replacement for agfa optima 120mm film?

jlfmcnichols · Jan 3, 2006

Hi there - new to this forum having only found it after my late discovery of the demise of agfa.

I'm now desperately searching for either backstock of agfa optima 120mm 400 iso film or recommendations of a closely matching film. I'm in the middle of a long-term project during which I've shot ONLY agfa optima film and have grown to love its color saturation, sharpness, and consistancy.

The last time I shot something other than Agfa (probably about 8 years ago), it was Kodak and printing (I print all my own work) was a nightmare because every roll had a different tone to it (one roll would be greenish, one reddish) - even when they came from the same batch of film.

So, anybody know anything? Where can I find some backstock? OR what can I use this weekend on a shoot I have planned that will meet the color saturation and consistancy of agfa?

Thanks for your help... This whole thing is a big headache!

Jennifer
(Brief intro: I'm a fine art photographer/traditional photography holdout. I still use film and I hand print all my color prints myself. My "big" project currently is carnivals with side projects of nature, kids rides, and self portraits. You can see my work if you're interested at www.thefunmachinephotography.com)

eumenius · Jan 4, 2006

Jennifer,
that's not easy to recommend the colour negative film to switch to, but may I point to Fuji NPH400? It's a wonderful film, extremely consistent in colour balance/saturation. Personally I switched long long ago from AGFA directly to Fuji line, and I'm VERY happy - the whole range is outstanding, NPS/NPC 160, NPH400, NPZ800 and my favourite NPL160, tungsten-balanced. I print all my color negs too, and it's always the same basic filtration. Give it a try, I hope you wouldn't be disappointed. The skin tones of Fuji NP line are especially good, on my opinion.

Cheers from Moscow,
Zhenya

Paul Sorensen · Jan 4, 2006

Welcome to APUG Jennifer. I took a look at your site and I love your work.

I can't say for sure that they have it in stock, but profilm.com has Optima 200 in 120 listed on their site. Here is the page: http://www.profilm.com/ViewProduct.aspx?id=100166. I have purchased from them many times and never had any problems.

Not sure that the 200 speed works for you, but I thought you might like to know.

Paul.

jlfmcnichols · Jan 4, 2006

eumenius said:
Jennifer,
that's not easy to recommend the colour negative film to switch to, but may I point to Fuji NPH400? It's a wonderful film, extremely consistent in colour balance/saturation. Personally I switched long long ago from AGFA directly to Fuji line, and I'm VERY happy - the whole range is outstanding, NPS/NPC 160, NPH400, NPZ800 and my favourite NPL160, tungsten-balanced. I print all my color negs too, and it's always the same basic filtration. Give it a try, I hope you wouldn't be disappointed. The skin tones of Fuji NP line are especially good, on my opinion.

Cheers from Moscow,
Zhenya

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give the Fuji NPH a try and see how it compares to the Agfa!

Jennifer

jlfmcnichols · Jan 4, 2006

Paul Sorensen said:
Welcome to APUG Jennifer. I took a look at your site and I love your work.

I can't say for sure that they have it in stock, but profilm.com has Optima 200 in 120 listed on their site. Here is the page: http://www.profilm.com/ViewProduct.aspx?id=100166. I have purchased from them many times and never had any problems.

Not sure that the 200 speed works for you, but I thought you might like to know.

Paul.

Oh, thanks for the tip. I prefer to shoot with the 400 but I've used the 200 before and it's worked so I could probably go with that while I try out other films. Thanks for looking at the site - glad you liked the work! Off to order some film.

Jennifer

jd callow · Jan 4, 2006

To look at your work I think Fuji NPC or Kodak's Ultra 100 or 400 would fit nicely.

CraigK · Jan 4, 2006

Hi Jennifer,

For what it's worth, I noticed that Photo Central here in Winnipeg, Canada has about a dozen rolls of 120 Agfa Optima 400 and maybe 30 rolls of the Optima 100 in the fridge. probably about 4 to 4 1/2 bucks (canadian) per roll.

www.photocentral.ca

204 774-4343

jlfmcnichols · Jan 4, 2006

CraigK said:
Hi Jennifer,

For what it's worth, I noticed that Photo Central here in Winnipeg, Canada has about a dozen rolls of 120 Agfa Optima 400 and maybe 30 rolls of the Optima 100 in the fridge. probably about 4 to 4 1/2 bucks (canadian) per roll.

www.photocentral.ca

204 774-4343

Thanks I'll give them a call when I get off work!

Fotohuis · Jan 5, 2006

ONLY agfa optima film and have grown to love its color saturation, sharpness, and consistancy.

To get rid of your headache:

Fuji NPC if you like much color saturation as descriped.

the whole range is outstanding, NPS/NPC 160, NPH400, NPZ800

Zhenya: I can only agree with your comments. Best film: I am always using Fuji NPH for my wedding reportages and under low light conditions NPZ.

Best regards from the Netherlands and by the way: happy New Year.

Robert

Matt5791 · Jan 5, 2006

Although I do not print my own colour prints (yet!) I have found Fuji NPH400 to be an excellent film with a great colour saturation.

They have just changed the name to Pro400 - so some places may be stocking it as that now.

Matt

Ed Sukach · Jan 5, 2006

I, too, was hooked on Agfa Optima. To me, a *wonderful* film.
This *hurts*

I guess I'll have to go to Fuji ... but I can foresee a rather tough learning curve.

jlfmcnichols · Jan 5, 2006

Ed Sukach said:
I, too, was hooked on Agfa Optima. To me, a *wonderful* film.
This *hurts*

I guess I'll have to go to Fuji ... but I can foresee a rather tough learning curve.

Oh, it just makes me want to cry every time I think about it... The Fuji has gotten good recommendations on this thread so I'll get some of that and try it out but since I don't have access to a color darkroom but once every year it'll be hard to really tell what kinds of results I'm getting - contacts can only get you so far. Good luck and let me know if you find any other good film to experiment with!

braxus · Jan 14, 2006

http://www.vistek.ca/details/details.aspx?WebCode=100219&CategoryID=ProPhotoFilm

They have stock of both 120 and 220 of this film according to their website. This is in Canada, so it will have to cross the border to get to you.
But instead of ordering from the internet, its really best to call them with their 1 800 number and find out exactly what quantities they have left. I did this when they still had some Verichrome Pan and I bought all their remaining stock of it down to the last roll. Keep in mind their phone can often be busy, so you have to keep trying during the day to get a hold of them. They are especially harder to get through near the end of the business day, so calling early in the day is best.

replacement for agfa optima 120mm film?

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