ORWO factory visit

hal9000 · Oct 15, 2006

I was with a friend shooting in Ferropolis (www.ferropolis.de) today and noticed in a brochure what looked like a small old camera exhibit at the old ORWO factory in Wolfen, Germany. ORWO (Original Wolfen) is what the East German AGFA (at the original AGFA site) changed its name to in 1964 when their contract expired with the West German AGFA company in Leverkusen. This is the site that the world's first color film was produced (well, one version in any case). Anyway, ORWO stopped making film and 1993 but they do continue some confectioning and production of film base (and other) plastic foils.

So we drove there and happened to arrive just as a former ORWO employee was about to give a tour and so we joined in. It was really quite fascinating, we got to see all the machines that were used for producing film base (in rolls of 120 cm x 300 meters), preparation for coating, preparation of emulsion, coating, drying, cutting, perforation, and finally confection as roll film, 35mm cartridges, bulk film and super 8. And then we got to view their camera collection in walls of glass cases. Drool! More folders, antique studio cameras and other cameras of all sorts (many East German, Russian and Czech models but also quite a few western ones) than I have ever seen in one place. We even got a little souvenir at the end - no, not that nice Super Isolette in the case but a piece of 35mm film with todays date perforated into it by one of their old perforation machines.

So if anyone is ever in the neighborhood, I would highly recommend a visit to the ORWO plant. They have a website (unfortunately only in German) at http://www.ifm-wolfen.de/Service/service.htm.

rusty71 · Oct 15, 2006

Thanks for posting that. The Wolfen plant is indeed a landmark in photographic history. I used ORWO 125 monochrome film back in the mid 1980's. Freestyle sold it for 99 cents per roll, and I was a poor photo student.
I found it to have gorgeous tonality in Rodinal, and they made a lovely warm tone paper as well. Auf Wiedersehn, ORWO.

Zathras · Oct 16, 2006

rusty71 said:
Thanks for posting that. The Wolfen plant is indeed a landmark in photographic history. I used ORWO 125 monochrome film back in the mid 1980's. Freestyle sold it for 99 cents per roll, and I was a poor photo student.
I found it to have gorgeous tonality in Rodinal, and they made a lovely warm tone paper as well. Auf Wiedersehn, ORWO.

I remember NP-22. Used a lot of that stuff myself and souped it in FG7 1+15 (no sulfite). I liked it a lot. The paper was nice too, but it was about one grade softer than the number on the box. I was sorry to see it go.

PhotoBob · Oct 16, 2006

ORWO film

This is a very interesting posting as earlier this year I was given a lot of photographic materials including a lot of ORWO 120 film in ISO 25 - 125 - 400.
Although expired by several years, I have found the NP27 quite reasonable to work with after all this time. As for the other speed films...well perhaps later on I will give them a try.
I process in HC-110B
I even use it in my Holga.

ZorkiKat · Oct 16, 2006

You must now now how Charlie felt when he visited Willy Wonka's chocolate factory!

Are ORWO still in the business of making 35mm movie film? They have a website which said they they still made this film in 100 and 400 speeds for cinè cameras.

hka · Oct 16, 2006

I was there to yesterday with some members of our Photography Group from the Netherlands around 11:30 hr??

edz · Oct 16, 2006

hal9000 said:
I was with a friend shooting in Ferropolis (www.ferropolis.de) today and noticed in a brochure what looked like a small old camera exhibit at the old ORWO factory in Wolfen, Germany. ORWO (Original Wolfen) is what the East German AGFA (at the original AGFA site) changed its name to in 1964 when their contract expired with the West German AGFA company in Leverkusen.

Lets not try to bend history into convientient political shapes.

V.E.B. Agfa NEVER had a contract with Agfa Leverkusen over the name. The VEB Agfa in Wolfen changed their name in 1964 following a long concerted legal battle over the trademark. Following the war the Agfa factory came into joint German/Soviet ownership. It was, to be recalled, part of the infamous I.G.Farben control the world, kill the jews and enslave the planet company (co-owned also by Rockefeller and whose creation sealed the good fortune of ex-boxer and neo-banker Prescott Bush). The Soviet managers, not too adept at global international business, let the trademarks lapse. The Agfa trademarks were quickly squated by--- ex I.G. Farben--- Bayer A.G. (the part of I.G. Farben that worked with Dr. Mengele and other monsters and whose Fritz ter Meer following his release from prison after being convicted of war crimes became chairman of the supervisory board and whose name adorns the "Fritz ter Meer-Stiftung" of Bayer AG to encourage young men to pursue scientific work). This new company Agfa Leverkusen (a division of Bayer A.G.) in turn went to court to block use of the trademark by V.E.B. Agfa in Wolfen.

In 1964 Agfa merged with Gevaert and V.E.B. Agfa changed their name to OrWo (for Original Wolfen).

edz · Oct 16, 2006

ZorkiKat said:
Are ORWO still in the business of making 35mm movie film? They have a website which said they they still made this film in 100 and 400 speeds for cinè cameras.

The company is called Filmotec and much of what they do are in joint with Forte (who also have large shares in the company) where films like ORWO Traffic Control Film TC27 (aka R*i R?) spin off into master rolls...

hal9000 · Oct 16, 2006

hka said:
I was there to yesterday with some members of our Photography Group from the Netherlands around 11:30 hr??

That's funny, we saw a bunch of cars with NL license plates, had I only known we could have had a little APUG meeting! We were in the blue Renaut Kangoo with Berlin license plates.

hal9000 · Oct 16, 2006

edz said:
Lets not try to bend history into convientient political shapes.

Hi Ed, I know from your other posts on this forum that you are very knowledgeable about the history of AGFA and I expected to see a post from you in this thread. Thanks for the correction, It certainly wasn't my intention to bend history into anything convenient, just repeating what our tour guide told us.

hka · Oct 16, 2006

Besides all political issues it was very interesting to see how films were made. I think, this museum is the only one, perhaps in the whole world, where you can see how they do this. The "Herr Direktor" himself guided us through the plant after seeing a promotional (DDR) film from the '60.

hka · Oct 16, 2006

hal9000 said:
That's funny, we saw a bunch of cars with NL license plates, had I only known we could have had a little APUG meeting! We were in the blue Renaut Kangoo with Berlin license plates.

I have also seen that blue Kangoo. And yes whe have Dutch license plates on our cars. World is small. Next time maybe...

ZorkiKat · Oct 16, 2006

ORWO book

ORWO were also very helpful. In 1986, I wrote them to ask what the developing times, as well as suitable developer formula, for their films were. That was in the jurassic era, before internet, which has made it possible to type a question in a search engine and get tons of information in seconds.

The reply I got was a surprise. I was expecting some sort of letter (like what I got from Foma), but got a rather hefty package in the mail instead. In the package was a book, "ORWO Formulae" sent gratis by VEB ORWO from the DDR. The book has a lot of formulas and processing information for ORWO films, papers, and ORWOcolor materials as well. Most of the BW formula were the same as the Agfa/Ansco recipes found in other books. The formula numbers were the same, except that in the other references, they were prefixed as "Agfa" or "Ansco": eg, Ansco-120 was the same as Agfa-120, and jived with ORWO-120. No mention however, of anything about its history or Agfa.

I still keep this invaluable book. Pages have yellowed and tattered, and the cover's shabby.

I still wonder if this transaction was scrutinised by the STASI.

Jay

edz · Oct 16, 2006

hal9000 said:
Hi Ed, I know from your other posts on this forum that you are very knowledgeable about the history of AGFA and I expected to see a post from you in this thread. Thanks for the correction, It certainly wasn't my intention to bend history into anything convenient, just repeating what our tour guide told us.

The tour guide told you that OrWo licensed the trademark?

What is, interestingly, true is that VEB Agfa (Wolfen) used to trade with Agfa Leverkusen. Some of the products sold by Agfa Leverkusen throughout the world were made in the GDR. Much of the base materials for Agfa Leverkusen films were made in GDR. OrWo exported quite a lot of base materials. This continued well AFTER the wall went up even after the wall went down. Efke films, for example, were made on OrWo base materials. Many of the chemical inputs still making the round in Eastern Europe are remnants of GDR production. OrWo was a VERY large place with a 15,000 strong workforce spread out into the whole of the region aroud Bitterfeld. The area was heavily polluted. Air was green and the water was less than pure.
OrWo no longer exists. Its been liquidated. Wokers long ago released into longer term unemplyment. Today lacking much any industry (or jobs) the area's air and water have long surpassed West European standards...

hal9000 · Oct 16, 2006

edz said:
The tour guide told you that OrWo licensed the trademark?

Actually she was talking about the origin of the name OrWo and said when the contract expired it was mutually agreed not to renew it, so the use of the AGFA trademark was no longer permitted. But she didn't go into any details about the nature of the contract or why it ended. It may well have been her view as a former employee, 'mutally agreed' can mean a lot of things depending on the motivation of and pressures on both sides, so this might have been the 'party line' as it were.
We also were shown the very enjoyable early 60's advertising/propaganda film about the people's owned company which exclaimed the quality of the products and the many services provided to the workers. The AGFA trademark was still featured prominently in this film. Of course it is very sad now to see the empty halls where once 15000 people worked (8000 of them women), now there is no more employment let alone any human services besides Hartz IV (social welfare).

Kino · Oct 16, 2006

I have a book of the history of the Agfa Wolfen Plant the Managing Director Ranier Redmann and Physicist Frank Bohme of Filmotec GmbH (ORWO) presented to me when they both visited the US a few years ago to promote sales of their products and will look at it when I get home and see what version of history is included there!

Mr. Redmann and Bohme were very nice gentlemen who were very passionate about there production of b&w cine film, the ONLY other full-line manufacturer in the World (neg, intermediate and positive) other than Kodak.

The history at the Agfa Wolfen Plant is incredible; I'd love to visit the museum.

copake_ham · Oct 16, 2006

I've read this thread with interest, particularly given my education in History and the importance I place on it as an informant to the present.

But I really do not think anything is served by turning a simple report of a museum visit into a detailed analysis of the Holocaust, the Soviet occupation, the East German environmental destruction etc.

Certainly, none of these things should ever be forgotten. But neither do they have to be re-hashed every time someone wants to relate a visit to a film production plant.

While we cannot change the past, and while we are condemned to repeat it if we forget it, we also do not have to become obsessive about it!

It really is possible to visit such sites just because they are of interest.

In all honesty, a tour of a film production plant would bore the heck out of me. It sounds like the kind of tour that bored senior do on rainy days. But it obviously floats some boats here. Fine and dandy. Let it just be that.

For myself? I've always wanted to visit the "Wise" potato chip plant in Berwick, Pennsylvania. I am continuing to resist this urge!

rusty71 · Oct 16, 2006

You hit the nail on the head about politics and film. I used to live in Rochester, New York, and it occurs to me that Kodak Park probably looks a lot like the ORWO plant these days....hoo-ray for globalization?

Anyway, I'm off to EBAY to look for some of my old fave, ORWO NP22.

hka · Oct 17, 2006

Today (17/10/2006) the ORWO Plant in Wolfen celebrates her 70th birthday.

Brac · Oct 17, 2006

In all honesty, a tour of a film production plant would bore the heck out of me. It sounds like the kind of tour that bored senior do on rainy days. But it obviously floats some boats here. Fine and dandy. Let it just be that.

For myself? I've always wanted to visit the "Wise" potato chip plant in Berwick, Pennsylvania. I am continuing to resist this urge!

Actually you might find a tour of a film plant quite interesting. I was fortunate to be able to visit the Ilford factory with other APUG members in June. I'm not a technical person at all but I found it worthwhile and came away with a much greater understanding of the complexities of the operation and the amount of effort devoted to quality control. And of course Ilford isn't a museum like Orwo but is very much alive and kicking. I doubt though whether I would feel so enthused at seeing a potato chip plant so your decision to refrain is probably wise.

Christian Kolinski · Oct 17, 2006

hka said:
Today (17/10/2006) the ORWO Plant in Wolfen celebrates her 70th birthday.

No. it celebrates the 70th birthday of "modern" color film, as the Agfacolor Neu was presented at Oct. 17th 1936. (For the records: they don't consider Kodachrome a "modern" color film as it lacks the color-coupler technology).

The plant is almost 100 years old, starting production in 1909.

removed account4 · Oct 17, 2006

Brac said:
Actually you might find a tour of a film plant quite interesting. I was fortunate to be able to visit the Ilford factory with other APUG members in June. I'm not a technical person at all but I found it worthwhile and came away with a much greater understanding of the complexities of the operation and the amount of effort devoted to quality control. And of course Ilford isn't a museum like Orwo but is very much alive and kicking. I doubt though whether I would feel so enthused at seeing a potato chip plant so your decision to refrain is probably wise.

years ago i toured the granite state potato chip factory in salem new hampshire .. and i had a very good time

copake_ham · Oct 17, 2006

jnanian said:
years ago i toured the granite state potato chip factory in salem new hampshire .. and i had a very good time

With visions of Lucy and Ethel dancing in my head, I have to ask. Do the workers have to eat the broken chips so only whole ones go in the bag?

hka · Oct 17, 2006

Christian Kolinski said:
No. it celebrates the 70th birthday of "modern" color film, as the Agfacolor Neu was presented at Oct. 17th 1936. (For the records: they don't consider Kodachrome a "modern" color film as it lacks the color-coupler technology).

The plant is almost 100 years old, starting production in 1909.

You're right...that's what they are celebrating today...

abeku · Oct 18, 2006

Hal, thanks for an interresting post! Is Ferropolis accessible by train or do you need a car to get there? I was in Berlin last weekend and really enjoy the S/U-bahn trains you've got.
I used ORWO B/W films in the 80's - good stuff!

ORWO factory visit

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