If they wanted they didn't ask Harman to coat Acros II and buy Kodak Gold to sell it as Fujicolor.I know it's fashionable among some to assume Fuji want to exit the film market. But it doesn't appear to be so.
They just have a
If they wanted they didn't ask Harman to coat Acros II and buy Kodak Gold to sell it as Fujicolor.I know it's fashionable among some to assume Fuji want to exit the film market. But it doesn't appear to be so.
They restarted a year or so ago.
I don't know much about fashion, but I'd be very hesitant to assume a commitment on something we have no evidence for.I know it's fashionable among some to assume Fuji want to exit the film market.
buy Kodak Gold to sell it as Fujicolor
The same kind of assumption some people have about that Fuji stopped coating. I remember someone online reporting that he/she found fresh C200 in store.This is something we know, or something we assume?
If you want to leave a market, why would you put this effort in. I think it's much more work than just giving Kodak a callWhy go through those lengths if you can just have a manufacturer produce a product and label it as your own? Happens all the time.
If I were to use tabular grain film, then I would prefer Delta 100 over HP5+, but I still prefer Tri-X 400 over both.
If they wanted they didn't ask Harman to coat Acros II...
Why Trix 400 over TriX320?
Of course what actually happened was that after a few months, fresh Fuji C200 and Superia 400 "made in Japan" with 2024 and later expiry dates began to appear on shelves.
Just got Fuji 200 from FotoImpex (exp. date 2024/11) and it's clearly from Kodak.
My understanding is that the Fuji made in Japan has different printed cartridges to the Fuji with Kodak inside.
See here, Made in Japan is first, Fuji with Kodak inside is second. Note the different text orientation of the printed cassette.
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Being a Japanese company, Fuji aren't very forthcoming about the inner workings of their factories....but as far as we know, they stopped coating C41 film. When I spoke with Andy Church of Kodak-Alaris, he said that Kodak were "pretty much the only people coating colour film" at that time. Which would also explain the temporary supply of "Fuji Color" film that was actually Kodak Gold 200 in disguise.
Now, the doom merchants pointed to this, and loudly exclaimed that was final proof that Fuji were exiting the film market.
Of course what actually happened was that after a few months, fresh Fuji C200 and Superia 400 "made in Japan" with 2024 and later expiry dates began to appear on shelves.
the littlebar code beside the edge numbers also contains an code indication the version of the film. It they were to buy in coated film, they could adjust that number (and the bar code on the cassette) to a different number which would alert the photofinishing folks that they might need to use another chanel. In fact they could use the same code as the stock they were buying and ONLY the photofinish folks would be the wiser - and would not be too shocked that the printer would identify the film as "Kodak"As I understand it the recent, made in Japan Fuji C-41 films have gone back to the edge coding that existed before the short term replacement Kodak produced stuff. Which means that the photofinishers who rely on that edge coding for the profiles for their machines would be really disappointed if it was actually the Kodak film stock in disguise.
Of course what actually happened was that after a few months, fresh Fuji C200 and Superia 400 "made in Japan" with 2024 and later expiry dates began to appear on shelves.
What we do know is that we won't get any explanation from Fuji.
maybe Fuji is now again converting 200 from older C200 master rolls
This would surprise me. Going by how they handle their paper business, I don't think they keep around master rolls of color materials for more than a few months.
Prices going up is so normal, they hardly ever go down right? For sure not with something as special as sheet film... inflation is not just transport and all the 500 or so different materials needed to produce film. Water, heat, energy, labor, parts, repair, environmental costs around chemicals and so on...
Maybe not yet, and maybe never officially.
This would surprise me. Going by how they handle their paper business, I don't think they keep around master rolls of color materials for more than a few months. Keep in mind that a master roll represents significant value, and companies like Fuji minimize capital that's stuck in a warehouse somewhere. It seems they're far more likely to ship it out to the sales channels ASAP, where materials may linger on stock depending on market conditions.
Whilst they are high value, its cheaper to store master rolls than fully converted final product, and the stored master rolls can be pulled down for conversion quite quickly.
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