Ilford Color Negative Film

dave olson · Jul 3, 2023

Saw a posting on IG that Ilford will be releasing a line of color-negative film in July. If true this will be very interesting considering Ilfords place in the film hierarchy.

Anon Ymous · Jul 3, 2023

Oh? Which Ilford would it be?

chriscrawfordphoto · Jul 3, 2023

Ilford sold a color negative film back in the 90s, but it was made by AGFA. It would be cool if they made one themselves, it would be unique since right now Kodak seems to be the last company making color neg films.

AnselMortensen · Jul 3, 2023

Why is this in the B/W Film sub-forum?

DREW WILEY · Jul 3, 2023

Rumors float around all over the place, like ghosts. And even if true, it's unlikely Ilford will actually make the film.

MattKing · Jul 3, 2023

AnselMortensen said:
Why is this in the B/W Film sub-forum?

Because we hadn't moved it - yet.
Done.

pbromaghin · Jul 3, 2023

Well, they've done it before: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/ilford-colour-film.147197/

DREW WILEY · Jul 3, 2023

What do you mean by, "they" did it before? Maybe the Ilford name in some past reincarnation did. But otherwise, it's like saying you can do what your great-grandfather did, just because you retain the same family name. But doggone it, this is a duplicate thread. They should be merged, and the more realistic picture will come out, namely, even if the rumor proves true, any color film they potentially market will most likely be made by someone else.

Arcadia4 · Jul 3, 2023

I guess this refers to ilford imaging (europe) who market a ‘retro‘ colour disposable camera and have just released an ilford branded 400 iso colour film. Product shot complete with retro branded ford escort. (1980s car).

foc · Jul 3, 2023

All you need to know about early Ilford Colour films.

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Ilford_Colour_Films.html#anchorCC

Ilford Colour film in the 1990s was made by Agfa, Konica & Ferrania.

So who is the maker of this latest incarnation?

pbromaghin · Jul 3, 2023

DREW WILEY said:
What do you mean by, "they" did it before? Maybe the Ilford name in some past reincarnation did. But otherwise, it's like saying you can do what your great-grandfather did, just because you retain the same family name. But doggone it, this is a duplicate thread. They should be merged, and the more realistic picture will come out, namely, even if the rumor proves true, any color film they potentially market will most likely be made by someone else.

I mean that if this is Ilford/Harman, with an ongoing research and development staff, and they retained the recipes, formulae, notes, etc., then they would be able to re-create it much more smoothly than what is being attempted by shoestring in Italy. However, Arcadia4 appears to be saying that it is a rebranding coming from the "other" Ilford.

DREW WILEY · Jul 3, 2023

Not necessarily. The whole R&D, necessary equipment, and supply chain would have to be-reinvented and paid for, with little chance of even breaking even on the investment. And many skills are as much an apprenticed art as a manufacturing role, and there would be no one still around to train them.

On the parallel thread I mentioned llfochrome, a quite successful line of color products until not so long ago. In that case, they formed a merger with the Ciba production facilities in Switzerland, and then put their own marketing name of it. None of it ever was actually made by Ilford/Harman per se.

MattKing · Jul 3, 2023

pbromaghin said:
I mean that if this is Ilford/Harman, with an ongoing research and development staff, and they retained the recipes, formulae, notes, etc., then they would be able to re-create it much more smoothly than what is being attempted by shoestring in Italy. However, Arcadia4 appears to be saying that it is a rebranding coming from the "other" Ilford.

Harman do not have the rights to use the Ilford brand on a colour film product - they only have those rights with respect to the black and white product.
I guess they could have entered into a distribution agreement with the successor after bankruptcy of the former "other" Ilford (at one time based in Switzerland), but I'm not sure who that is.

cmacd123 · Jul 3, 2023

Anon Ymous said:
Oh? Which Ilford would it be?

yes, there is Harman Technology who we think of as "Ilford/Kentmere" and then there are the other parts of the former Ilford/Cibachrome empire who sell Ilford branded ink jet paper among other products..

pbromaghin · Jul 4, 2023

So then all the “ifs” I stated do not exist. In that case, of course they can’t do it.

Agulliver · Jul 5, 2023

Ilford/Harman at Mobberly do not have the ability in terms of equipment or knowledge to coat colour film.

So any "Ilford" branded colour negative film will be rebadged. And that basically means Kodak at the moment. In any case this looks like one of the splinters of Ilford Imaging releasing a limited edition film to tie in with a sponsorship deal. Not anything bad at all, in fact it's quite cool, but please don't get hopes up that Harman have suddenly acquired all the machinery and expertese to manufacture colour film.

hsvdg · Jul 5, 2023

Agulliver said:
Ilford/Harman at Mobberly do not have the ability in terms of equipment or knowledge to coat colour film.

So any "Ilford" branded colour negative film will be rebadged. And that basically means Kodak at the moment. In any case this looks like one of the splinters of Ilford Imaging releasing a limited edition film to tie in with a sponsorship deal. Not anything bad at all, in fact it's quite cool, but please don't get hopes up that Harman have suddenly acquired all the machinery and expertese to manufacture colour film.

I thought that the Lomography negative films are made by Lomography themselves, no? At least some of them. Did I get that wrong?(Sorry, slightly off-topic here).

koraks · Jul 5, 2023

hsvdg said:
Did I get that wrong?

Yup. Lomo has no film manufacturing capability. None at all.

Don_ih · Jul 5, 2023

Ilford's instagram account makes no mention of any colour film.

Kodachromeguy · Jul 5, 2023

What happened to the former Agfa color film manufacturing equipment and/or factories? Did it get sold to another company or was the machinery scrapped? That was the tragedy of Polaroid's factories in Massachusetts. The bankruptcy operators destroyed unique machines.

armadsen · Jul 5, 2023

koraks said:
Yup. Lomo has no film manufacturing capability. None at all.

As far as I know, Lomo films are all made by either Kodak, Inoviscoat, or one of the several B&W film manufacturers. That said, I've always wondered how they make 110 film. They're the only company that does, and I wonder whether they have their own confectioning facility for 110 or if someone else does it for them. If someone else does it for them, why is it only Lomo actually releasing any 110? I wish I could get regular non-"experimental" film in 110 more easily without having to slit and spool it myself.

brbo · Jul 5, 2023

armadsen said:
I wish I could get regular non-"experimental" film in 110 more easily without having to slit and spool it myself.

Lomo Tiger 200 is NOT experimental film. It's a top quality Kodak emulsion.

armadsen · Jul 5, 2023

brbo said:
Lomo Tiger 200 is NOT experimental film. It's a top quality Kodak emulsion.

Right, but it's the only one they sell. I know it's weird and even less likely to ever happen, but I wish I could get a good slide film in 110. Lomo Peacock is fun, but very much not a high-quality film, whether due to being long expired, bad in the first place, or both. (It also seems to be gone now.)

Flighter · Jul 5, 2023

Arcadia4 said:
I guess this refers to ilford imaging (europe) who market a ‘retro‘ colour disposable camera and have just released an ilford branded 400 iso colour film. Product shot complete with retro branded ford escort. (1980s car).

Interesting that it’s 400 ISO as Lomo have just announced a new 400 ISO colour negative film, LomoChrome Color '92.

Don_ih · Jul 5, 2023

Flighter said:
Interesting that it’s 400 ISO as Lomo have just announced a new 400 ISO colour negative film, LomoChrome Color '92.

It's probably all the film that was supposed to be Orwo's NC500 - that no one is getting.

Ilford Color Negative Film

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