J & C Photo brand film

Ottrdaemmerung · Jun 29, 2011

Hi, folks.
I just bought some expired 120 film, and in the stash there's some J&C Photo branded 100 ISO film, red foil-backed paper wrapped, expired 4/06.

Obviously J&C is no longer in business, the country of manufacture isn't stated, and the Massive Dev Chart doesn't list it. From info I found from researching, it seems this could be Fomapan. Does anyone know?

Thanks!

Ian Grant · Jun 29, 2011

It's Chinese film. I think ERA. They sold this Chinese B&W film as J&C Professional but got the size wrong when they asked ERA to cut & package 5"x4" film, and had a lot of complaints and most of it returned as it was over-size.

I've used some 5x4 that a kind moderator threw in when I bought a lens, it was OK.

Just treat it like FP4 for development that'll give you a good starting point.

J&C ran into problems after attempting to pass off Calbe (Orwo) RO9 as Rodinal in packaging deliberately mimicking Agfa Rodinal, they were threatened with legal action.

Ian

removed account4 · Jun 29, 2011

hi

there is a long thread on the large format page about the
whole rebranding of film thing
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=11217
it might be forte ...

have fun !
john

Ottrdaemmerung · Jun 30, 2011

Thanks for the info, guys!

Lee L · Jun 30, 2011

Ottrdaemmerung said:
Obviously J&C is no longer in business, the country of manufacture isn't stated, and the Massive Dev Chart doesn't list it.

For some reason the MDC has some films and developers listed under 'Unlisted Data'. See: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?doc=discontinued

JandC Pro 100 (might be what you have) is listed there.

http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=JandC+Pro&Developer=&mdc=Search

Lee

Thomas Bertilsson · Jun 30, 2011

Yes, J&C film was sold both as J&C Classic, which was definitely Forte film, and then J&C 100 Professional, which was Chinese film (either Era, Shanghai, or Lucky).

Shawn Dougherty · Jun 30, 2011

I shot hundreds of sheets of J&C Pro 100 in 8x10, it was a great deal at the end when they were $1 a sheet. That film was SLOW (about 25 ISO for me) and that was in pyrocat but I thought it produced great tones. Only found one coating defect the entire time I used it.

c6h6o3 · Jun 30, 2011

Did anybody ever track down John Minakais?

Thomas Bertilsson · Jun 30, 2011

Jim,

Last I heard he had health issues, but that was years ago in association with the demise of J&C Photo and the custom sheet film order of TMY.

- Thomas

Ottrdaemmerung · Jun 30, 2011

The two rolls I have are of the Pro variety, so it must be Chinese. Thanks again!

c6h6o3 · Jun 30, 2011

I know people to whom he owes big money. In 2006 he simply dropped off the face of the earth, and that's not easy in this day and age.

C A Sugg · Jun 30, 2011

Have some tape or rubber bands on hand when you unload it. The sealing strips aren't gummed.

cmacd123 · Jun 30, 2011

If it has DULL black paper, it is likly Shanghai GP3. I recall some of the stuff I bought at that time has SPMC or something simalar as VERY TINY edge print.

Ottrdaemmerung · Jun 30, 2011

cmacd123: I've used both Lucky and Shanghai in the past, so I know the dull black paper you speak of. I'll likely use one of these for my next B&W 120 roll. When I open it and ultimately process it, I'll post any observations here.

Ottrdaemmerung · Jul 13, 2011

I just opened one of the J&C Photo rolls. The paper is rough and black, and sealed with masking tape instead of a gummed seal. It must indeed be Shanghai GP3.

Yaakov Israel · Oct 8, 2020

Hello all
Please send a link where I can buy JandC Pro 100?
Thanks!
Yaakov

juan · Oct 8, 2020

Yaakov Israel said:
Hello all
Please send a link where I can buy JandC Pro 100?
Thanks!
Yaakov

It hasn’t been available for about 14-years.

Donald Qualls · Oct 8, 2020

juan said:
It hasn’t been available for about 14-years.

Yep. Last time I saw it was 2005. I shot several rolls of the 100 speed in 120, and liked it a lot. There was considerable speculation at the time about what Chinese source J&C Photo had purchased from -- pretty well had to be Lucky or Shanghai, I'd have thought.

Ian Grant · Oct 8, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
Yep. Last time I saw it was 2005. I shot several rolls of the 100 speed in 120, and liked it a lot. There was considerable speculation at the time about what Chinese source J&C Photo had purchased from -- pretty well had to be Lucky or Shanghai, I'd have thought.

No the film was made by Era set up in 1950, they were owned by Kodak China from 1998 until closure in 2008.

Ian

Tom Kershaw · Oct 8, 2020

Did J&C just disappear then?

Tom

Donald Qualls · Oct 8, 2020

J&C was an independent photo store in (IIRC) Kansas City, and they closed up shop around 2006-2007 time frame, as I recall. Same old story, falling sales and retirement aged owner/operators.

Kodachromeguy · Oct 8, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
J&C was an independent photo store in (IIRC) Kansas City, and they closed up shop around 2006-2007 time frame, as I recall. Same old story, falling sales and retirement aged owner/operators.

I did a quick search and found this:

September 24, 2007

Regretfully, J and C Photo is no longer in business. If you are looking for the photographic products that were carried by J and C, such as Efke and Adox black and white films, Foma black and white photographic papers and other darkroom and traditional photographic products, you can find all of these and more at Freestyle Photographic Supplies.

Freestyle is very committed to keeping traditional black and white photographic/darkroom products readily available and affordable!

Either click on the above link or give Freestyle a call at 800.292.6137.

Freestyle has no affiliation of any kind with J and C Photo.

Ian Grant · Oct 8, 2020

It wasn't so simple. J&C made a huge mistake with Era sheet film which was made by Era, it was cut to the "Plate sizes" not the nominal sheet film sizes, To understand this sheet film was originally used in glass plate holders with a metal sheath to hold it in place, that sheath was the same size as the glass size but as the film had to fit this it was slightly smaller. So J&C sold a lot of cheap sheet film and much was returned as it didn't fit film DDS (Double Dark Slide film holders) so they lost .

At the same time they were repackaging Orwo/Calbe RO9 as Rodinal. While it's true it was an older pre 1963 version of Rodinal their packaging mimicked the then current Agfa Rodinal. This was a major issue with their German suppliers Orwo/Calbe had made a financial an agreement with Agfa to drop the the use of Agfa Trade names, this was insisted on by Gevaert as part of the Agfa and Gevaert merger.

On top of that J&C were not paying their suppliers - on time - or at all. Their UK equivalent Retro Photographic wasn't much better and also folded around the same time.

This was as Kodak triggered a humanism by dropping B&W paper, Agfa pulled out, Ilford went into a protective administration, and there was a lot of money selling Forte and EFKE films and papers. J&C would take EFKE films regardless of quality controls as they could sell it and there was a lot of poor film ( as in random defects) as a consequence. Mirko of Fotoimpex then bought all EFKE's production and had it scanned for defects (which were cut out/not used). But J&C had done the damage.

Ian

Tom Kershaw · Oct 8, 2020

Ian Grant said:
On top of that J&C were not paying their suppliers - on time - or at all. Their UK equivalent Retro Photographic wasn't much better and also folded around the same time.

I suppose a lot of this happened while I was still fairly new in photography. However I remember 'Retro Photographic' used to advertise a lot in 'Black & White Photography' magazine here in the UK; I never used them as I mostly bought from Silverprint at the time when they were based in London and owned by Martin Reed.

Ian Grant · Oct 9, 2020

Tom Kershaw said:
I suppose a lot of this happened while I was still fairly new in photography. However I remember 'Retro Photographic' used to advertise a lot in 'Black & White Photography' magazine here in the UK; I never used them as I mostly bought from Silverprint at the time when they were based in London and owned by Martin Reed.

Many of those adverts were never paid for. RetroPhotographic like J&C were distributors for Fotoimpex (Adox), before moving to North Wales and soon ceasing trading they were based in a private house in a village outside Oxford. One of my cousins lives in the same road but I didn't know that until much later.

Ian

J & C Photo brand film

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