But to answer his question. They use AgpaPhot APX 100 name because they own it and they don't use Kentmere Pan 100 because they can't. THAT would be a fraud.
That may be, but still it does not compare to what was APX. It is not APX so the labeling is nothing less than fraud. If it is a good emulsion why not simply sell it as what it is instead of suggesting it is something better?
May I suggest you calm down, perhaps with a nice cup of tea?
You come across as very angry about this.
If it really is Kentmere 100, then high consistency is well expected. Harman is Harman, after all. I shot through two 100ft bulk rolls of Kentmere 100 + ten to fifteen ordinary 36-frame rolls and every single inch of that film performed as expected. Then I moved on to FP4+ but that's a different story.Extremely high quality and consistency. I've used 50+ rolls and never once found a defect.
As far as I remember, Silvermax 100 was closest to original (Agfa-Gevaert, not "AgfaPhoto") APX 100. One that was discontinued back in the early 2000s, along with other Agfa-Gevaert consumer films.You mention Silvermax 100. I happened to use that as well when it was a available. No, the two films were definitely different. Both beautiful in their own right.
Who makes the Agfa APX 100 plates? It doesn't say "Agfaphoto" or where they are being manufactured.
Glasplattenfilm
Agfa APX 100 Glasplatten, Format 65x90mm, Abpackung: 10 Gläser pro Packungseinheit. Kein Mindestbestellwert✓ Gratis Versand ab 89,-€✓ schnell &…www.macodirect.de
My guess would be Agfa at Mortsel, Belgium. It's Agfa, not Agfaphoto.
That's possible. I wonder if they use the original APX 100 emulsion...
Why tea. Why not a steak. I mean something made of crickets and declared a steak.
Now exactly that is it why I am angry. I grow up at times when you did know what you buy and not get cheated with labels not covering what they promise. May be you did not know those times. If for you it is ok to have to guess every time what is behind a label, for me it is not, so dont tell me not to be angry. I used to buy film without having every two year to guess what is in the box. When they changes something, than they told you so.
I can get it for 5EUR today in Latvia - lovely AF!in Germany sold for 4 Euro
I've used all three of them as slides - RPX/APX 100 and Kentmere 100. Call me blind or something, but to me they're identical, especially when all receive one reversal treatment.FWIW, I have used the Rollei RPX100 and found it to be virtually identical to Kentmere 100, right down to the base dye. I expect the "Agfa" product is also in this family of films.
Are you familiar with the work of the Naked Photographer on youtube? He has been doing a long term comparison between Tri-X and all the 35mm film he was able to buy at B&H. He does a basic curve comparison, then develops both films in D76 and finally compares his prints.
Here's the Agfaphoto APX 100 episode
Here's his curve comparison bit
Here's the spectral response comparison bit. Tri-X on the right, Agfaphoto APX on the left
Note the slightly hotter highlights on the APX 100 print. It's not a fault of the APX per se, it's just that Greg is intimately familiar with developing TriX in D76, but not intimately familiar with developing the competing film in D76. So he just goes by the book (leaflet) which sometimes leads to sub-optimal development (in this case, slight overdevelopment of the APX 100). With good practice, the APX looks even better.
Anyhow - take homes for me: nice straight curve in stock D76. Great classic panchromatic response without major red/blue oddities. Exactly as I've observed myself. Excellent Caucasian skin tone rendition.
A couple more observations from me: very dark base, just like Kentmere and Rollei RPX. Extremely high quality and consistency. I've used 50+ rolls and never once found a defect.
You mention Silvermax 100. I happened to use that as well when it was a available. No, the two films were definitely different. Both beautiful in their own right. One immediate difference was finer grain in Silvermax 100. I have never used FP4+ in 35mm so can't comment (though I occasionally use it in 120 and it's an astoundingly good film).
Thanks for this overview! I still have some of the Agfaphoto APX-100 "old emulsion" in the freezer, bought in the early 2010s (must have been in between 2010 and 2013) in German drugstores when it was clear that it will be soon over. And yes, the "new"-label is the only difference in packaging to the version now, Made by Harman.As was pointed out, Agfapan APX-100 is not a product on the market now. It was the original APX-100, previously produced in Leverkusen, Germany by (the real) Agfa-Gevaert. Agfaphoto APX-100 (the same product as the last Agfapan version more or less) was briefly sold by the original division of Agfa-Gevaert, from when it was spun out in 2004 until bankruptcy in 2005. Lupus bought the rights to use Agfaphoto branding on their line of film products sometime between 2005 and 2011.
Then, briefly, Lupus imaging sold this *same* original, real stock as Agfaphoto APX-100 in 2011-2013 using stored/frozen jumbos that were confectioned for them by Ilford/Harman in England. These boxes look *identical* to the current offering, but without "New Emulsion" labels.
The last of this stock was sold off by about 2015. By this point Lupus had begun shipping Kentmere 100 in the exact same packaging, with the exact same branding, with only "New Emulsion" label showing the difference. To confuse the matter, many sites and shops continued to sell it like it was the same film. Some did not even update photos of the packaging. Remember, Harman was already confectioning the earlier stock, so switching to confectioning Kentmere 100 instead did not disrupt supply lines in any way.
Now, since about 2014-ish the stock available as Agfaphoto APX-100 is Kentmere. A good film. Not the same stock at all, though.
The nearest cousin to the original APX-100 available in the last decade was ADOX Silvermax 100, which used much original Agfa chemistry in its formulation. When those original chemicals ran out, it went out of production finally, forever. About 4-5 years ago.
Is anyone using the currently available AgfaPhoto Agfapan APX 100? It's one of the less expensive films available in N America compared with TMX and TMY.
Who makes it and what are it's characteristics?
It is simple: AgfaPhoto APX 100 is just Kentmere 100 film. And AgfaPhoto APX 400 is Kentmere 400.
I have tested them under identical conditions side-by-side, including test charts and evaluation of the HD curves.
Identical results - identical films.
Another evidence:
Same behaviour when photographing strong light sources: The Kentmeres have worse halation behaviour as the Ilford branded films.
So you get a bit of halation around the light sources. Here again exactly the same behaviour with the AgfaPhoto films and the Kentmeres.
Finishing is exactly Harman quality. And as Harman technology is not selling their Ilford branded films to other companies for rebranding, but they do it with the Kentmeres: Logical conclusion: It can only be the Kentmere films.
As was pointed out, Agfapan APX-100 is not a product on the market now. It was the original APX-100, previously produced in Leverkusen, Germany by (the real) Agfa-Gevaert. Agfaphoto APX-100 (the same product as the last Agfapan version more or less) was briefly sold by the original division of Agfa-Gevaert, from when it was spun out in 2004 until bankruptcy in 2005. Lupus bought the rights to use Agfaphoto branding on their line of film products sometime between 2005 and 2011.
Then, briefly, Lupus imaging sold this *same* original, real stock as Agfaphoto APX-100 in 2011-2013 using stored/frozen jumbos that were confectioned for them by Ilford/Harman in England. These boxes look *identical* to the current offering, but without "New Emulsion" labels.
The last of this stock was sold off by about 2015. By this point Lupus had begun shipping Kentmere 100 in the exact same packaging, with the exact same branding, with only "New Emulsion" label showing the difference. To confuse the matter, many sites and shops continued to sell it like it was the same film. Some did not even update photos of the packaging. Remember, Harman was already confectioning the earlier stock, so switching to confectioning Kentmere 100 instead did not disrupt supply lines in any way.
Now, since about 2014-ish the stock available as Agfaphoto APX-100 is Kentmere. A good film. Not the same stock at all, though.
The nearest cousin to the original APX-100 available in the last decade was ADOX Silvermax 100, which used much original Agfa chemistry in its formulation. When those original chemicals ran out, it went out of production finally, forever. About 4-5 years ago.
Thanks for this overview! I still have some of the Agfaphoto APX-100 "old emulsion" in the freezer, bought in the early 2010s (must have been in between 2010 and 2013) in German drugstores when it was clear that it will be soon over. And yes, the "new"-label is the only difference in packaging to the version now, Made by Harman.
Yes! When I lived in Germany during that time, I bought a lot of it at DM for about €2.50!
Why tea. Why not a steak. I mean something made of crickets and declared a steak.
Now exactly that is it why I am angry. I grow up at times when you did know what you buy and not get cheated with labels not covering what they promise. May be you did not know those times. If for you it is ok to have to guess every time what is behind a label, for me it is not, so dont tell me not to be angry. I used to buy film without having every two year to guess what is in the box. When they changes something, than they told you so.
It is not APX so the labeling is nothing less than fraud. If it is a good emulsion why not simply sell it as what it is instead of suggesting it is something better?
Or a bad thing - if Kentmere is no more, so will other iterations disappear.
The consumer target for this film is entry-level film photographers too young to have known (or to care of today) the old APX.
Thank you Mark..... there is some useful information at last. More along the lines of what i asked...The only thing true Agfa left, other than some remaining stock of aero films and maybe new X-ray films is Orwo. Orwo/Wolfen, like SIlvermax, has a pedigree leading directly back to Agfa (Agfa trapped behind the iron curtain). So if you really want to try an Agfa[like] film, and don't want expired, maybe try some Orwo/Wolfen. I have not shot any yet, but have one or two rolls of rebranded Orwo to try eventually. Orwo/Wolfen is absolutely more Agfa than today's Agfaphoto.
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