Positive Fujifilm News: Acros II available soon in Europe

Hello friends,

positive news from Fujifilm:
After the initial release in Japan last November (in Japanese only boxes), Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 II will be officially introduced in Europe (and most probably also worldwide) this spring (planned is March / April).
I've got this info directly from Fujifilm.

When Acros II was introduced in Japan last November, I immediately ordered lots of it in 135 and 120 in Japan.
After the shipment arrived I started intensive testing, including Acros I vs. Acros II comparisons.
I did my scientific standard film tests in my photography test lab. And I did several shootings of different subjects, too.

The test results are very positive:
a) Acros II has absolutely nothing to do with any Kentmere / Ilford film! All these stupid conspiracy theories about Acros II being just another repackaged Harman technology / Ilford Photo film (because of the "Made in UK" on the boxes) are complete BS and have absolutely nothing to do with reality.

b) Acros II has exactly the same outstanding reciprocity characteristic as Acros I. I have tested it. It is also documented in the data sheet of Acros II, and the data sheet is absolutely right.
That is extremely important because no other BW film has this unique and outstanding characteristic.
And in colour only Fujichrome Provia 100F has that wonderful feature.

c) The excellent detail rendition of Acros I is also given by Acros II: Resolution, sharpness and fineness of grain are identical. Both films have identical MTF curves and identical RMS value. I checked it with my sophisticated resolution, sharpness and grain tests in my test lab, and both films are again identical. Data sheet is correct. Great news again.

d) There are some very small and negligible differences in spectral sensivity, and a small difference concerning the characteristic curve in the highlights (with some developers). I will not go into detail here. In the next days I will post a complete test report in the BW film subforum. Stay tuned.

So, from now on it is up to all who have loudly complained about the discontinuation of Acros: You have your film back!!
Buy it. Make this reintroduction a success! When this becomes a success, then it is much, much more likey that further film reintroductions could follow by Fujifilm in the future.
A film manufacturer has to look on his sales. That is the decisive factor!

Best regards,
Henning

Can you indulge me, Henning, by saying what you know about the reasons why Made in U.K. is on the boxes. You may have covered this and I may have missed what these were, in which case I apologise. The reason I ask is that the Acros II thread or was that threads was full of many statements, many of which had to be reasoned or unreasonable speculation based on what was generally known.

You would appear to know from information give to you by Fuji possibly today or very recently what the real reasons are for the Made in U.K. printed on the box. A statement from you on this would help.

Thanks

pentaxuser

Thanks, Henning. I had no doubt in my mind that it would be good old Acros and nothing else! I'll be buying a whack of it when I'm in Japan next month.

pentaxuser said:

Can you indulge me, Henning, by saying what you know about the reasons why Made in U.K. is on the boxes. You may have covered this and I may have missed what these were, in which case I apologise.

Click to expand...

Yes I have had explained the possible reasons here, see post 54:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/acros-ii-released.171175/page-3

pentaxuser said:

You would appear to know from information give to you by Fuji possibly today or very recently what the real reasons are for the Made in U.K. printed on the box. A statement from you on this would help.
Thanks
pentaxuser

Click to expand...

So far there is no official statement from Fujifilm.
I have discussed that topic several times with my Fujifilm contacts. They have listened very attentively. And I have highly recommended to them that Fujifilm should publish an official statement. Because that would strenghten the faith / trust in the brand. The BW film photography market is an enthusiast market. The customers love their photographic medium, they are highly dedicated and involved. They want - and appreciate - information and communication by their manufacturer(s).
Companies like e.g. Ilford Photo, Kodak (EK and Alaris), ADOX, Film Ferrania have realized that and are communicating with their customers. And often give background information for a better understanding of certain steps the company has to made. Because of economical or technological reasons. So that the customers can better understand the necessities and challenges in the industry.
Fujifilm is unfortunately still far behind the competition in their PR / communication policy. A lot can and should be improved in that regard.

But I am only one single person, a "drop in the ocean". My recommendation:
Please stop wasting your time with these discussions in forums. Get in direct contact with Fujifilm!
With your national / local Fujifilm subsidiary.
And / or your local Fujifilm Wonder Photo Shop (there are lots of them worldwide): http://wonderphotoshop.fujifilm.com/
Or via social media: https://www.instagram.com/fujifilm_profilm/?hl=de
Or via their websites like: https://linktr.ee/fujifilm_profilm (they have a direct email function there!).

The reintroduction of Acros II has demonstrated that they are listening.
The more we communicate with them, the more / better they will listen. But as always: Communication has to be polite, constructive, honest and motivating.
Only complaining and bashing is absolutely counterproductive. Would you listen to people who are always only attacking you? No, you would not.

For years I am recommending (here and elsewhere) that film photography needs a grass roots movement. I worked in my own projects extremely hard for exactly that. And fortunately this grass roots movement is developing with new labs, new shops, lots of activities on youtube and other social media and so on. We together have power!!
And that includes communication with manufacturers like Fujifilm.

Best regards,
Henning

...and I'll bet Rattymouse will be thrilled... wherever he is.

Henning Serger said:

Yes I have had explained the possible reasons here, see post 54:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/acros-ii-released.171175/page-3

So far there is no official statement from Fujifilm.
I have discussed that topic several times with my Fujifilm contacts. They have listened very attentively. And I have highly recommended to them that Fujifilm should publish an official statement.
Please stop wasting your time with these discussions in forums. Get in direct contact with Fujifilm!
With your national / local Fujifilm subsidiary.
And / or your local Fujifilm Wonder Photo Shop (there are lots of them worldwide): http://wonderphotoshop.fujifilm.com/
Or via social media: https://www.instagram.com/fujifilm_profilm/?hl=de
Or via their websites like: https://linktr.ee/fujifilm_profilm (they have a direct email function there!).

The reintroduction of Acros II has demonstrated that they are listening.
The more we communicate with them, the more / better they will listen. But as always: Communication has to be polite, constructive, honest and motivating.
Only complaining and bashing is absolutely counterproductive. Would you listen to people who are always only attacking you? No, you would not.

For years I am recommending (here and elsewhere) that film photography needs a grass roots movement. I worked in my own projects extremely hard for exactly that. And fortunately this grass roots movement is developing with new labs, new shops, lots of activities on youtube and other social media and so on. We together have power!!
And that includes communication with manufacturers like Fujifilm.

Best regards,
Henning

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Yes #54 on the other thread to which you link does clarify that currently all you can state is possibilities and that remains the position. I simply wondered if Fuji had supplied the information about the full explanation of what Made in the U.K. means. Clearly not and now I know this I will not waste any more time on Photrio asking for information that Fuji has chosen not to release.

It may be that only me or at best only a few of us on Photrio would like to know what it means. I suspect that this may be of no concern to the film newcomers who anyway may or may not be able to persuade Fuji to make a statement.

I have serious doubts whether a few "voices" on this site can change anything about Fuji's thinking on what its film users need to know about its products

pentaxuser

Henning Serger said:

Hello friends,

positive news from Fujifilm:
After the initial release in Japan last November (in Japanese only boxes), Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 II will be officially introduced in Europe (and most probably also worldwide) this spring (planned is March / April).
I've got this info directly from Fujifilm.

When Acros II was introduced in Japan last November, I immediately ordered lots of it in 135 and 120 in Japan.
After the shipment arrived I started intensive testing, including Acros I vs. Acros II comparisons.
I did my scientific standard film tests in my photography test lab. And I did several shootings of different subjects, too.

The test results are very positive:
a) Acros II has absolutely nothing to do with any Kentmere / Ilford film! All these stupid conspiracy theories about Acros II being just another repackaged Harman technology / Ilford Photo film (because of the "Made in UK" on the boxes) are complete BS and have absolutely nothing to do with reality.

b) Acros II has exactly the same outstanding reciprocity characteristic as Acros I. I have tested it. It is also documented in the data sheet of Acros II, and the data sheet is absolutely right.
That is extremely important because no other BW film has this unique and outstanding characteristic.
And in colour only Fujichrome Provia 100F has that wonderful feature.

c) The excellent detail rendition of Acros I is also given by Acros II: Resolution, sharpness and fineness of grain are identical. Both films have identical MTF curves and identical RMS value. I checked it with my sophisticated resolution, sharpness and grain tests in my test lab, and both films are again identical. Data sheet is correct. Great news again.

d) There are some very small and negligible differences in spectral sensivity, and a small difference concerning the characteristic curve in the highlights (with some developers). I will not go into detail here. In the next days I will post a complete test report in the BW film subforum. Stay tuned.

So, from now on it is up to all who have loudly complained about the discontinuation of Acros: You have your film back!!
Buy it. Make this reintroduction a success! When this becomes a success, then it is much, much more likey that further film reintroductions could follow by Fujifilm in the future.
A film manufacturer has to look on his sales. That is the decisive factor!

Best regards,
Henning

Click to expand...

Thanks for the very good news.
And thanks for your time-consuming detailed test-work. I really appreciate to have such independent test results from a very experienced film-expert like you. For me that is what photrio is for.
I am looking forward to the Acros II market introduction here in Europe. I will buy lots of it, because I have used Acros I and liked it. And I agree that it is very important to support it when a manufacturer takes the risk and brings a film back.

hopefully they will bring it back in 4x5 sheets as well. this is great news. now lets hope this, along with E100 coming back, is a trend that keeps coming, like Astia coming back.

destroya said:

hopefully they will bring it back in 4x5 sheets as well. this is great news. now lets hope this, along with E100 coming back, is a trend that keeps coming, like Astia coming back.

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I would love to have it back in 4x5... I've got about 10 sheets left. If not, 120 will do me just fine. Mind you, I've got about 70 rolls of old Acros in the freezer to get through!

Regarding the films origins the suggestion in the comments in the kosmo article below, is that the new Acros II film is coated by Fuji at the kanagawa factory, Ashigara in Japan and and converted/packaged by Harman, or at least the 120 format is. The instagram user referenced is the same one, from memory, who has previously had informed news about Fuji.

This seems a likely scenario as it avoids Fuji handing over the films technology and the challenges of coating it in a different location. The reason given is to 'guarantee long-term stable production' . Presumably the volumes are relatively small and given reported high demand for film products this is a way of bringing it to market without impacting on production of other products. Fuji has a long standing co-operation arrangement with Harman so an obvious partner. As Harman only package single rolls of 120 this also explains the lack of 5-packs.

https://kosmofoto.com/2019/11/fujifilms-new-acros-100-ii-appears-to-be-made-in-the-uk/

Arcadia4 said:

Regarding the films origins the suggestion in the comments in the kosmo article below, is that the new Acros II film is coated by Fuji at the kanagawa factory, Ashigara in Japan and and converted/packaged by Harman, or at least the 120 format is. The instagram user referenced is the same one, from memory, who has previously had informed news about Fuji.

This seems a likely scenario as it avoids Fuji handing over the films technology and the challenges of coating it in a different location. The reason given is to 'guarantee long-term stable production' . Presumably the volumes are relatively small and given reported high demand for film products this is a way of bringing it to market without impacting on production of other products. Fuji has a long standing co-operation arrangement with Harman so an obvious partner. As Harman only package single rolls of 120 this also explains the lack of 5-packs.

https://kosmofoto.com/2019/11/fujifilms-new-acros-100-ii-appears-to-be-made-in-the-uk/

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The conversion by Harman is pretty confirmed by looking at the packaging. Especially the wrapper. I don't like them, btw, because they don't work well with my JCH film case. It also means no EasySeal.

While it is all speculation until confirmed by Fuji, I have felt comfortable assuming for myself that it is as you say. In recent discussion we've seen it claimed that conversion is enough to put a Made in XXX label on the film. And it does make sense. Anyone reading here for a while is probably aware that all packaging material such as backing paper, 135 canisters, etc are quite expensive.

It can be assumed that conversion costs more than the film being converted. Hence the larger part of the monetary value added happens on the conversion line and that means it is Made in England. Even if the master rolls come from Japan.

A good while ago I remember reading one of Hennings posts about Instax. What I remember is that the Instax conversion lines are running 24h in shifts. I believe he didn't say the same about the coater. Instax keeps the coater alive because I'd like to believe that the Instax business alone makes it viable. But there is still capacity left for our normal films and then probably some.

That is why I 'decided' for me that the film is coated in Japan, but converted in England. The latter because Henning let us know that Fujis conversion lines are completely oversubscribed. They would have Acros II master rolls, but no way to make them into finished film rolls.

This train of thought keeps me happy until Fuji confirms or tells us something else. And then I'll be happy too, because I'll know for sure. Whatever it will be, actually.

Henning Serger said:

Hello friends,

So, from now on it is up to all who have loudly complained about the discontinuation of Acros: You have your film back!!
Buy it. Make this reintroduction a success! When this becomes a success, then it is much, much more likey that further film reintroductions could follow by Fujifilm in the future.
A film manufacturer has to look on his sales. That is the decisive factor!

Best regards,
Henning

Click to expand...

Thanks for your effort! I'm looking forward to you posting the test details. Indeed you are right and we will have to buy this film now. Here in Germany Acros had been expensive already. I loved it but so far it has been for 'special occasions'. I stocked up 25 rolls 120 and 30 of 135 upon discontinuation. I still have those, although I did use some of the even older stock.

I guess I will actually buy Acros II (I already received a test roll of each format as part of a hardware order from Japan, two weeks ago) and use it more regulary and intermix it with Acros I. This is what must have been great in the old Film days. Being able to sparingly use specialty films and still have them commercially viable due to the large market size.

BTW, do you see anything different about the toe of Acros 1+2? While I can get similar results with other films, especially PanF+ and TMX (only ever tried one roll, 135 is still waiting in the fridge), in my hands the deep and silky shadows produced by Acros seem to have a special beauty. That is what keeps me coming back. The reciprocity and the sometimes mentioned unlimited capacity for bright highlights are secondary to me. But nice to have when needed, of course.

Besides all the parabolics, I’m curious; can we see a photo of your very sophisticated lab/equipment?

lantau said:

A good while ago I remember reading one of Hennings posts about Instax. What I remember is that the Instax conversion lines are running 24h in shifts. I believe he didn't say the same about the coater.

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You remember right .
Fujifilm is converting instax film in 3 shifts per day = 24h for many years now. Demand for instax is still increasing (already since 2004 (!!), by the way, this boom is really incredible). The next new instax camera will be introduced this spring, too. I've got a pre-information recently.
Instax film as its own, unique film type and format has of course its own converting machines / lines. 135 format film has also its own converting lines and special machines. And the same is of course also valid for 120 and sheet film.

lantau said:

Instax keeps the coater alive because I'd like to believe that the Instax business alone makes it viable. But there is still capacity left for our normal films and then probably some.

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We know that Eastman Kodak is coating all of their film products on their remaining and most modern coating machine in Building 38. One big coating machine for all products.
The same production structure is working in Mobberley at Harman technology / Ilford Photo: One big coating machine for all film and photo paper products.
And the same structure also at Foma and InovisCoat/Inovisproject (film and paper on the same coating machine).
When I visited Ilford in Mobberley at that time they run their coating line three days per month in 24-h (shift) operation. It will be probably more days now. But they don't run it at full capacity.
In Monheim at IC/IP they are meanwhile producing on an almost daily basis, mostly because of the increasing demand for Polaroid film (the negative film base is made there).

If we put all that together it is most likely that Fujifilm is also running one big coating machine, and use it for all its film products: Instax instant film, standard photo film, X-Ray film (important business for them, too), micro film, archiving film, surveillance film. And if I look at my market assessments and numbers, and look at the max. capacity of these huge coating machines, it is indeed very likely that there is still free capacity left for coating.

lantau said:

That is why I 'decided' for me that the film is coated in Japan, but converted in England. The latter because Henning let us know that Fujis conversion lines are completely oversubscribed. They would have Acros II master rolls, but no way to make them into finished film rolls.

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Both Kodak and Fujifilm are currently not able to convert enough (primarily colour negative) film to satisfy the increasing demand. Kodak has been very honest and open minded and has given information to the public that they have to invest in additional converting capacities.
And Fujifilm is also admitting that they cannot produce enough CN film. Demand is surpassing supply, and most probably converting is the bottleneck, same situation as with Kodak. Because during the time of decreasing film demand the film converting capacities were massively reduced (because it has been much easier than reducing coating capacity).
I have already written it some weeks ago (see link above):
Outsourcing film converting would make sense for Fujifilm in such a situation in which they have problems to convert enough of their main products: color film. BW film has always been a niche product in relation to their colour film production. Producing further delays of your core product by integrating a niche product into the tight production/converting schedule, would be counterproductive in such a situation.

lantau said:

This train of thought keeps me happy until Fuji confirms or tells us something else. And then I'll be happy too, because I'll know for sure. Whatever it will be, actually.

Click to expand...

Good way to look at it .

Best regards,
Henning

lantau said:

BTW, do you see anything different about the toe of Acros 1+2?

Click to expand...

No.
With the developers I have used so far my test results have not shown any significant difference in the shape of the toe curve.

Best regards,
Henning

NB23 said:

Besides all the parabolics, I’m curious; can we see a photo of your very sophisticated lab/equipment?

Click to expand...

I am using the following equipment for my standardized comparison tests:
1. Nikon F5 and two Nikon F6 bodies, both get regularly checked. The F5 and F6 have an extremely precise, self-calibrating shutter for very accurate and reliable exposures.
2. The standard test lens for evaluating resolution and sharpness is a Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/50 ZF.
3. Sometimes with films which are only available in medium format, two Mamiya 645 Pro TL are used for the tests shots. For comparison tests the Mamiya Sekor C 2,8/80 is used.
4. The sensitometric tests are done with a Heiland TRD-2 densitometer. The Heiland densitometers are the best in my experience.
5. Enlargements are done with a Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon N 2.8/50 for 35mm, and a Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Componon HM 4/60 for MF.
6. Projection tests are done with a Leica Pradovit PC with Super-Colorplan P2 lens, and additional tests with a Zeiss P-Sonnar and Doctor-Optics 2.4/90 MC-B (with aperture) for 35mm film. And in medium format a Rolleivision 66 with a Schneider AV-Xenotar 2.8/150.

Best regards,
Henning

lantau said:

The conversion by Harman is pretty confirmed by looking at the packaging. Especially the wrapper. I don't like them, btw, because they don't work well with my JCH film case. It also means no EasySeal.


It can be assumed that conversion costs more than the film being converted. Hence the larger part of the monetary value added happens on the conversion line and that means it is Made in England. Even if the master rolls come from Japan.
This train of thought keeps me happy until Fuji confirms or tells us something else. And then I'll be happy too, because I'll know for sure. Whatever it will be, actually.

Click to expand...

I may only be muddying the waters here but this post and subsequent ones made me look again at a Fuji 400CN ( the XP2 Super equivalent) and that says "Made In EU for Fujifilm"

Made in England for Acros II may simply be a change of nomenclature because Ilford anticipated the U.K. would leave the EU so there was no reason not to specify England. Indeed having left the EU it would be wrong to say made in the EU

So if no change there in reality then does the Acros II packaging mention the words "Made for Fujifilm" as did the 400CN packaging?

My 400CN has an expiry date of 2010. In those days I imagine the reason it was "Made in the EU" i.e. Ilford on England, lies in the fact that the expertise for C41 Chromogenic film then lay with Ilford and probably still does but given that Acros was a purely Fuji product then it would make sense to retain the whole production in Japan and you would expect that Fuji will do this at the earliest opportunity

I can't imagine the Fuji board being happy with Made in England on the packaging for any longer than necessary

pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

Made in England for Acros II ......

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Wrong.
On the current boxes for the Japanese market almost all is written in Japanese on these boxes.This is a packaging specially made for Fujifilm's home market.
On it currently "Made in UK" is printed.
The new boxes for the worldwide market will definitely have the international design in several languages we are used to.

Best regards,
Henning

I think we have a problem in terms of my use of the words Made in England for Acros II I should have put the Made In England in inverted commas as I should for quotes from another source - that source being the wording on the Acros II box . I was simply referring to the fact that for Acros II ( meaning in the case of Acros II) the words "Made In England " are apparently used. I base this on lantau's quote.

So in summary I was saying that in the case of Acros II the words "Made In England" are used. I am unsure about what you mean in the sentence about written in Japanese for the home market but I think you mean that while it is in Japanese as is to be expected it still says either in Japanese or in English "Made In England i.e. even on the Japanese boxes it mentions Made In England.

If I have got this correct and given I admit that I need to make it clear I was referring to three words on the Acros II box i.e. "Made in England" then I fail to see how this is wrong

My main point was simply to say I'd expect when the Fuji bottlenecks that caused it to have Ilford do part of the production for it have been resolved then I would have thought that Fuji may want to retain total production and this avoid any reference to "Made In England" on any of its Acros II boxes

I hope I have clarified matters

pentaxuser

That is the current box for the Japanese market (see attached pictures):

There's a 'music' video here of the 'production' (obsv coating is really in the dark) of instax mini film at the Fujifilm kanagawa factory as part of a 'industrial Japan' project. However its the only video I'm aware of in the kanagwa factory whcxh shows somes details of the coater and drying tunnel, film assembly and packaging. Coating from ca. 1.39..

https://idstr.jp/en/releases/t12/

Yes sadly Harman aren't going to be printing 'Made in EU' on their packaging for some time. Personally I am happy that fuji decided to produce the film rather than worry overly about the label on the final packaging.

PS - if you like old school industrial production this is the music video series for you.

Henning Serger said:

That is the current box for the Japanese market (see attached pictures):

Click to expand...

Thanks yes 'Made in UK' not 'England' well at least for now...Also confirms this is both 135 and 120.

Arcadia4 said:

There's a 'music' video here of the 'production' (obsv coating is really in the dark) of instax mini film at the Fujifilm kanagawa factory as part of a 'industrial Japan' project. However its the only video I'm aware of in the kanagwa factory whcxh shows somes details of the coater and drying tunnel, film assembly and packaging. Coating from ca. 1.39..

https://idstr.jp/en/releases/t12/

Click to expand...

Thanks.
There have been some video sequences of the instax packaging line in a detailed report (45min) about Fujifilm's successful restructuring process from 2006 onwards. Was a very good documentary published online.

Arcadia4 said:

Yes sadly Harman aren't going to be printing 'Made in EU' on their packaging for some time. Personally I am happy that fuji decided to produce the film rather than worry overly about the label on the final packaging.

Click to expand...

Exactly.
Having Acros II as a result of a Fujifilm / Ilford cooperation is 1000x better than having no Acros at all.

Best regards,
Henning

Arcadia4 said:

Thanks yes 'Made in UK' not 'England' well at least for now...Also confirms this is both 135 and 120.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is both on the 135 and 120 boxes. And if you look at the boxes, and see the way of converting for the films, you immediately see the Ilford converting.

Best regards,
Henning

Thanks for the pictures Henning. So what part of my statement in #17 was wrong? It looks as if what you are confirming is what I wrote in #17 and covered again in #19

pentaxuser