Here in Paris, I went to the Salon de Photo today to see what was new. This is an event primarily aimed at pro photographers, but us "advanced amateurs" with the Euro 10 entrance fee are very welcome. (I also went to the Salon des Deux Roues, which is a biennial motorcycle show. Left there thinking the best-looking bike was a 1935 Moto Guzzi on display. Most other bikes looked like they were designed by a ten-year-old with a Transformers fixation. Where's a Velocette when you need one? OK, end of rant.)
At the photo show, there was very little for the analog photographer in terms of film, paper or chemicals. Tetenal was there but had nothing but digital-related products -- one of the salemen apologized and said he regretted that fact. Ilford had some film off to one side in a locked cabinet, as did Fuji. But then there was the active stand where I ran into Hartmuth Schroeder, the Director of MACO Photo Products in Hamburg, Germany. We started talking (in English, to his relief) about products, and he showed me a new film that he's on the verge of releasing -- Rollie ATP "V1", with the ATP standing for (I believe) Advanced Tech Pan. Hartmuth said that it's the same formulation as Kodak's discontinued Tech Pan, exposes at ASA 20 if you develop with Technidol or his own recommend developer Rollei TLC "document type dev" -- low contrast. If you developed it in a developer made by the German firm that makes SPUR developer, you can get up to ASA 40. He said that hed produced or packaged, I should say -- thousands of rolls of it in 35mm, but none in 120. Should be loaded in darkness to prevent fogging the first few frames. I also bought some Rollei Ortho 25 which he said was not the same as old Maco Ort.
I kept asking him who was coating which film, explaining that theres lots of interest on the web on this issue. (I mentioned APUG, but he said he wasnt familiar with it.) So Hartmuth grabbed a piece of paper and laid things out for me.
First, he said, there are only eight companies in the world that can still coat: Kodak, Fuji, Lucky, Kentmere (but only paper for now), Konica, Ilford, Foma and Agfa Gavaert. Note that he was very particular that I not just call it Agfa but insisted on Agfa Gavaert. Then he ran down his films:
Pan 25 produced by Agfa Gavaert in Mortsel, Belgium
Ortho 25 produced by ORWO/Filmotech in Wolfen, in former East Germany
Infrared AG
R3 film ORWO/Filmotech
Tech Pan its his secret, wouldnt tell me
Retro 100, which is new version APX100 Agfa Germania, in Leverkeusen outside Cologne in Germany, made in 2005
Retro 400, which is new version APX400 Agfa Germania, in Leverkeusen outside Cologne in Germany, made in 2005
Note that he also had some APX100 and APX400 for sale in bricks, the film boxes looking a bit different than the deep silver Agfa boxes I last saw. My understanding is that the latest versions of APX100/400 are the same as Retro 100/400, all made in 2005.
He is working on producing Superpan 200, which is a direct replacement for Scala except that it is sensitive to 750 nanometers vice Scalas 660 nanometers i.e., increased red sensitivity. This film will be produced by Agfa Gavaert.
He also makes a new C-41 B/W film called Digibase 200, produced by Agfa Gavaert. No orange mask, coated on PET/Estar base. I saw some negs from this film, and the film base was absolutely flat and absolutely clear.
As to where to get this film, he said that he had worked/was working with Freestyle and Digitaltruth. From subsequent comments, it was clear to me that he preferred dealing with Digitaltruth. He suggested DR5 if anyone needed developing services.
I told Hartmuth Id like to post this out to my APUG friends, and he agreed. I said that it would be helpful for people to be able to contact him if they had questions, and he gave me the following e-mail address: photo@mahn.net He also said that Digitaltruth would have information available.
So there you go, as heard from Mr. Schroeder. Of course I dont know if someone will say he wasnt telling me the whole story in this or that regard, but to me he seemed quite sincere and certainly enthusiastic about his products.
Perhaps others will have some perspective to add. Me, Im going to go shoot this new Tech Pan maybe some of that Kodak Technidol that Ive had sitting in those little foil pouches for 15 years is still good. Does anyone know?
At the photo show, there was very little for the analog photographer in terms of film, paper or chemicals. Tetenal was there but had nothing but digital-related products -- one of the salemen apologized and said he regretted that fact. Ilford had some film off to one side in a locked cabinet, as did Fuji. But then there was the active stand where I ran into Hartmuth Schroeder, the Director of MACO Photo Products in Hamburg, Germany. We started talking (in English, to his relief) about products, and he showed me a new film that he's on the verge of releasing -- Rollie ATP "V1", with the ATP standing for (I believe) Advanced Tech Pan. Hartmuth said that it's the same formulation as Kodak's discontinued Tech Pan, exposes at ASA 20 if you develop with Technidol or his own recommend developer Rollei TLC "document type dev" -- low contrast. If you developed it in a developer made by the German firm that makes SPUR developer, you can get up to ASA 40. He said that hed produced or packaged, I should say -- thousands of rolls of it in 35mm, but none in 120. Should be loaded in darkness to prevent fogging the first few frames. I also bought some Rollei Ortho 25 which he said was not the same as old Maco Ort.
I kept asking him who was coating which film, explaining that theres lots of interest on the web on this issue. (I mentioned APUG, but he said he wasnt familiar with it.) So Hartmuth grabbed a piece of paper and laid things out for me.
First, he said, there are only eight companies in the world that can still coat: Kodak, Fuji, Lucky, Kentmere (but only paper for now), Konica, Ilford, Foma and Agfa Gavaert. Note that he was very particular that I not just call it Agfa but insisted on Agfa Gavaert. Then he ran down his films:
Pan 25 produced by Agfa Gavaert in Mortsel, Belgium
Ortho 25 produced by ORWO/Filmotech in Wolfen, in former East Germany
Infrared AG
R3 film ORWO/Filmotech
Tech Pan its his secret, wouldnt tell me
Retro 100, which is new version APX100 Agfa Germania, in Leverkeusen outside Cologne in Germany, made in 2005
Retro 400, which is new version APX400 Agfa Germania, in Leverkeusen outside Cologne in Germany, made in 2005
Note that he also had some APX100 and APX400 for sale in bricks, the film boxes looking a bit different than the deep silver Agfa boxes I last saw. My understanding is that the latest versions of APX100/400 are the same as Retro 100/400, all made in 2005.
He is working on producing Superpan 200, which is a direct replacement for Scala except that it is sensitive to 750 nanometers vice Scalas 660 nanometers i.e., increased red sensitivity. This film will be produced by Agfa Gavaert.
He also makes a new C-41 B/W film called Digibase 200, produced by Agfa Gavaert. No orange mask, coated on PET/Estar base. I saw some negs from this film, and the film base was absolutely flat and absolutely clear.
As to where to get this film, he said that he had worked/was working with Freestyle and Digitaltruth. From subsequent comments, it was clear to me that he preferred dealing with Digitaltruth. He suggested DR5 if anyone needed developing services.
I told Hartmuth Id like to post this out to my APUG friends, and he agreed. I said that it would be helpful for people to be able to contact him if they had questions, and he gave me the following e-mail address: photo@mahn.net He also said that Digitaltruth would have information available.
So there you go, as heard from Mr. Schroeder. Of course I dont know if someone will say he wasnt telling me the whole story in this or that regard, but to me he seemed quite sincere and certainly enthusiastic about his products.
Perhaps others will have some perspective to add. Me, Im going to go shoot this new Tech Pan maybe some of that Kodak Technidol that Ive had sitting in those little foil pouches for 15 years is still good. Does anyone know?
