Kono Color 200 in 100' bulk on Freestyle Photo site

Disconnekt · Jun 14, 2025

For those who shoot 35mm color film:
Looks like next to the bulk roll of Kono Color 400, now there's Kono Color 200 in 100' (30.5m) bulk roll currently on preorder for $189.
Like the 400 film, shows on the page Made/Packaged in Germany, so most likely Inoviscoat (Orwo?)

KONO COLOR ISO 200 35MM X 100 FT. FILM

KONO! Color 200 is a new German-made color negative film with an ISO of 200, crafted for those who appreciate the enduring beauty of traditional film.

www.freestylephoto.com

koraks · Jun 15, 2025

Well, that's less than what you pay for a bulk roll of Kodak B&W film.

Disconnekt said:
Made/Packaged in Germany, so most likely Inoviscoat (Orwo?)

As I understand what's now left of Inoviscoat is basically 'fabless', so the manufacture I'd expect to have been done on the film coating line of Polaroid in Monheim. In terms of industry structure the present state of German color film manufacture features an interesting type of disintegration/specialization.

Anyway, I'm not yet tempted to buy a bulk roll as I'm already sitting on more 35mm color film than I will likely use.

pentaxuser · Jun 15, 2025

koraks said:
Well, that's less than what you pay for a bulk roll of Kodak B&W film.

As I understand what's now left of Inoviscoat is basically 'fabless', so the manufacture I'd expect to have been done on the film coating line of Polaroid in Monheim. In terms of industry structure the present state of German color film manufacture features an interesting type of disintegration/specialization.

Anyway, I'm not yet tempted to buy a bulk roll as I'm already sitting on more 35mm color film than I will likely use.

This is stuff I don't think I have heard about. Was it ever discussed here? Who makes it? Never seen it on sale in the U.K in bulk The pics in the link provided suggest it is OK stuff and at that price is likely sell very well

Makes me wonder how long Harman might take to produce anything similar and at this price

pentaxuser

koraks · Jun 16, 2025

pentaxuser said:
Was it ever discussed here?

Light Lens Lab - New Film Project

I can't remember the company right now (I'd really have to search), but I know Lomography gets their film coated at another manufacturer that is not Filmotec. That company is InovisCoat (Monheim, Germany), see above, it is in my list. That is a company "without own factory", because the...

www.photrio.com

pentaxuser · Jun 16, 2025

Thanks koraks. I started to plough through the 7 pages worth but it was like walking through treacle in terms in terms of getting to the facts of how this relates to this link to KONO at the start of this thread

It looks as if someone has been to get to the stage of making a colour film for sale as cassettes and has now produced for sale 100ft rolls for Freestyle to offer as a product and on that basis may offer these rolls to other retailers outside of the U.S.

So have we now got a viable long term business that makes and sells its own colour film which seems to look OK and is another reliable source of colour film outside of Kodak and Harman's current offering ?

Thanks

pentaxuser

koraks · Jun 16, 2025

pentaxuser said:
I started to plough through the 7 pages

I linked to the post that said exactly what I wrote. If you click the link I posted, you should be taken to a post by @Film-Niko where he explains the situation. For completeness' sake I'll quote it here:

Film-Niko said:
That company is InovisCoat (Monheim, Germany), see above, it is in my list.
That is a company "without own factory", because the factory they are using from time to time for their products is owned and operated by Polaroid (InovisCoat has a contract with Polaroid).

But they produce only a smaller part of Lomography's films. Lomo Lady Grey and Earl Grey are just repackaged Fomapan 100 and 400. Kino Berlin and Potsdam are repacked FilmoTec BW films.
The "normal color" CN films are repackaged Kodak amateur CN films. And only the "fancy" color films of Lomo like Lomochrome Purple and Turquois are produced by InovisCoat for Lomography.
By the way, when Lomography introduced the first of these films - Lomochrome Purple - they also made a lot of marketing fuzz claiming they have "an own factory". That was just a pure lie! They have never had any shares in InovisCoat. InovisCoat has always been independent from Lomography.

Of course they can buy film at other film manufacturers like Lucky or InovisCoat. But that has nothing to do with an own film R&D and production.

pentaxuser said:
So have we now got a viable long term business that makes and sells its own colour film which seems to look OK and is another reliable source of colour film outside of Kodak and Harman's current offering ?

That will have to be proven by a long-term successful market presence. Crystal ball is out for re-polishing service since it was getting hella foggy, so can't tell right now.

pentaxuser · Jun 16, 2025

Thanks for the information, koraks. I was simply trying to find out how reliable were the facilities that are used It seemed to me that the demand is likely to be there.

pentaxuser

koraks · Jun 16, 2025

pentaxuser said:
how reliable were the facilities

I think the point of the whole thing is that you have to distinguish between several aspects, such as the physical facilities, the intellectual property, the competence/know-how involved in color emulsions, the workforce, the legal entities, capital structures etc. The question how reliable (durable, sustainable) these are can be applied to all of them.

pentaxuser · Jun 16, 2025

koraks said:
I think the point of the whole thing is that you have to distinguish between several aspects, such as the physical facilities, the intellectual property, the competence/know-how involved in color emulsions, the workforce, the legal entities, capital structures etc. The question how reliable (durable, sustainable) these are can be applied to all of them.

And there was me thinking that as long as you have the facilities to produce a reasonable film at a profit then it was that simple

pentaxuser

koraks · Jun 17, 2025

pentaxuser said:
And there was me thinking that as long as you have the facilities to produce a reasonable film at a profit then it was that simple

pentaxuser

That's why every city has a photography enthusiast with a film producing facility in their backyard pumping out thousands of rolls of color film.

pentaxuser · Jun 17, 2025

koraks said:
That's why every city has a photography enthusiast with a film producing facility in their backyard pumping out thousands of rolls of color film.

True and that's why I am waiting for the Harman announcement today so I can trump( note small "t") it tomorrow with my own colour film announcement

On a more serious note you comment indicates that the whole business of production of Kono film is on a knife edge and a lot can go wrong in terms of production

What are these things to go wrong with what are the facilities that are currently producing film?

pentaxuser

koraks · Jun 17, 2025

pentaxuser said:
a lot can go wrong

That could be the definition of life.

pentaxuser said:
What are these things to go wrong with what are the facilities that are currently producing film?

I think you can come up with a decent list if you sit down and think a bit how businesses might fail in general. The question is, unless you're involved in risk management for a business, why would you bother in the first place?

If you go out grocery shopping, do sit down and ask yourself how you might die in the process? Or will you just put on your shoes, grab a bag and look right & left when crossing the road?

Kono Color 200 in 100' bulk on Freestyle Photo site

Disconnekt

KONO COLOR ISO 200 35MM X 100 FT. FILM

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