Agfa didn't sell sheet film after all. And if you were using Fortepan 200/Bergger BRF 200 - would you really consider APX 100 a close replacement?
I've been in a "community darkroom". Twice.
The second time I brought my own enlarger!
AgfaPhoto's final failure had little to do with bad management.
I don't know where you got this bit of ill-informed information, but I have used Agfa sheet film in 4x5 and 8x10 for years, and stiil have some. Not only APX-100, but also 8x10 color transparency. I believe APX-400 was also available in sheet film. By proper exposure and development you can get top-notch results from the now discontinued Agfa APX-100 in sheet film sizes. At one time Agfa also made some other "specialty" sheet films.
If it wasn't bad management, then why are their plants being demolished? You could write a book about all that happened at Agfa, but you can point your finger at bad management during every stage of the process. Of course it is easier to see what went wrong, now that it's all over...
I built my own darkroom from scratch by reading Kodak pamphlets at the age of about 12 or so. Except for military darkrooms or the Kodak Camera Club darkroom where I taught, I never had to use a community darkroom.
I have loads of 4x5 Agfa transparencies here. Yep, they made sheet film. Sure did, for years.
PE
I think we can consider you the exception rather than the rule
I still maintain my view that most people doing analog B&W have their first darkroom experiences in these places. And that the disappearance of such facilities bodes poorly.
I never stated that Agfa did not manufacture sheet films, merely that they have not done so for a time and have not been a direct competitor of Forte in this market for a couple years.
How exactly would German labor laws have entitled them to dowsnize their labor force as their core market declined? Bad management doesn't enter into that equation...the can't change that.
First off, in the strictest sense, Agfa has not been a competitor to anyone for about 3 years or so. So the phrasing is rather moot. They did manufacture sheet films until near the end, when the market dictated that they exit that area. That was a good move by (poor?) management.
As to my being the exception. Well, at 12, I was hardly an exceptional person and if I could do it from scratch then, anyone could. I was totally all thumbs, and broke a hammer, in fact I broke several. I split a screwdriver handle using it as a chisel. I could go on, but the point is that anyone, with a little reading can design a darkroom from scratch.
BTW, I first did processing kneeling on the floor in the kitchen with 3 soup bowls for chemicals and I did the film by the old hand dunking method using clips at each end of a roll.
Back then, they didn't have plastic trays, and SS trays were out of sight for price. I bought aluminum, and the fixer and developer ate through my first set of trays and left a mess on the kitchen floor. This was after I had enough money to buy trays and graduated from soup bowls to 'real' trays. How I lamented the loss of the trays and how I learned not to use aluminum for photography. One of my uncles took pity on me and finally bought me a photo kit.
Oh, I could write a book.
But then I might.
PE
German labor law is often cited as a major problem for employers, but I don't agree with that perception. You can downsize a company if you do it properly. You may have to talk to the Federal Employment Office, and you will have to talk to the staff association about the details, but in the end they have to accept the facts about your shrinking business and the need to reduce the work force, in order to save the company.
In fact, all changes to labor laws during the last 20 years have been employer-friendly, at the employers request (employers always seem to be whining about labor laws), but the changes didn't have a noticable effect on the unemployment, i.e. unemployment became worse all the time.
The Agfa saga actually has a chapter in a book on corporate restructuring:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/g40u4t368n07n42l/
On Photo Net, one person who has left APUG is claiming that Sean closed this thread. So, what are we all doing here?
PE
Clearly, the computer has gone mad and tied Sean to a chair in the Star Chamber and is deciding on its own what threads to censor and what members to ban and generally how to put an end to freedom of speech, religion, and the American way and universal gun ownership.
And don't forget those lesbians who are creating global warming!
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