Simon R Galley and Ilford

(Does this site already have too many grumpy old men?)

We can never have enough. We should form a group.

And Ilford does have terrific customer service. Speaking of which, a mouse got into my paper drawer and ate the corner of my 11x14 fibre, and the light got at it. Simon.........?

Dear Johnny Walker,

Good news, the mouse will come to absolutely no harm...... silver is an antimicrobial* so it may even stop the mouse smelling, if it ate the box.... the ILFORD boxes are made from recycled material and then overwrapped with the nice paper, so again the mouse will will be fine, don't worry. The paper will be ruined, hard cheese as they say.

*Hence of course "born with a 'silver spoon' in your mouth", before refridgerators, the wealthy ate with silver cutlery..for a very good reason.


Regards Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

silveror0 said:

I second all the kind words to Simon, and I love his sense of humor. I've been transitioning to Ilford products as my Kodak inventory is depleted (started well before Kodak's recently published ills), mainly because of Ilford's expressed commitment to all of us APUGers.

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Same here: I have used PanF (Plus) and FP4 exclusively in the Blads for years - wonderful films. For my 35mm (black and white) shooting, I use HP5 and Tri-X pretty much interchangeably (although I must admit to a bit of a preference for the latter when possible); for existing light work, the nod, again, goes to Ilford's Delta 3200. My color work, of course, remains the exclusive province of Kodak. I absolutely love E100G and E100VS. When these two are gone, I will hang up my color shooting.

After using and promoting Ilford paper for years, I find I can no long afford this marvelous product. Oh well.

Eric Rose said:

...I find I can no long afford this marvelous product...

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I'm particularly fond of the saying "you're not rich enough to afford cheap things."

Simon R Galley said:

Dear Johnny Walker,

Good news, the mouse will come to absolutely no harm...... silver is an antimicrobial* so it may even stop the mouse smelling, if it ate the box....

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The mouse is no longer with us, through no fault of Ilford. The cat however was greatly relieved to hear the news.

BradleyK said:

Same here: I have used PanF (Plus) and FP4 exclusively in the Blads for years - wonderful films. For my 35mm (black and white) shooting, I use HP5 and Tri-X pretty much interchangeably (although I must admit to a bit of a preference for the latter when possible); for existing light work, the nod, again, goes to Ilford's Delta 3200. My color work, of course, remains the exclusive province of Kodak. I absolutely love E100G and E100VS. When these two are gone, I will hang up my color shooting.

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Completely agree about Ilford. I've been using FP4+ as my medium speed film since Plus-X was discontinued and love it. Just shot my first two rolls of Pan F in a couple of decades and looks like great results there too. I have found I can get slightly better grain and another stop of effective speed from TMZ than Delta 3200 but that was a long time ago - maybe I should try Delta 3200 in 35mm again. I do love it in 120.

As an aside about the color, I love those films too, went to E100G when Astia was discontinued, but since the demise of Ilfochrome I am changing to neg film except for the slide film I have in stock, of occasionally for projection. Try the new Portras, either 160 or 400, for a neutral, fully but not overly saturated neg film and Ektar 100 in place of E100VS. Oh, wait, that won't help you if Kodak dies...

I like Ilford a lot and appreciate their sticking to what they know and do best, black and white, which is also my first and main photographic love, but I do enough color that I really wish the prospects for Portra 400 and Ektar 100 were brighter than they look.

tomalophicon said:

Yes, thei'r...

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yes,they are !at photokina2020in cologne their ceo announced that ilford will be the last company 'standing' in the b7wbusiness

RalphLambrecht said:

yes,they are !at photokina2020in cologne their ceo announced that ilford will be the last company 'standing' in the b7wbusiness

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And I believe they are quite serious about their "last man standing" plan.

I hope to be one of their last customers.

michaelbsc said:

And I believe they are quite serious about their "last man standing" plan.

I hope to be one of their last customers.

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May you live eternally !

Karl-Gustaf