Film Ferrania - Developments from October 2023 onward

[flavio81]

In 2015, ADOX took over the coating machine from Ilford Imaging Switzerland, which was used for research of many products, including inkjet materials and the legendary Cibachrome. The machine is located in Marly, Switzerland, and occupies three floors. The factory was built around the coating machine, with many labs and research spaces.
Now turned into ADOX Switzerland, the company is actively researching and developing products. The Snap-On filters and the Captura dust-free powder technology are one of the many Swiss projects.

Adox site

Amazing!!

I like ADOX film, I have some boxes of Customed For Henning Serger (CHS II 100) around ready to use.

 

[halfaman]

In 2015, ADOX took over the coating machine from Ilford Imaging Switzerland, which was used for research of many products, including inkjet materials and the legendary Cibachrome. The machine is located in Marly, Switzerland, and occupies three floors. The factory was built around the coating machine, with many labs and research spaces.
Now turned into ADOX Switzerland, the company is actively researching and developing products. The Snap-On filters and the Captura dust-free powder technology are one of the many Swiss projects.

Adox site

Theoretically it is also the factory that hopefully some day will coat Adox paper.

 

[Nzoomed]

The Ferrania film edge markings (in 35mm) were like this. There were (IIRC) + and/or dots in purple, orange and green depending on the generation of the film.

View attachment 411998

View attachment 411999

Yeah thats pretty much what my Solaris looks like, I have some other negatives i shot on a cheap disposable camera from the 90s too which will be interesting to check the markings.

Ferrania made xray film for Kodak and boxed it into yellow Kodak boxes. They sold that division to Kodak at the beginning of the '00. There are many interviews from ex Ferrania people on YouTube that talk about this.

Yes I remember hearing a bit about this, that means that likely Ferrania had some good patents for X-ray film if Kodak purchased their division, its not Like Kodak wasnt making the stuff themselves prior.

Why do you find it so hard to believe? Only because you never saw a box that said "Ferrania "? As explained, their main business was selling boxes with other branding.

I also read somewhere that they also made some of the Konica or Sakura or Ilford color film (yes, ilford sold color film in the past).



Exactly, think about how much film would wal-mart have sold. And consider that Kodak did NOT make white-label/off-brand film, it wasn't their business. I don't think Fuji was interested either. As far as I understand, for color film only Ferrania made off-brand film, and there was Tura which rebadged Agfa film.



There was a video on the old FILM Ferrania website, before being bought by their current owner, they illustrated the size of the film drying tunnel, and the area was something like the area of a football stadium.

Take into account that the Ferrania factory had its own hydroelectric power plant...



Yes, it was the highest speed slide film on the market, and 640T was the highest speed tungsten E6 film in the market by far, only Kodak Ektachrome 320T came close.

One needs to remember that 3M was a serious company, for example in magnetic tape production they were the absolute best in manufacturing quality. When they bought Ferrania they probably would have ensured to create a quality product, even if it was for a low cost tier.

I remember watching their video showing the scale of the big boy coater, it certainly was huge. Im not sure how it compares in volume to Kodak or Fujis coaters at the time, but it appeared to make a huge amount of waste per run too which is understandable, so to be economic, they had to sell enough volume.
Perhaps thats why they lasted so long if they were supplying to other generic brands? I question if they could have actually survived entirely had Kodak and/or Fuji's business collapsed.
Its a miracle that Kodak is still here today and we should be thankful.

Ferrania were also making their own acetate film base which is impressive, im not sure when they stopped making that, but I have the impression they were doing it for a long time.
They could have quite a lucrative business making that stuff since Kodak dont even make it anymore as far as im aware (only estar is made by Kodak) and I could imagine other film companies would be interested in purchasing it.

I think myself and other people also demand more serious argumenting from your side.



Yes, when FILM Ferrania (the attempted resurrection) started, there were some figures about the scale of the former Ferrania operation, and it was a very big scale.

I have the feeling their market was mainly house brands near the end, I have never seen Ferrania films available here in New Zealand that I can remember, but I have likely purchased re branded Ferrania film from the dollar store on occasion.
At the peak of film consumption worldwide, how many companies were coating colour film on such a scale? I can only think of Kodak, Fuji, Agfa and of course Ferrania, I remember seeing Konika film around, but I dont know if they coated much themselves, or if it was all Ferrania film? It appears they had rebranded Ferrania film at some point from what I can tell.
It looks like in their last days that they were selling more film under their own brand with the Solaris trademark, I dont see any evidence that Solaris was around for many years prior, seems to be from the early 2000s onwards.

Maybe you can improve your online interactions by giving further effort to understand what is being discussed:

You see, the "debate" started here:



So the argument was that
they were (past)
possibly (that means, not claiming certainly but there was the possiblity)
once (at SOME point in time, for at least one occasion)
the world's largest manufacturer of C41 film.

Moreover, this argument was presented to support the key point: "THE ABILITY AND KNOWLEDGE WAS THERE".

All through the interaction, you have made the error of simplifying the argument, which is similar to going for a strawman argument. Not good.

Other people immediately understood Agulliver's enunciate correctly:



So, brbo, from the point Agulliver stated his enunciate, you distorted the original argument.

Now, back on track, the Ferrania factory had the capacity to be able to pump out almost 360 million rolls of film per year. To have an idea of the current state of affairs in terms of film color sold worldwide, a report states that in the year 2023, 11 (eleven) million color films were sold globally.

You can bet that on the film drought years (circa 2007-2017), the amount of color films sold was even less.

In those years, Kodak had serious problems trying to downscale, since they had many factories that were designed to be cost-efficient when operated at scale. They had to close many film production faciliites around the world, leaving only basically Rochester.

So, there is a big chance than from the early 2000s until ferrania's closure in 2009,

a. global demand for color film was way lower than 360 million a year, thus Ferrania could produce all the world's color film if they had the chance to,

and

b. kodak sales diminished up to the point the off-brand film market (and disposable cameras film market), dominated by Ferrania, equals or even has bigger sales than the regular consumer film market (dominated by Kodak & friends)

Thus,

There is a possiblity that at some point in time Ferrania made more C41 film than Kodak or whoever was traditionally dominating that product type. Now, probably at that point in time, even with this edge, this was not profitable at all for Ferrania (for the same reasons Kodak had to close factories: too small scale for their operations) and thus they had to close operations.

I think this is the key here, C41, and not just any C41 film, but every day consumer film, not the professional lines of film, but just film that the average consumer could pick up and shoot and have acceptable photographs for their 4x6 prints.

In 2015, ADOX took over the coating machine from Ilford Imaging Switzerland, which was used for research of many products, including inkjet materials and the legendary Cibachrome. The machine is located in Marly, Switzerland, and occupies three floors. The factory was built around the coating machine, with many labs and research spaces.
Now turned into ADOX Switzerland, the company is actively researching and developing products. The Snap-On filters and the Captura dust-free powder technology are one of the many Swiss projects.

Adox site

Its good news to see that not only that this machinery has been saved, but is being put back into use, I remember reading some time back that ADOX was investing in building a new factory for producing more film, but this appears to be a separate venture they have done?
I shot some ADOX Colour implosion a while back, had quite a retro feel, but I think it was coated for them by someone else at the time.
Its also good news to see more colour film on on the market and means that the decline has bottomed out and that there is now more demand.
I wonder where it will go from here? Will we ever see Cibachrome again?

 

[fs999]

I remember reading some time back that ADOX was investing in building a new factory for producing more film, but this appears to be a separate venture they have done?

Yes. If you look at my link, you can see everything about their factories.

 

[foc]

I remember seeing Konika film around, but I dont know if they coated much themselves, or if it was all Ferrania film?

My understanding was that Konica, at sometime in late 1980s & early 1990s, were buying bulk master rolls of film from Kodak and adding their own edge markings. Konica also did private label. I remember at one stage Polaroid 35mm was made by Konica. Infact Polaroid 35mm was made by Agfa, Ferrania and Konica at different times.

 

[flavio81]

Ferrania were also making their own acetate film base which is impressive, im not sure when they stopped making that, but I have the impression they were doing it for a long time.
They could have quite a lucrative business making that stuff since Kodak dont even make it anymore as far as im aware (only estar is made by Kodak) and I could imagine other film companies would be interested in purchasing it.

Yes, they had a big, separate building for acetate film base production..

I remember seeing Konika film around, but I dont know if they coated much themselves, or if it was all Ferrania film? It appears they had rebranded Ferrania film at some point from what I can tell.

Konica was probably the first photographic materials producer in Japan, predating Fujifilm by at least 20 years. They also made the first color film in japan.

They also had a unique product: Konica Centuria 3200, the fastest C41 film.

Yet it is possible they have used rebadged Ferrania film at some point in time.

I shot some ADOX Colour implosion a while back, had quite a retro feel, but I think it was coated for them by someone else at the time.

I think it was InovisCoat. Maybe. I can be wrong. But now, what was InovisCoat is now part of the same group that owns "Original Wolfen" and Ferrania.

I wonder where it will go from here? Will we ever see Cibachrome again?

To get Cibachrome again, slide film needs to be massively popular again first.

 

[polaromar]

I think it was InovisCoat. Maybe. I can be wrong. But now, what was InovisCoat is now part of the same group that owns "Original Wolfen" and Ferrania.

It was, I'm pretty sure. All the ADOX color films are InovisCoat/Filmotec, renting time from Polaroid's Monheim facility. I believe InovisCoat is the only company that does custom films for 3rd parties (eg. many of the Lomo films), as opposed to just relabeling.

 

[Klaus_H]

According to the commercial register, the two companies Filmotec GmbH and Inoviscoat GmbH have been dissolved and are in liquidation. Neither company has a managing director; instead, they are headed by a liquidator. Business activities are now limited to winding up the companies. Nothing is being produced here anymore. The word/figurative mark “ORIGINAL WOLFEN” has been deleted from the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

( Source: Northdata.de )

 

[halfaman]

It was, I'm pretty sure. All the ADOX color films are InovisCoat/Filmotec, renting time from Polaroid's Monheim facility. I believe InovisCoat is the only company that does custom films for 3rd parties (eg. many of the Lomo films), as opposed to just relabeling.

ADOX Color Mission was a film ordered 10-15 years ago to the original Inoviscoat company that was formed after Agfa Leverkusen disolution. Inoviscoat went down briefly after serving the film to ADOX. The film was freezed waiting for better times (prices) and the company was sold to Impossible/Polarid to produce their instant films. The Filmotec Inoviscoat was formed after original closure by some of the staff, it is a fabless company with some production time available at Monheim.

Polaroid Monheim does not have any roll confectioning line, original Inoviscoat (like Agfa Gevaert) didn't want to be on consumer still film but on B2B (aerial, lithographic, PCB, medical) and, of course, there is no need either to produce integral or peel apart instant films. So all LomoChrome and Orwo films must be confectioned in some other place, Color Mission is confectioned by ADOX themselves.

 

[cmacd123]

View attachment 412077

This image was assembled by the FILM Ferrania team in an attempt to display the hundreds upon hundreds of brands of film produced during the 3M era.

https://thedarkroom.com/film-brand/...LnBaDpP-kO0zArRRESjvNTYUlLxHjdoeJSQ1S-KZGZaw7

Such fun to pick them
Sooters is #3 in the second row, I am Not sure if they were in the states
sears and k-mart at 2 and 7 in the 7th row
and Zellers (part of Hudson's bay at 7 in the last row

 

[mshchem]

Such fun to pick them
Sooters is #3 in the second row, I am Not sure if they were in the states
sears and k-mart at 2 and 7 in the 7th row
and Zellers (part of Hudson's bay at 7 in the last row

I wonder who printed the decoration on the metal cassettes? That's pretty cool.

 

[cmacd123]

I wonder who printed the decoration on the metal cassettes? That's pretty cool.

most of the ones i remember where identified with a paper sticker. the cassettes just said CP 100 or CP 400)

 

[ChrisGalway]

By coincidence, yesterday I was given an old camera, a Canon AF35M, batteries still in, leaked and have corroded the camera, but inside was this film ... presumably one of the many different branded Ferrania/3M films

 

[Ainarref]

The letters “EXL” appearing on the roll are the name of the 3M Ferrania color negative film generation from the period 1991-1994.

 

[ChrisGalway]

The letters “EXL” appearing on the roll are the name of the 3M Ferrania color negative film generation from the period 1991-1994.

Thanks, and I reckon those disintegrated batteries had also been in the camera since the early 1990s!