How many film factories?

[cmo]

Talking about old films, there was Perutz in Munich. They were legendary for some color slide films in the 50s, I think the company was absorbed by Agfa in 1960 or so. Did we mention Ferrania in Italy and Bergger in France?

 

[hpulley]

Fuji still makes FP-3000B so 3000 speed black and white instant film is still alive and well. Their FP-100B is discontinued however, just FP-100C color still made. Both 100C and 3000B are still made in Japan, not sure exactly where.

 

[removed account4]

and there is that guy in australia who has his own film coating machine ...

 

[Stephen Benskin]

Robert Burley has a series of photographs, "Disappearance of Darkness 2020", from the closed Kodak plant in Toronto and a few from Rochester.

 

[herb]

Who makes film

I have Rollei 400 IR film in 4x5 that is on a VERY thin base, must be re cut from big rolls that are used to make 120.
I would think if Efke made it, it would have the thicker base of Efke films, and probably the second class quality of emulsion spread that Efke had last time I used it.
Efke is made in Belgium? That is where Maco is.
The Rollei 400 has been a really good film, must not be made in the same operation as Efke.

 

[Klopstock]

I have Rollei 400 IR film in 4x5 that is on a VERY thin base, must be re cut from big rolls that are used to make 120.

Does it lie flat in the cassettes or does it behave erratically? If it's not flat like a table your pictures will not be sharp. That sounds like fun. Not.

Your guess is correct, that's how they work: they purchase big surplus rolls and get them cut. Efke and other companies do the cutting and spooling for them.

Maco has no production facilities at all. It's an owner-managed family business with a storehouse and the hyperbole of a marketing department. Talking about 'How many film factories?' they are off topic, like warehouse-branded or Freestyle-labeled Kodak and Fuji films.

Efke is made in Belgium? That is where Maco is.

Njet. They are in a village named Stapelfeld near Hamburg, Germany, an hour's drive from my home.

The Rollei 400 has been a really good film, must not be made in the same operation as Efke.

Probably it was remaining stock from Agfa and not from Efke - at that time. The next batch with a new fancy name might be made in China, Rochester or Papua New Guinea. Don't forget that Efke makes old-school film and wants old-school treatment. If you treat it like modern film you will be disappointed, no doubt.

Now, let's talk about factories again.

We forgot a japanese manufacturer: Konishiroku alias Konica. They had a product range named Sakura. Quality equaled Fuji and Kodak, sales did not.

There must have been some others around in Japan before Fuji absorbed or killed them all:

http://neco.mediacat-blog.jp/c2299_3.html

I can recall there were more film factories in eastern Europe, but I don't remember all the names. There was Tasma and Swema in the Soviet Union and Orwo in East Germany and Forte in Hungary but there were a few more, probably they were so bad that nobody will miss them.

And wasn't there a Kodak factory in Russia many years ago?

 

[faustotesta]

Please forgive me for being a bit "off topic".
Does anyone know of any American company (except kodak) producing BW rolls and BW paper ?

 

[MattPC]

and there is that guy in australia who has his own film coating machine ...

Does anyone have more clues on this one?

MattC

 

[georg16nik]

Tasma in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia are still manufacturing films, ~ 20 various film types - pan, ortho, slide etc.. from what I know, they are firmly in the business since 1930's

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I sent an email to Tasma and they answered with suitable films for D76. I think they are at www.tasma.ru.

http://www.tasma.ru/en/products/21/

http://www.tasma.ru/en/products/22/

 

[Mackinaw]

Does anyone have more clues on this one?

There was a large photo-spread on Flickr on this guy (a retired Kodak engineer) and the coating machine he built in his garage. PE said it was the real deal too. A lot of threads on this in APUG back then. Do a search, you may find something.

Jim B.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Other US companies that made film and paper during the 20th century:

Dupont, 3M and Dynacolor, GAF, now all closed. There were many others at the beginning of the century, now long gone.

As for my original list of Kodak plants, I have some corrections and updates (I have to thank Kodak friends) but they are not needed for the list. I also included chemical plants and I hope that does not confuse you.

PE

 

[herb]

Film Factory question

Does it lie flat in the cassettes or does it behave erratically? If it's not flat like a table your pictures will not be sharp. That sounds like fun. Not.

Your guess is correct, that's how they work: they purchase big surplus rolls and get them cut. Efke and other companies do the cutting and spooling for them.

Maco has no production facilities at all. It's an owner-managed family business with a storehouse and the hyperbole of a marketing department. Talking about 'How many film factories?' they are off topic, like warehouse-branded or Freestyle-labeled Kodak and Fuji films.



Njet. They are in a village named Stapelfeld near Hamburg, Germany, an hour's drive from my home.



Probably it was remaining stock from Agfa and not from Efke - at that time. The next batch with a new fancy name might be made in China, Rochester or Papua New Guinea. Don't forget that Efke makes old-school film and wants old-school treatment. If you treat it like modern film you will be disappointed, no doubt.

Now, let's talk about factories again.

We forgot a japanese manufacturer: Konishiroku alias Konica. They had a product range named Sakura. Quality equaled Fuji and Kodak, sales did not.

There must have been some others around in Japan before Fuji absorbed or killed them all:

http://neco.mediacat-blog.jp/c2299_3.html

I can recall there were more film factories in eastern Europe, but I don't remember all the names. There was Tasma and Swema in the Soviet Union and Orwo in East Germany and Forte in Hungary but there were a few more, probably they were so bad that nobody will miss them.

And wasn't there a Kodak factory in Russia many years ago?

The 4x5 Rollei is dead flat, just difficult to load it is so thin.
I have a ton of experience with Efke about 5 years ago, don't want any more.

 

[Marvin]

Years ago while on vacation to Niagara Falls I went to Rochester and took a tour of the Kodak plant. At that time visitors got a slide show and then loaded on a bus for a tour and I enjoyed it very much. I also took a tour of the George Eastman House and that was very interesting. I don't know if Kodak still has any tours or not, PE may know. I guess what was the hardest for these companies was adjusting to a much smaller market.

 

[Photo Engineer]

No tours. Well, pretty much no plant either!

PE

 

[Marvin]

Sorry to hear that, it was such a big operation back then. Hope the market for film stabilizes and Kodak can still keep making film.

 

[OzJohn]

Pre WW2 Kodak adverts in the British Journal Almanac claim a Kodak factory in Hungary - I seem to recall reading that this facility became Forte post WW2 and the site was sold by that company (or its liquidators?) in fairly recent times because the land was worth far more than the factory. OzJohn

 

[wblynch]

I used to buy Sakura color film in Japan and SE Asia. I know it wasn't made by Fujifilm. Don't know if it was related to Mitsubishi or 3M.

I do know I haven't been able to get any for a long time now.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Sakura was made by Konishiroku located in Hachioji Japan. They were an allied company to Mitsubishi which was primarily in the photographic paper making end of things. Fuji was not related to either. Part of Fuji was in Ashigara.

PE

 

[olleorama]

tasma was news to me.. ERA is gone. Shanghai is still active. It's a shame era closed down, there films were nice and I liked their graded paper too.

I have a lot of konica film in my freezer. Shot a wedding on it. Nice film.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

20 years ago , there were lots of life size kimono wearing japanese women printed on thick cartoon , inviting the photographers use sakura film at Istanbul.
Do Sakura still make film , if not what happened to machine park ?

 

[cmacd123]

Do Sakura still make film , if not what happened to machine park ?

Sakura was a Brand used By Konica. (more like Konica owned Sakura and decided to use the Konica name in some markets) As we all know, Konica merged with Minolta nad sold their camera business to Sony. I believe the Film and paper business was sold to Dia Nippon, - to make ink jet products.

I used to like the Konica/sakura film myself, it was a bit more satuarated then teh Fuji, and I could identify it as private label stuff, and buy it quite cheaply (I am so cheap that I memorised the look of the Konica expiry date stamping, and looked for that on drug store brand film.)

I have seen Mitsubbishi brand film advertised but never had an example to see if it looked like another brand.

 

[cobbu2]

Kodak Film Manufacturing

Kodak film manufacturing is still fairly active as depicted by an excellent illustrated (very detailed and up to date) book on Kodak film production, Making KODAK Film: The Illustrated Story of State-of-the-Art Photographic Film Manufacturing, by Robert L. Shanebrook for sale on the George Eastman House website. I received it a few months ago and couldn't put it down!

 

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak production is ramping slowly downward. This should be recognized by all.

Konishiroku, the company, was founded by Konishiroku Emon who was a friend or associate of George Eastman. Konishiroku founded a company that used the word Sakura (Cherry Blossom) in its brand name just as Eastman called his company Eastman Kodak (name - brand).

Konishiroku was part of the Mitsubishi bank family of businesses and worked with Mitsubishi on several products but diverged on others. The camera brand was Konica.

PE

 

[Domingo A. Siliceo]

[...]
Njet. They are in a village named Stapelfeld near Hamburg, Germany, an hour's drive from my home.
[...]

but Efke is made in Croatia, isn't it?

I haven't used their films -well, I've shooted Rollei Pan 25 that I think is Efke 25-, but they have good reputation.