Fotokemika ...

[lxdude]

Specialty products like these are our target.
It´s fun to make them.

Mirko

 

[renes]

Dear Eugene,

Firstly, whilst we see lots of rumours etc we actually do not know what is the status of FOTOKEMICA, so lets hope all of this a purely 'academic' discussion, and the products that you use from them will continue to be available.

As to IR emulsions, you are spot on, each film has great value, especially to those who use it. The problem with IR emulsions is that just not enough people use them I'm afraid. We are more than technically able to develop, coat and produce a full IR emulsion, the problem is that we would never get a return on our investment in developing the product and the time sourcing and approving the raw materials required, ask yourself this, would you pay $ 15 to $ 17 + for a single film?

IR is also especially difficult to sell through the supply chain, as it has a shorter date life than conventional emulsions and really needs proper storage.

We do sell an extended red film in SFX, in 35mm and in 120 and yes, it is not IR, but this product is part of our current portfolio and therefore is part of our commitment that we will not discontinue any product in the current portfolio.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

Dear Simon,

What about 25 iso film from Ilford? The marked for it it's bigger than for IR, see how popular is Adox CHS 25 (Efke 25), many photograhers love it and buy it, including me. There are not many 25iso emulsions to choose, now Efke/Adox 25 is gone! Make please classic 25iso emulsion and I believe you will have many orders.

 

[zsas]

Agree. Another ISO 100, nice....but HIE reborn or EIR...ahhhh, that is something to really look forward about!

Rich, um...120, 120's Nice! What one(s)? All 25 or a mix of the 25,50,100?

 

[Ektagraphic]

Mirko if you have capabilities for all formats but 127, does this include 220?

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Agree. Another ISO 100, nice....but HIE reborn or EIR...ahhhh, that is something to really look forward about!

Rich, um...120, 120's Nice! What one(s)? All 25 or a mix of the 25,50,100?

Mix of the three.

 

[Diapositivo]

Thanks. Just bought 120 rolls of 120 CHS for the freezer.

Easy when you are rich.

 

[brian d]

Damn this thread is depressing

 

[Brian C. Miller]

The Kodak thread isn't much better.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Easy when you are rich.

Rich or poor I regretted not loading up
enough Neopan 400 and Plus-X when I had the chance. Was not going to less this chance go by....

 

[SkipA]

I bought 60 rolls of CHS 25 in 120, a few rolls of 820 Aura in 120, and a couple of 50 sheet boxes of the CHS 25 in 4X5. I wish I could buy more, but that's going to be it for now. If I get a crack at 35mm bulk rolls of the Efke 25, I'll pick up a couple of those too.

 

[lxdude]

Easy when you are rich.

Got that!

 

[Curt]

Dear Simon,

What about 25 iso film from Ilford? The marked for it it's bigger than for IR, see how popular is Adox CHS 25 (Efke 25), many photograhers love it and buy it, including me. There are not many 25iso emulsions to choose, now Efke/Adox 25 is gone! Make please classic 25iso emulsion and I believe you will have many orders.

Then produce it in sheets, LF & ULF. Like its got a snowballs chance in h***.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

Dear Simon,

What about 25 iso film from Ilford? The marked for it it's bigger than for IR...

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)​

 

[Tony-S]

Rich or poor I regretted not loading up enough Neopan 400...

I bought 33 rolls of Neopan 400 in 120 after the announcement. I still have 32 left. I should shoot more of it, but I'm afraid of getting to the last roll!

 

[SkipA]

It's sort of pointless to stockpile it if you aren't going to use it, but I do understand the feeling, and I'm just as guilty. I still have four rolls of Tech Pan in 120 and 10 rolls in 135, plus a couple rolls of APX 25 in 120. I ought to go ahead and use it.

 

[Pioneer]

I do wonder if we will ever see another ISO 25 film like Efke. I love that film and I have stocked up as much as I could on short notice but I don't honestly think the chances are very high that it will ever come back. I do sincerely hope that the employees in Croatia who worked at Fotokemika are able to find good jobs.

Someone in this post (or another one that I have read recently) said that the time to be stocking up was not after the news of the company's demise was being trumpeted across the internet. That is a very true statement. I was able to buy a bit of extra Efke 25 film, but certainly not as much as I would have liked. So I have decided to begin stocking up on some of the other films I enjoy using. I can afford to buy a little extra film each month to slowly build my stock. I sincerely hope that these other companies do not go out of business, but hopefully I will have some extra on hand if it ever does happen.

And I am going to start learning how to create my own emulsions and coating my own film and paper. I have bought Ron Mowrey's book and DVD, and I will try to attend one of his workshops. I have no misconception that any film that I can create in my own kitchen will be anything like the wonderful films that we can buy right now, but at least I will be able to continue to shoot film if the unthinkable does happen. Besides, being able to mix it, coat it, shoot it, develop it and print it completely from scratch has to be an awesome feeling.

 

[Photo Engineer]

A point you miss is that the EFKE 25 uses an old emulsion formula which gives results similar to ISO 100 films of today from Kodak, Ilford and Fuji. It is just a matter of testing the film / developer combination to find the best one for your application. Quit moaning and start testing. And, don't forget that most of these modern ISO 100 film can be overexposed at 50 and 25 with very good results.

PE

 

[Ian Grant]

Interestingly EFKE 25 and Tmax 100 when tested side by side give me the same effective 50 EI with daylight, same development times and print at the same grade. That's how I've used both films for many years until Tmax was no longer available (where I was located). Tmax 100 at 100 EI is a stop under exposed if you want decent shadow detail.

Ian

 

[lecep]

A point you miss is that the EFKE 25 uses an old emulsion formula which gives results similar to ISO 100 films of today from Kodak, Ilford and Fuji.
PE

Hello PE. This is interesting, do you know if this is the case of Foma films too?

 

[Felinik]

I just bought 5 boxes 35mm efke 100 two weeks ago, in order to start testing for eventually start using it regularly for ~100 iso shooting..

I guess there's no need to make that a project now, hehe!


Instead I ordered 3x17 meters of Rollei/Agfa Retro 80s, to do the same testing with (found dirt cheap at macodirect that has expired some months ago only).

Apparently developing using HC-110, this film will without problems reach Ei160 with a smooth and clean result. And it seems it works just as fine with EI25 too using Rollei RLS developer.

http://www.fotoskoda.cz/eobchod/multi/popisobr/filmy/rollei_retro80s.pdf


For EI ~400 I use Fomapan 400, shooting at EI320 and developing using Fomadon LQN, with great results!

 

[Ian Grant]

The misconception is that EFKE emulsions are old style emulsions, in fact they were the first of the newer thin coated emulsions but of course 60 years on they are behind in many ways particulary in terms of the coating lines..

I began using EFKE Kb/R14 back in the mid 1970's and have never had a QC issue, I still have a small amount left maybe 3 of boxes 1/4 plate/5x4 and 10x8. However around the time that Kodak dropped B&W papers, Agfa pulled out and Ilford went into voluntary administration film was leaving the EFKE factory with next to no QC mainlt to J&C in the US who wanted every sq inch they could get hold of as people were panic buying. Mirko/Fotoimpex put in his own QC checks before selling EFKE films under his resurrected Adox brand name.

Foma films are quite different they are modern emulsions and image quality is on a par with Ilford & Kodak, they use modern Tabular grain emulsions for some of their films.

If you want to see how antiquated the EFKE plant is/was then look for Jim Brownlow's images he shot at the factory when they made & coated his Dye transfer film. That then gives you an idea why repairng the machinery would be a huge costly task, it's at least 60 years old, and has been moved at least twice.

Ian

 

[Felinik]

Isn't this the official Fotokemika site?

http://www.fotokemika.hr/products/0/black-white-films

 

[Felinik]

Do you call it a proper website?

Apart from their News pages apparently not being updated properly, for being a CORPORATE website, absolutely!, I've definitively seen a bunch of cases that are a lot worse...

 

[zsas]

If you want to see how antiquated the EFKE plant is/was then look for Jim Brownlow's images he shot at the factory when they made & coated his Dye transfer film.

Who? I spent maybe 20 mins googling Jim Brownlow and didnt get too far??? Does this Brownlow gentleman post here? Are these pictures in the Gallery here?

 

[Mike Crawford]

This has been all been very bad news, not least of course for the Fotokemika staff in Croatia. I for one am going to sadly miss the Adox Fine Print Vario Classic which I’ve been using a lot in the last few years. While the MCC may technically be a better paper in regards a fuller range of contrast, (and another one I like), for me personally, Fine Print has/had a very special tonality, and was quite pliable with different developers for print tone. Really good for detailed shadows. A recent commission was to print a lot of work for a client from the early 70s (5x4 portraits) which had to be sympathetic to original prints done at the time. Worked perfectly. However, in the UK was difficult to get ready supplies and think I ended up buying all the available 12x16 paper from UK suppliers just for one job. However, always a bit nervous of every batch as they do tend to differ in exposure and contrast.

Will be missed Mirko. Good luck with all your other and forthcoming products!