Questions about Adox Films

Mark Antony said:

I never meant to stir up any trouble, possibly I should have said Former communist eastern european country.
I understand that Tito was much more open to the west and parts of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were quite liberal. But there was some repression I think of the Croatians in the early 70's and a student movement was put down just as in Prague a few years earlier (although by Tito not by Russia).

But my point was mainly that as far as I know the machinery used to make EFKE films in the 1950's is the same machinery used to make Adox films in this century- capitalist western nations obviously didn't invest heavily in Fotokemika.

Sorry if I upset any Croatians, that was not the point of my post please accept my apologies.

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It's like trying to figure out relatives in a small town sometimes, your aunt who dropped out of grade 6 can explain it to you, while your cousin with 4 Doctorates and 5 Master Degrees hasn't got a hope. So you draw it out, and end up with a map that makes the London Underground Map look simple in comparison.

AgX said:

Fotokemika started in 1947 but used that former Adox machinery not earlier as 1970.
They took it over from Dupont who themselves acquired the Adox company in 1962.

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I started using 35mm film in the late 60's and adox was one of the brands I often found in stores as being sold at a discount for being short dated. The last batch I found of those would have been made in the 70s .. Those boxes refered to dupont, who I understand wanted the ADOX company for making industrial films. The ADOX products disappeared at that time, and the EFKE film did not show up anywhere that I saw until 10 years later. The ADOX chemicals which included a developer which came pre measured in a small one use bottle (I believe it was called E-10) never seemed to come back.

`New´ Fotokemika states that `old´ Fotokemika started pruduction of films in 1957 and acquired licences from Dupont in 1970. That does not neccessarily mean that they started production on the imported german machinery the same year. Though, I thought so.

Perhaps Fotokemika served a regional market first for all kinds of their films and thus you did not come across Efke films around that time.

Could it be that Dupunt used the Adox brand beyond 1970 for films produced in their US coating plant?

AgX said:

Perhaps Fotokemika served a regional market first for all kinds of their films and thus you did not come across Efke films around that time.

Could it be that Dupunt used the Adox brand beyond 1970 for films produced in their US coating plant?

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I will have to see if I still have the one box I saved from that time period, and check the expiry date. I recall that I had the impression that it was German made film. Dupont had phased out their pictorial films some time earlier.

Here in this link is a found 1950's film the box clearly says made in Germany
http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/2007_08_12_archive.html
You have to click on the photos to make them larger.
Mark

Mark,

The question was (I guess) whether there were Adox branded films beyond 1970 and before the name had been re-surrected by those canadian and german new Adox-companies.

All Adox films before 1962 were definitely from Germany, and those up to 1970 most probably.

Sure, the Canadian films are Adox by name only as far as I know, I know that Dupont licensed the technology (but not the Adox name) to Fotokemika in 1970 whether that means the actual machinery was shipped from Germany to Zagreb at that time I don't know- but probably.
The Adox brand is now owned by Photo Impex (for Europe) I think the confusion of the two Adox brands is probably born of the trade name rights in North America being separated from the European rights (in the U.S ADOX is a registered trademark of DuPont chemicals).
I have been using the films only from the 1980's onwards, they were always branded EFKE or in my local area Jessops used them for their own brand.
I think the return to the original name is a recent Photo Impex thing.
Mark

I bought EFKE Adox branded films in the 70's and early 80's but then the UK importer changed and they were later sold as Jessop's own brand films.

I have an article from Amateur Photographer dated June 1978 which shows the film being sold under the EFKE Adox name, and made by Fotokemica, Zagreb, under licence from Du Pont, Fotowerke.

As far as I remember the Du Pont licence allowed Fotokemica (EFKE) the use of the name Adox for the emulsions, and that ceased when the licence expired. Certainly they were advertised as Adox films, and always carried the Dupont licence. It was Dupont who let the trade name lapse allowing Fotoimpex and others to register the name years later..

In BJP Almanacs from the 60's Adox film & paper was imported and distributed by Luminos, and I think that may be linked to the later sale of Adox papers under the Luminos brand name in the US.



Ian

AgX said:

`New´ Fotokemika states that `old´ Fotokemika started pruduction of films in 1957 and acquired licences from Dupont in 1970. That does not neccessarily mean that they started production on the imported german machinery the same year. Though, I thought so.

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HI AgX:

I did find the old ADOX box I saved, and we may be both right.
It is from a roll of KB-17 that I bought in the early 70's, But it turns out the exiry date was Jul70. I was a kid starting out and buying film with a small allowance so I haunted Camera stores to find their out of date adox and ansco film, as it typicaly sold for half price or less.

The box is marked that is is made in Germany Ges Gesch WZ (whatever that means) by du pont fotowerke ADOX gmbh Franfurt am Main. it is size 135-20 and is marked 17 din on one side and 40 ASA on the other. The Emuslion Number was 118939.

This sort of low speed film generally had a couple of years expiry so it was undoubtedly made BEFORE 1970. I don't recall seeing anything from EFKE till many years later so it is hard to say how long they took to get up to speed on the equipment and licences they obtained from Dupont.

`Ges. Gesch. WZ´ means `Gesetzlich Geschütztes Warenzeichen´(`Legally Protected Trademark´).

AgX said:

`Ges. Gesch. WZ´ means `Gesetzlich Geschütztes Warenzeichen´(`Legally Protected Trademark´).

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Thanks! it is always good to learn...