Konica Centuria film - anything special?

mabman · Apr 2, 2008

As it happens I was in a convenience store earlier today, and they still have a small rack with some film - a bunch of disposable cameras, and some individual rolls of Kodak Gold 100 and Konica Centuria 200 and 400.

I guess the Konica was from the later production runs, as a random sampling of film boxes shows expiry dates of 08/2008 and 09/2008.

I don't see this film around much - is the 200 or 400 anything special (vs. Kodak or Fuji consumer films)? A brief Flickr search showed some pretty average stuff - not bad, but nothing that immediately jumps out at me as being exceptional (colours, contrast, etc), but it's difficult to tell from low-res web scans.

They were all individually boxed, and weren't cheap - ~$6 each - but I can't imagine they go through a lot of it, so if it's worth the trouble I might talk to the manager about taking some of it off their hands for a reasonable price.

Thanks!

Mike Kennedy · Apr 2, 2008

I tried some last summer in my Muji II.Nothing spectacular but ok for everyday photography.Got it on sale for $2.50 per roll.

panchro-press · Apr 2, 2008

For colour print film, Konica ain't bad a'tall.

Samuel B · Apr 3, 2008

To answer you question, no it is nothing special. Ok though.

copake_ham · Apr 3, 2008

I think it is (was) Fuji consumer-grade film that was branded for Konica. I could be wrong though.

Steve Roberts · Apr 3, 2008

mabman said:
I don't see this film around much - is the 200 or 400 anything special (vs. Kodak or Fuji consumer films)?

Centuria 400 was my favourite for P & S use and I was very disappointed when it was discontinued. The colour rendition always appealed to me (as much as it can when you're in the hands of machine processing). It was grainier than the opposition, but for P & S the speed pros outweighed the grain cons.

Steve

PhotoJim · Apr 3, 2008

At $6 a roll it's horridly overpriced. You can get 36-exposure rolls of various speeds of Fuji Superia for around $2 US from B&H and Adorama. (The shipping is pretty hefty, but if you're buying 20 or 40 rolls at a time, the average price still works out to be well, well under $6 - less than half that.)

Paul Howell · Apr 3, 2008

They were all individually boxed, and weren't cheap - ~$6 each - but I can't imagine they go through a lot of it, so if it's worth the trouble I might talk to the manager about taking some of it off their hands for a reasonable price.

Thanks![/QUOTE]

I bought 10 rolls of rebranded Konica at a Dollar store for a $1.00 a roll as shoot around film. I would pass on paying more than a $1.00 for a roll for Konica, not bad, but for $6.00 a roll I would buy fresh Kodak or Fuji.

Mike Kennedy · Apr 3, 2008

Paul,is there a way you can tell the manufacturer of a rebranded film?My local dollar store sells "Likon Super GBR 200" for a buck each.I use it occasionally and it's not too shabby.

Mike

Nick Zentena · Apr 3, 2008

Usually they have a "made in ..." Only so many countries make colour film and only so many factories so it's not hard to guess.

The slower Konica stuff is okay. But I remember buying it for something like 70 cents a roll very fresh from Canadian tire when it was on sale.

I wouldn't kill somebody for it but at the prices it sold for it was okay for snapshots.

Christiaan Phleger · Apr 3, 2008

I've hoarded my last find of the Konica Centuria 200, quite an odd and charming color palette, a bit grainy but almost a saturated orangey pastel. Completely unique.

Paul Howell · Apr 4, 2008

Mike Kennedy said:
Paul,is there a way you can tell the manufacturer of a rebranded film?My local dollar store sells "Likon Super GBR 200" for a buck each.I use it occasionally and it's not too shabby.

Mike

Film is made in Japan. I know that Konica sold a lot bulk film which was rebranded by different chains, at one time Polaroid 35mm was Konica sold at Walmart, later Agfa, I still have a few rolls of it frozen. At this point I think the only color film that is rebranded is Lucky and Ferrina(sp). Maybe 8 years ago before my Mini Lab got a Fronter they had an older model that read the code on the edge of the negative. Lucky read as Kodak Gold. My local dollar store still has rolls but they made in the EU so I guess Ferrina.

srs5694 · Apr 4, 2008

Paul Howell said:
At this point I think the only color film that is rebranded is Lucky and Ferrina(sp).

No, Fuji has taken over a lot of the store brands that used to be Agfa or Konica -- locally, both Walgreens (formerly Agfa) and CVS (formerly Konica) store brands are now Fuji. I've heard claims that Kodak is even doing the rebranding, but I've yet to encounter that myself.

Snapshot · Apr 8, 2008

I used Centuria years ago. Nothing exceptional but I always felt that the film was goo enough for non-critical subjects.

Konica Centuria film - anything special?

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