Just done the Ilford tour

[keffs]

.... Also encountering ladies in the dark

As it was dark, are you sure they where ladies and not the Little Britain kind .

Steve

 

[Simon R Galley]

Dear All,

I am very pleased you all seem to have enjoyed the visit...we enjoyed having you all, thanks for taking the time to pass on your comments, this was our third APUG only visit, I am sure we will do it again in 2009.

I will be passing on your comments to all the HARMAN people who helped organise the day...

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

 

[Photo Engineer]

Simon;

I only wish Kodak could be "accused" of being as kind and gracious and generous as Ilford! It would make me feel a lot prouder. Congratulations to you and your staff.

PE

 

[Simon R Galley]

Dear PE,

We are a relatively small privately owned company, 383 employees, its a lot easier to 'do things' than being part of a huge organisation like KODAK, I have met many KODAK people over the years and without a doubt I have found them, without exception kind, gracious and generous...and KODAK have over the years, and still have, an amazing range of products..if that ai'nt something to be proud about..nothing is.

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

 

[hka]

I am be back at the office now after being some days in Mobberley and the surroundings. Indeed I've never had so much rain during my days in the Midlands and especialy in the Peak District. (Thanks Ian for the Maps. I send them back to you tomorrow).
I am also very impressed in what I have seen by Ilford.

Thanks to Phil and Simon and his staff for this wonderfull day.

 

[Zach in Israel]

Someone please post pictures! I would love to see them. Don't think I will ever be able to make it so pictures will have to do

 

[Photo Engineer]

Dear PE,

We are a relatively small privately owned company, 383 employees, its a lot easier to 'do things' than being part of a huge organisation like KODAK, I have met many KODAK people over the years and without a doubt I have found them, without exception kind, gracious and generous...and KODAK have over the years, and still have, an amazing range of products..if that ai'nt something to be proud about..nothing is.

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Simon;

I understand and appreciate what you are saying, but to me there is proud and there is proud..... Yes, Kodak has done much to be proud of, and there are thousands of very good people at Kodak, but IMHO, they are not properly projecting their image in analog circles well and that is where I point my finger. I want to stand back today, and be proud of Kodak. Reading some of the posts here and seeing what you guys at Ilford are doing, I have a little trouble sometimes.

PE

 

[hka]

Deleted this message because I made a mistake and send my compliments about our warm welcome at Mobberley twice.

 

[delphine]

Ditto with all that has been said. Thank you to all at Ilford for a most instructive visit. I had a great day.

Best

Dee

 

[Michael P.]

Photos, please

Someone please post pictures! I would love to see them. Don't think I will ever be able to make it so pictures will have to do

Yes, please post photos for those of us who are geographically challenged.

 

[white.elephant]

Dear All,

I am very pleased you all seem to have enjoyed the visit...we enjoyed having you all, thanks for taking the time to pass on your comments, this was our third APUG only visit, I am sure we will do it again in 2009.

I will be passing on your comments to all the HARMAN people who helped organise the day...

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

I was trained in photography in the mid 1970's here in the U.S. by a teacher who loved FP4. I shot B&W for years and probably burned through hundreds of rolls and never used anything but Ilford paper, chemistry and film.

Recently I returned to B&W film photography (mainly through using my wife's digital camera). I am in the process of building a darkroom in my house, and have started developing my own film once again. I literally shot my first roll of Tri-X ever a couple weeks ago. Nothing against Kodak, but I feel at home using Ilford products.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona, and if there is any way that I can be there for the 2009 tour, I will. Glad to know you are as committed to your customers as you have always been.

 

[Simon R Galley]

Dear APUG Visitors :

As you know the day you visited was ' Jeans for Genes ' day, which is why our Company Chairman Howard Hopwood, rather amusingly, was wearing jeans, for the first time since a Rolling Stones concert in the late eighties I believe.... I digress.... I just wanted to let you know that the APUGGERS contributed £ 68.00 to our collection on the day..so thanks very much.

Simon. ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

 

[Fintan]

Pity Howard didn't sing Start Me Up or something at the end of his presentation...

 

[ben-s]

A great day. Thanks to Simon and everyone else at ILFORD.

I'd just like to comment on this:

Inappropriately I think they'll be digital as a young photographer was prancing about with a high end DSLR.

I didn't see anyone with a DSLR, but I wonder if you're referring to me? I am fairly young, and I had my EOS 1N with a motor drive slung over my shoulder. People often mistake it for a digital, particularly when I have the lens with a petal shaped hood on (which I did).

As for prancing... If it was me, it wasn't intentional
Maybe I should have a Tshirt printed with "My camera isn't digital!"

Another thought: there was another young chap there that I got talking to (sorry, didn't catch your name) who had an EOS 1N with an "evil" strap attached - perhaps it could have been him?

 

[thefizz]

I'll take two of those t-shirts if you get them printed Ben

 

[Ian Grant]

I didn't see anyone with a DSLR, but I wonder if you're referring to me? I am fairly young, and I had my EOS 1N with a motor drive slung over my shoulder. People often mistake it for a digital, particularly when I have the lens with a petal shaped hood on (which I did).

As for prancing... If it was me, it wasn't intentional

Apologies Ben, I DID mistake your EOS for a DSLR, I'm not at all familiar with the EOS film cameras

Ian

 

[ben-s]

Apologies Ben, I DID mistake your EOS for a DSLR, I'm not at all familiar with the EOS film cameras

Ian

No worries, this happens quite a lot - Last year one of the ILFORD guys said he hoped I was going to be printing on the new digital silver-gel paper. I said it seemed a bit pointless to me really, MGIV normally does the job pretty well

Definitely need that T-shirt

 

[Fintan]

I said it seemed a bit pointless to me really, MGIV normally does the job pretty well

Classic!!!

I must admit I did have a closer look and saw the 1n

Do you have any shots to post?

 

[ben-s]

To be honest, I didn't take that many, and the roll is still sat in the camera, unfinished at the moment.
Hopefully there'll be one or two when I soup the roll, probably in the next few days.

 

[railwayman3]

Oddly enough, I don't think there were many (any?) pictures taken.

The main difficulty was that we were (unavoidably) on a fairly strict timetable to enable us to see all the production processes and the demonstrations, which were in several different buildings some distance apart.

And I don't think that straight photos of the machines and equipment would have meant very much, you really needed the explanations and to see them working. The most interesting shots would perhaps have been the operations in safelight conditions, so couldn't be done! (We were asked to switch-off mobile phones, to avoid fogging from the lighted number pads in the event of a badly timed incoming call.)

 

[GeoffHill]

Might have been my Eos1n. It has an EOS Digital strap on it, and I didn't think to take it off. When I bought the camera, it came with a thin strap, and I could only buy a 'digital' thick strap.

It stops all the 'ewww, why are you still using film' conversations when I go out shooting, so I've kept it.

 

[pentaxuser]

It stops all the 'ewww, why are you still using film' conversations when I go out shooting, so I've kept it.

Geoff. Quite so, but then may prompt the request: Do you mind if I see how the picture you've just taken looks on the viewer?

pentaxuser

 

[monkeykoder]

So sad I couldn't go being a broke college student does suck. Ilford could go a long ways towards making it up to me however if they sent me a sampler pack (just kidding they're fine the way they are).

 

[pentaxuser]

To be honest, I didn't take that many, and the roll is still sat in the camera, unfinished at the moment.
Hopefully there'll be one or two when I soup the roll, probably in the next few days.

I wouldn't worry. One of the benefits of analogue( well certainly in my case) is that it brings back memories if there is a delay in seeing the pics. I'll get much more pleasure in seeing pics days or even weeks later rather than on the Friday night I got home fro the tour. It's not a memory at that stage.

I am about to present some wedding shots to a couple tomorrow at a special event - their silver wedding anniversary

I am blaming stand development.

pentaxuser

 

[ben-s]

I am blaming stand development.

It's just that the silver takes a long time to develop properly
/pathetic joke