How many film factories?

Marvin · Sep 3, 2011

Just wondered how many film factories there were at the top of film production and how many there are now?

Nicholas Lindan · Sep 4, 2011

Well, for color I think the list is short:

Kodak
Fuji
Lekai (Lucky China)

Companies that used to make color film

Agfa
Konica
Mitsubishi
Tura
Ferrania
Forte
Foma
Ansco
3M (rebadged Ferrania?)
...more?

ath · Sep 4, 2011

Agfa is still coating color and bw film in Belgium.

cmo · Sep 4, 2011

ath said:
Agfa is still coating color and bw film in Belgium.

Yes, but I think it's not general purpose film for normal photographers (but, of course, you get relabeled versions of technical films and relabeled versions of outdated films made before the bancruptcy of one part of the company).

For b/w I think there is Fuji, Ilford, Kodak, Foma, Efke, Lucky and somewhen again Adox/fotoimpex. There is also filmotec/Orwo that produce general-purpose b/w films but only offer them in rolls for the movie industry.
Not to forget the Impossible project.

Did I forget a factory? I am afraid I did not.

All other brand names are relabeled versions of films produced by these companies.

Ian Grant · Sep 4, 2011

A few glaring ommissions like:

Ilford
Ciba (an Ifochrome film)
ERA - China
Filmotec - formerly Orwo/Agfa
EFKE
Slavich

That's in recent years pre the 1960's and particularly earlier in the 20th Centuary there were literally hundreds of film producers.

Ian

railwayman3 · Sep 4, 2011

Not sure if there are still any in the former USSR (doubtful?).

Any in India?

@Marvin - I'm sure that it would make an enormous (but very interesting) list if it were possible to think of all the companies who made film from the early 1900's to date.

chiccosinplici · Sep 4, 2011

And what about Rollei for B/W?

Ian Grant · Sep 4, 2011

giacomo.fiani said:
And what about Rollei for B/W?

Rollei/Maco don't make any films it's just repackaged from the manufacturers.

Ian

werra · Sep 4, 2011

Ian Grant said:
ERA - China

Hm, is Shantou Era still in business? Their website has looks alive but the film itself is available nowhere any more.

dnjl · Sep 4, 2011

Who makes the Foma films? Don't they have their own coating facilities?

chiccosinplici · Sep 4, 2011

Ian Grant said:
Rollei/Maco don't make any films it's just repackaged from the manufacturers.

Ian

Who makes these films?

Ian Grant · Sep 4, 2011

giacomo.fiani said:
Who makes these films?

Some come from the old Agfa plant, they still amke aerial and industrial films, some may be EFKE etc.

Ian

Ian Grant · Sep 4, 2011

waltereegho said:
Who makes the Foma films? Don't they have their own coating facilities?

Foma have their own plant and another in Poland formerly Foton which may still be coating X-ray film.

werra said:
Hm, is Shantou Era still in business? Their website has looks alive but the film itself is available nowhere any more.

Well I have some fairly fresh ERA film (LF) that I bought last November.

Some people may not have noticed this thread is in the B&W section.

Ian

werra · Sep 4, 2011

There is ShenBei group Shanghai factory as well, producing 120 - 8x10 GP3 film.

thegman · Sep 4, 2011

Apparently this is new production:

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/agfa-colour-negative-print-film-385-c.asp

Not sure where it's actually made though.

stavrosk · Sep 4, 2011

And who makes Mitsubishi Films?

Nicholas Lindan · Sep 4, 2011

The list of black and white (as opposed to color) film manufacturers is quite long and it is probably hard to make a definitive list.

cmo · Sep 4, 2011

thegman said:
Apparently this is new production:

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/agfa-colour-negative-print-film-385-c.asp

Not sure where it's actually made though.

I heard - but did not see by myself - they are newly labeled 'made in Japan'. If that is true there are not many choices.

pentaxuser · Sep 4, 2011

thegman said:
Apparently this is new production:

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/agfa-colour-negative-print-film-385-c.asp

Not sure where it's actually made though.

It is interesting that Matt at Ag says "new in production" and not new as in "new/old stock" So like you I wonder who makes it as well. I used to like Vista. As an Agfa product it had a different colour signature to either Kodak or Fuji. Quite muted but probably the most neutral colour neg of all.

Good price as well

pentaxuser

Klopstock · Sep 4, 2011

giacomo.fiani said:
Who makes these films?

Who makes a smorgasbord?

They had films made by Efke, Agfa, Filmotec and Ilford, their papers were made by Agfa, Foma and Ilford. Chemistry was made by Amaloco, Calbe, Fuji-Hunt and many others. The least common denominator of that hodgepodge is that it's all remnants from the bargain rack of the manufacturers. The only additional value are a new label, a fancy name and an excessive amount of impossible promises about the benefits. That might explain their extremely sort product cycles and numerous recall actions for faulty products.

Photo Engineer · Sep 4, 2011

One thing that is missed here is that Kodak had the following plants:

Rochester US
Colorado US
Canada
Brazil
Australia
Harrow England
Chalon France
China
Oklahoma

Plus operations for packaging in Mexico.

They had chemical plants in Rochester, Tennessee, Texas and Arkansas, all of which are either closed or spun off.

Today, only Rochester is partially active for film. Paper is coated at Harrow and Colorado (space is leased at Colorado after sale of the plant to Wellstream / Onyx) and the rest are closed. The same is true of Fuji. Many of their plants outside Japan are shuttered.

PE

railwayman3 · Sep 4, 2011

cmo said:
I heard - but did not see by myself - they are newly labeled 'made in Japan'. If that is true there are not many choices.

Current Agfa Precisa CT100 is definitely marked "Made in Japan" (I'm looking at a box in front of me).

cmo · Sep 4, 2011

Photo Engineer said:
Harrow England

PE, I have two interesting old boxes from Harrow in front of me:

- A Panatomic-X (Develop before OCT 1963)

- A Plus-X (develop before JUL 1958)

The Plus-X is an interesting species. It's a '1.6m Refill', 'Unspooled length - Darkroom loading for use in miniature camera cassettes'.

When did the manufacturers stop making these?

railwayman3 · Sep 4, 2011

cmo said:
PE, I have two interesting old boxes from Harrow in front of me:

- A Panatomic-X (Develop before OCT 1963)

- A Plus-X (develop before JUL 1958)

The Plus-X is an interesting species. It's a '1.6m Refill', 'Unspooled length - Darkroom loading for use in miniature camera cassettes'.

When did the manufacturers stop making these?

I'd guess the early to mid- 1960's? I think that they were originally intended mainly for loading specialist cassettes such as the Leica type?

BrianL · Sep 4, 2011

There was Polaroid. Both b&w and color. I'm not knowledgeable across the board but I think they made the highest iso b&w at iso 3000.

How many film factories?

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