Orwo N74 Plus and Orwo UN 54 films

[cmo]

These are motion picture films like Kodak's Double-X 5222.

Orwo UN 54 is a 100 ASA film, Orwo N74 is rated at 400. They are both traditional grain films and somewhat descendants of films from former East Germany, made by a company named Filmotec (formerly known as Orwo Filmfabrik). They are not available in cartridges, only in 35mm rolls, and they are quite cheap.

Did any of you ever use these films and process them in modern developers? I would very much like to see some examples...

There are the specifications:
http://www.filmotec.de/?cat=23&lang=en

 

[Anon Ymous]

The N74 looks interesting, at least on paper, but could you quote sources and price?

 

[patrickjames]

I tried to get a hold of some of this stuff a couple of years ago and it was like pulling teeth. Everyone was pointing a finger in the other direction. I couldn't believe it, I mean I wanted to give them money. Isn't that the purpose of manufacturing something? I just gave up.

There is a guy who has the Double-X project who got a hold of some. It looks pretty good. Maybe the situation has changed.

 

[cmo]

As far as I know it is only available in 35mm and only in long rolls starting at 30.5 meters/100 feet, not in ready-made cartridges. The factory sells rolls of 30 meter and longer, and there is a dealer Wephota.de but I did not try to order something yet, but looked up their prices. It seems these films are even cheaper than Fomapan. What I don't know is how they are, that's why I started this thread.

 

[cmacd123]

I was second Patrickjames point. The http://www.filmotec.de/ site tells me the Distributor for Canada is in Denmark. (there is curently a Arctic territory dispute between the two countries) - and that Distributer when asked said "news to me - I probaly could sell you some but shipping would be expensive)

SO, Anyone knows where I can get some of this stuff without crossing Oceans, please pass the info along. I might be tempted to try some in my 16mm Movie camera if it is actually available outside of Germany. I might also be interested in giving it a go as 35mm film.

 

[Metroman]

There is a guy who has the Double-X project who got a hold of some. It looks pretty good. Maybe the situation has changed.

Guilty. I have shot it at 400 asa and developed in Diafine and the various developers on my Project Double-X site. Currently I only have the Diafine images online - we have just moved house and have yet to set up the darkroom & scanning gear.

Dead Link Removed

 

[cmo]

Thanks. Did you ever try other developers with this film?

Even here in Germany you don't get these films in a shop. I did not know it is almost impossible in other countries. It is quite easy for me to call Filmotec and buy some rolls.

My suggestion: I share these rolls, I will just cut off some meters and send it to a few people who want some. There is no price tag except that you share the results and dev times

The only dev time I have is for a developer named ORWO 17 which is the same as Kodak D 96.

 

[georgegrosu]

Data sheet for Orwo N 74 is instructions 1182.
Developer ORWO 17, similar to D 96, with the following differences:
- KBr ... ... .. 0.8 g instead of 0.4 g in D 96 developer;
- Ph ... ... ... .9.1 instead of 8.62 ±0.05 in D 96 developer.
Looks good characteristic curve that I got from Orwo N74 and developer D 96.
On the N74 I got a less fog that I make with Orwo UN 54.
George

 

[cmo]

Found some more:

"D76 1+1, 20 Grad Rotation, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, 12:00

CI UN54: 0.50, 0.60, 0.66, 0.79
CI N74: 0.43, 0.52, 0.56, 0.63

DS-10 1+1, 24 Grad Rotation, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, 12:00

CI UN54: 0.38, 0.58, 0.65, 0.84
CI N74: 0.46, 0.56, 0.67, 0.86 "

Source: Phototec Forum, M. Jangowski (thanks to him)

 

[patrickjames]

So how much is, say, 1000 feet of NP74?

 

[cmo]

Actually I intend to buy much less, 2 rolls à 100 feet (30.5 meters) of each for the beginning

The official price from one dealer is 1.11 Euro per meter incl. our hefty 19% VAT but I guess a mass discount will be possible when purchasing such an amount.

I hope I convert that correctly:

1000 feet = 304.8 meter

304.8 meter * 1.11 Euro per meter = 338.32 Euros

338.32 Euros = $459.59

Without the german 19% VAT that is ca. $368. The 100 ASA version UN54 costs ca. 15% less.

In the Kodak catalogue 1000' of XX cost $351.92, so I guess all these movie films are approximately at the same price level. Shipping costs and taxes make a difference.

 

[erikg]

I would buy 100' of each if I knew who would ship it to me in the US. Andy, good luck with the Project Double-x.

 

[mabman]

There's a guy on photo.net from Mumbai (Subbarayan Prasanna) who gets the ORWO films from a local dealer. He has mentioned he can get 400 ft. and sometimes 100 ft. rolls (probably short ends), in threads such as this.

Not sure if it's economical or practical to have film shipped from India, but it might be worth dropping him a note for further details - might be worth it to get smaller amounts. I think the North American cinema film resellers only sell Kodak, Fuji and possibly Ilford, so I don't think you can get any from them. If I didn't have some 5222 in the freezer already, I'd inquire myself.

 

[cmo]

That company has sales offices in other countries. So, for people who want to buy their own rolls there are other choices than having films shipped around the world:

http://www.filmotec.de/?page_id=353&lang=en

I would ship some homemade happy little rolls to people who want to contribute their results and dev times. But I'm not good at being a global mailorder reseller, mainly because I am just an amateur photographer Street photography made me think about film prices...

 

[photo hound]

ORWO in North America

eh,
ORWO is available in the US. I would check back on the contact list on the FilmoTec site. Their is a USA and Canada guy now. good luck.

 

[Garra]

reversal development

Hello every body

i have UN 54 orwo films

this film can be developed in reversal
with orwo formulas and with C4 formulas;

but i don't know if we can develope it with more easy chemicals (liquid ones)

does any body know if something like that is possible?
thanks a lot and sorry for my english (i am in Paris)

 

[Oxleyroad]

Good to see some life in the discussion of the Orwo films. I became interested in this film after coming across the Double X project web site 18 months ago.

Living in Australia and no longer having a cine B&W processor in the country (last one closed in 2009 as the operator was just plain tired of doing the work and his equipment was aging) I decided I need to take up this challenge as I shoot about 1800ft of 16 mm B&W cine film and freight to send to the US and risks of x-ray fogging was mounting. I tried a large lomo tank, but only able to do one 100ft roll at a time after cutting in the middle decided I need to have a machine or mechanical process to speed things up a little.

Not being to sure of which Owro film to go with I took the plunge and purchased UN54 in 400 ft length in both 16 and 35. It arrived only two days ago. These were the least expensive of all the products. 35mm was €81.65 and 16mm was €59.50. I have now shot 4rolls of 135 I will be processing these both as negative and reversal and I'll come back with the results as I get them. Today I am processing 35mm in d76, Xtol and caffenol. If I have time I will reversal process the film tonight.

 

[brianmquinn]

I hear a rumor that Ultrafine online was selling this as one of their store brand films. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Bigpaul]

Does anybody know how similar these new films are to the NP20 and NP22 films produced by Orwo in the DDR in the '80s? I've still got a stock of these old films in 35mm with a late 80s expiry, but they are still good.........and I rather like them! I have heard that there is a UK distributor for the new stuff (100' rolls), but I'd only be interested if the current films were definite descendants of the old DDR films.

 

[cineman]

I have been meaning to get this out but I have recently purchased film from ORWO North America. Easy, helpful, new life to my 35mm that's for sure. Processing was a little questionable at first but only b/c its new, turns out its the same process as Kodak. new life.

 

[gorbas]

Back in the 80', at university, I shoot a lot of 35mm ORWO NP55 and NP7 movie film stock. NP55 was similar to NP20/22 (their still photography film), but with different base. NP7 was totally different than NP27 (their high speed still photography film). It had 2 layers of emulsion and it wasn't as sharp or fine grained as NP27 film. But it was dirt cheap and I used both films a lot in movie & still cameras. Recently I saw that they have North American agent but I hesitated to call him and order few 400' rolls. If we can (APUG group) order few cans I will be very interested! In that case we can have nice order quantity.

 

[gorbas]

I was not aware that ORWO just launched their North American distribution:
http://www.orwona.com/
I contacted them and received ultra fast friendly reply. They also have in stock 100' rolls of their BW negative films!!!
I'm in!!

 

[cmo]

In the meanwhile I have some results, and I am pleasantly surprised. I processed these films in XTol 1:1. That seems to be a good combo. The results are better than I had expected.

 

[gorbas]

Hi CMO,
Great! What emulsion did you use?

 

[cmo]

N74plus @400 and UN54 @100. I think I can scan the examples and publish the dev times in a few days, they were pretty normal ( I guessed them).