheets of film. When the number of requested sheets reaches some threshold, they can make a new batch and immediately charge those credit cards and send out the product.

 

[pbromaghin]

Polaroid has an interesting approach to financially unviable film formats: Typically they don't make any, but every once in a while they switch over the machines to make a batch. They do not make a lot of profit from it, but it helps keep the format alive.

The prominent example for them is 8x10 Polaroids. Not a lot of people shoot that. Right now they are out of stock, as they usually are. But once in a while, they'll make a few, and the few shooters that do shoot 8x10 Polaroid will snatch them up quickly.

Ferrania could do something similar with sheet format. You'd definitely have to buy it directly from them of course. You couldn't buy a niche rarely-produced product from B&H Photo. But I bet that if Ferrania did this, you would buy some. They could have a mailing list to let interested parties know when there's a new batch available.

Ferrania could even have a sign up sheet where people give them their credit card details and sign up for X sheets of film. When the number of requested sheets reaches some threshold, they can make a new batch and immediately charge those credit cards and send out the product.

Ilford does this same thing annually.

 

[Tel]

Ilford does this same thing annually.

As does Keith Canham with Kodak sheet film, though on a not-so-regular basis

 

[Nzoomed]

Im going to be very interested to see how this all goes going forward with Film Ferrania, looks like according to their website that film will be back on the shelves again soon, but from reading between the lines it appears there may have been some sort of hostile takeover in the company.
As long as things move forward this time I think we should take the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Im going to be very interested to see how this all goes going forward with Film Ferrania, looks like according to their website that film will be back on the shelves again soon, but from reading between the lines it appears there may have been some sort of hostile takeover in the company.
As long as things move forward this time I think we should take the benefit of the doubt.

Reading between what lines? Could you provide a link, please? Thanks!

 

[koraks]

there may have been some sort of hostile takeover in the company

It's not publicly traded, so how would the takeover be hostile? The previous owner(s) must have negotiated with Seal. Apparently Seal made an offer that the others liked enough to go ahead with it.

 

[albireo]

Ferrania P30 and Orto in 35mm have been in stock at Macodirect for a while. Not sure if NOS or brand new.

 

[Nzoomed]

Reading between what lines? Could you provide a link, please? Thanks!

Im just putting two and two together from the posts here a few months back, I also contacted Dave bias at the time and got a response, the news sounded like it was all bad from what I can gather and at the time he was also in the dark on the fate of film ferrania, he did not go to go into much detail with me which was fair enough, but its possible he might say more publicly in the future if he feels its right.

 

[Agulliver]

Has Dave Bias been involved recently? I thought he left Film Ferrania over two years ago?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

That's what I heard, too. Dave left FF years ago. Probably had enough of having to field all the "I didn't get my colour film" crowd.

 

[polaromar]

Ferrania P30 and Orto in 35mm have been in stock at Macodirect for a while. Not sure if NOS or brand new.

Freestyle has what seems to be brand new P30 in stock. It doesn't seem like Orto is being restocked, at least for now. Everything I've heard and seen suggests that they're focusing on bringing P30 and P33 back first.

Makes sense too - Orto wasn't a particularly popular stock, it can still be readily found because very few people brought it compared to their other films. Orthochromatic films are a niche, and P30 already displays low red sensitivity if you like that look. I hope it comes back because I like it, but I can see why it's not a priority.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

...and I'm still hoping for P30 in sheet film!

 

[albireo]

Freestyle has what seems to be brand new P30 in stock. It doesn't seem like Orto is being restocked, at least for now. Everything I've heard and seen suggests that they're focusing on bringing P30 and P33 back first.

Ferrania would see a lot of regular orders from me if they managed to do P33 in 120 and keep it going for years (I hate film swapping when a product disappears e.g. the beautiful Adox Silvermax, whatever it was).

 

[Nzoomed]

Has Dave Bias been involved recently? I thought he left Film Ferrania over two years ago?

Thats correct, he has not been with the company for around that time.

That's what I heard, too. Dave left FF years ago. Probably had enough of having to field all the "I didn't get my colour film" crowd.

From my correspondence with him, it appears it was not his decision to leave.
At the time, he told me he was largely in the dark about the future of the company as many of us were, but indicated to me what he had heard was all sounding bad.
Im not going into anymore detail and will leave it for him to decide what he wants to share publicly if and when.

 

[abruzzi]

Makes sense too - Orto wasn't a particularly popular stock, it can still be readily found because very few people brought it compared to their other films. Orthochromatic films are a niche, and P30 already displays low red sensitivity if you like that look. I hope it comes back because I like it, but I can see why it's not a priority.

There are places that show Orto in stock, but I assume that is old stock, and not newly replenished. I just shot my first roll of it last week but haven't had time to do any more than that.

 

[brbo]

There are places that show Orto in stock, but I assume that is old stock, and not newly replenished.

Not so long ago I got a promotional mail from Macodirect that they’ve received new batches of P30 and Orto.

I think places showing Orto in stock more probably have new than old stock.

 

[Agulliver]

So Dave Bias wouldn't actually be in a position to know what has happened to the company since he left over two years ago....which is long before the change of ownership.