Status of film manufacturing in the world

[flavio81]

Hi,

I post this on "Industry News" because i think it's the best category for this thread.

What i suggest with this thread is to have a "snapshot" of who is still making film in the world and who does not. This is an attempt to have a thread that tells us where film is still being made, internationally. Correct me if i'm wrong and please update this thread with corrections and news so this thread is kept alive.

Ilford (Harman->Pemberstone Ventures)
Everything fine at Ilford, they manufacture film, paper, chemistry, introduced new products in the last few years (Kentmere and "Ilford PAN" films)

Foma
Everything fine at Foma, they manufacture film, paper, chemistry, they even introduced a new product lately (Retropan 320)

ADOX
Everything fine at Adox, they manufacture film, paper, chemistry, and even introduce new products, I understand they have a research coater for testing films at a small scale and big scale production is made in association with InovisCoat.

Agfa Leverkusen->InovisCoat
Agfa Leverkusen film coating machinery and people went to Inoviscoat where they have coated film for the Impossible project and Adox, they have a very modern plant. (Please correct me if i'm wrong).

Agfa-Belgium
Supposedly this is the plant that coats the "industrial" films like B/W aerophotography film. Are they still coating photo film, or are they just selling the stocks they have?

Impossible
I understand they produce diverse instant film with help from Inoviscoat and Ilford.

Ferrania
Currently they have the small scale coater (at the LRF) with the possibility of a bigger coater, and they are progressing to launch an E6 ISO 100 film, having all the machinery and team necessary to do it.

OrWo ("Original Wolfen", East Germany, historically Agfa)
They are selling B/W Orwo film through a website in the USA. Are they still coating it, or is it from existing stock?

Fuji
Makers of the best slide film ever and experts at raising prices.
Are they really still coating E6 films or are they just selling the stock they have until the master roll runs out?
Also, i understand that in japan they sell a much wide range of films that in other parts of the world.
I understand that Instant film is a big hit with them currently.

Kodak
Makers of the best color negative films ever and experts at self-destruction.
Not sure what to write here. I assume they are still coating film, although no idea on what do they plan to do in the future.

Svema (and Tasma)
I understand they are not producing any film anymore. Who purchased Svema's machines?

Forte
I understand this factory is long gone. What happened to the machinery?

Lucky (China)
I understand they are not producing any film anymore.

Is any factory missing on this list?
Please include the factories i'm missing and that are currently manufacturing camera film (or planning to do so in the future).

Film labels
Here i list the companies that sell stock from one or more of the manufacturers above under their own label (nothing wrong with this, i'm just listing, to have the complete picture)

Freestyle (Foma, etc)
Rollei (from Agfa-Belgium?)
Lomography (Kodak, Ferrania stock, maybe Inoviscoat for the 'Purple' film)
Bergger (who makes it?)
AgfaPhoto (Fuji?)

Film types currently made only by one manufacturer in the world (please correct as needed)
B/W chromogenic: Ilford (Ilford XP2)
B/W extreme speed: Ilford (Delta 3200)
B/W slide: Foma (Fomapan R100)
Pseudo-Infrared: Ilford (Ilford SFX 200)
Infrared: Agfa-Belgium??
Color slide: Fujifilm (Velvia, Provia)

 

[mehguy]

Agfaphoto is just repackaged Fuji E6 and C41 film. As for the Black and White film Agfaphoto offers, I believe it's a custom made emulsion made in the Ilford factory.

 

[Cholentpot]

Shanghai is making and selling 4x5 B&W and other sheet films again. Rumor has it that they will start with 120 and 220 soon. I've seen the 4x5 on sale fresh on Ebay and on LF forum there is talk about those who have purchased and used it.

Here's hoping for the 120 and even nicer for some 220.

 

[gorbas]

OrWo ("Original Wolfen", East Germany, historically Agfa)
They are selling B/W Orwo film through a website in the USA. Are they still coating it, or is it from existing stock?

Current name of the company is Filmtec. They make 2 camera negative films 100 and 400iso plus lab films. ORWO NA is just their North American distributor.

 

[MattKing]

Eastman Kodak is still manufacturing and selling significant volumes of motion picture film.

Kodak Alaris is still buying still film manufactured for them by Eastman Kodak, and marketing it.

 

[mshchem]

Eastman Kodak is still manufacturing and selling significant volumes of motion picture film.

Kodak Alaris is still buying still film manufactured for them by Eastman Kodak, and marketing it.

What would be really nice to know is if Alaris has any real legal leverage with EKCo. to insure continued production of film. My assumption has always been that without cinema color negative stock that Rochester would throw in the towel. Alaris has closed the factory they own in the UK so Alaris is out of the coating business shifting to a toll manufacturing agreement with Carestream . I see Alaris trying to shift away from film as soon as it struggles in anyway .
Here's a question I would like answered by Alaris when they transfer products to Carestream can we get cut sheets of real professional grade Alaris paper again ?

I have a dream that EKCo. would get the film and paper business back from Alaris and really make a go again at being a vertically integrated imaging company . I know I probably sound crazy but without the ability to really develop new markets and products what keeps The Eastman Kodak Company truly vested in film?

I just don't know what is really happening behind the scenes but I suspect we will get some bad news some day without warning .
Best Regards Mike

 

[mooseontheloose]

Not a factory, but there's also the one-man operation of Film Washi - he coats his own film (paper negatives) on Japanese paper, plus offers other types of repackaged films.

And of course the good folks over at New55 producing 4x5 instant film.

 

[MattKing]

Kodak Alaris also has a manufacturing facility in Windsor Colorado, where Carestream is. I don't know whether that is actually a shared interest in the Carestream facility, or a separate one.

 

[railwayman3]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that there was a manufacturer in India (possible photo papers) ???

 

[BMbikerider]

Hi,

I post this on "Industry News" because i think it's the best category for this thread.

What i suggest with this thread is to have a "snapshot" of who is still making film in the world and who does not. This is an attempt to have a thread that tells us where film is still being made, internationally. Correct me if i'm wrong and please update this thread with corrections and news so this thread is kept alive.

Ilford (Harman->Pemberstone Ventures)
Everything fine at Ilford, they manufacture film, paper, chemistry, introduced new products in the last few years (Kentmere and "Ilford PAN" films)

I should point out that Ilford have not 'introduced 'Kentmere'. They bought that company out. Ilford are based in a place called Moberly and are on a vast site. Kentmere was a small business, located some 250 miles away, hidden in back street in a small village called Staveley on the edge of the English lake District, and if you didn't know of them you would not have given it second thoughts as you drove through.
They (Ilford) have continued producing 'Kentmere', but I believe it is their version, not the original Kentmere. Kentmere papers were at least twice as fast as Ilford multigrade, and grade for grade were harder and were a colder tone.

The Kentmere fibre based papers have been discontinued completely, much to my dissapointment! Not only that, the resin coated papers made by Kentmere were significantly cheaper than the Ilford products, but now under the auspices of Ilford they are about the same. (in UK anyway.)

I don't know definitely, and have no proof, but to me it seems it was a larger company just wanted to eliminate competition.

 

[BMbikerider]

Agfaphoto is just repackaged Fuji E6 and C41 film. As for the Black and White film Agfaphoto offers, I believe it's a custom made emulsion made in the Ilford factory.

I go along with this. Look at a cassette of Fuji Superia be it 24 or 36 Exp then an equivalent in the Agfa Colour neg film. Under the lip of the felt lined slot is a small set of numbers and on the 24 exp cassettes from both lables the number is the same. Likewise with the 36 exp cassettes they are the same. Look at Kodak films and the numbers are in the same place, but are different to that of Agfa and Fuji

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

I should point out that Ilford have not 'introduced 'Kentmere'. They bought that company out. Ilford are based in a place called Moberly and are on a vast site. Kentmere was a small business, located some 250 miles away in a small village and if you didn't know of them you would not have given it second thoughts as you drove through.
They have continued producing 'Kentmere' but I believe it is their version, not the original. Kentmere papers were at least twice as fast as Ilford multigrade,grade for grade were harder and were a colder tone.
The Kentmere fibre based papers have been discontinued completely, much to my dissapointment. Not only that, the resin coated papers made by Kentmere were significantly cheaper than the Ilford products, now under the control of Ilford they are about the same. (in UK anyway.)

I don't know definitely, and have no proof, but to me it seems it was a larger company just wanted to eliminate competition.

Part of what you have said is true, but there's some muddle in there.

Harman Technology (Ilford photo) bought Kentmere based on representations that were made to them. That was in 2008 if I remember well.
When they went to inspect the factory a lot of bad things from a Health and Safety viewpoint were apparent. Besides the fact that some of the papers were coated using a formula that was only in someone's head.
If you remember well the old Kentmere factory in Cumbria didn't produce films.
Harman took what they could and tried to re-create the papers at their Mobberley factory.
They had no other option than to close down the Kentmere factory.

A year later (2009) they launched a new film branded as Kentmere initially in the US and then later in the UK and other European countries.
The branding of their lowest priced film as Kentmere was due to marketing reasons. There is nothing on that film that came from the old Kentmere film apart the name and logo.

This information comes courtesy of an interview with one of Harman's Directors taken last year and available on the Film Photography Podcast site.
Here: http://filmphotographyproject.com/p...otography-podcast-episode-123-–-april-15-2015

 

[Ian Grant]

I should point out that Ilford have not 'introduced 'Kentmere'. They bought that company out. Ilford are based in a place called Moberly and are on a vast site. Kentmere was a small business, located some 250 miles away in a small village and if you didn't know of them you would not have given it second thoughts as you drove through.
They have continued producing 'Kentmere' but I believe it is their version, not the original. Kentmere papers were at least twice as fast as Ilford multigrade,grade for grade were harder and were a colder tone.
The Kentmere fibre based papers have been discontinued completely, much to my dissapointment. Not only that, the resin coated papers made by Kentmere were significantly cheaper than the Ilford products, now under the control of Ilford they are about the same. (in UK anyway.)

I don't know definitely, and have no proof, but to me it seems it was a larger company just wanted to eliminate competition.

In terms of Film manufacturers Ilford/Harman Technology have actually introduced Kentmere films as a budget brand. The current Kentmere range of papers are Ilford replacements not the original products.

Some years ago mid to late 1970s I went to the Kentmere Professional dealer in Harborne, Birmigham, a company called Granville. Talking to the owners son he claimed that Kentmere were using his family's paper emulsion formulae, there was some dispute about the rights to use them and payment. The original company Granville Gulliman & Co, Ltd were photographic film and paper manufacturers based in Leamington Spa, the company was dissolved in 1968.

Ian

 

[vdonovan]

Don't forget New55. They are coating and assembling 4x5 instant film (a re-formulation of Polaroid's Type55 positive/negative instant film) at their small factory in Ashland, Massachusetts.

They are also marketing a 4x5 black and white negative film, called Atomic X. They've said is it made for them in China, I would guess by Shanghai.

 

[captain ZZM]

In Tianjin has a factory call "Sanhuan" is still coating glass plate and l can find some photographers who has plate camera using it. Lucky still coating B/W film call SHD 100 but it has terrible high light.

 

[Ian Grant]

Part of what you have said is true, but there's some muddle in there.

Harman Technology (Ilford photo) bought Kentmere based on representations that were made to them. That was in 2008 if I remember well.
When they went to inspect the factory a lot of bad things from a Health and Safety viewpoint were apparent. Besides the fact that some of the papers were coated using a formula that was only in someone's head.
If you remember well the old Kentmere factory in Cumbria didn't produce films.
Harman took what they could and tried to re-create the papers at their Mobberley factory.
They had no other option than to close down the Kentmere factory.

A year later (2009) they launched a new film branded as Kentmere initially in the US and then later in the UK and other European countries.
The branding of their lowest priced film as Kentmere was due to marketing reasons. There is nothing on that film that came from the old Kentmere film apart the name and logo.

This information comes courtesy of an interview with one of Harman's Directors taken last year and available on the Film Photography Podcast site.
Here: http://filmphotographyproject.com/podcast/2015/04/film-photography-podcast-episode-123-–-april-15-2015

A correction Ilford/Harman didn't close the the Kentmere factory it's still there the packaging part of the company expanded after selling off the photographic paper side.

Ian

 

[railwayman3]

A correction Ilford/Harman didn't close the the Kentmere factory it's still there the packaging part of the company expanded after selling off the photographic paper side.

Ian

Correct, a quick look around on the publically available information on companieshouse.gov.uk confirms that Kentmere Packaging Ltd is a subsidiary of the old company Kentmere Ltd (formed 1906). There is no connection now with Ilford/Harman, the shares in Kentmere Ltd being currently held by several private individuals.

This seems to confirm that Harman simply purchased the assets of the photographic side of the company....maybe to rescue the knowledge and business rather than just to eliminate competition.

 

[flavio81]

Don't forget New55. They are coating and assembling 4x5 instant film (a re-formulation of Polaroid's Type55 positive/negative instant film) at their small factory in Ashland, Massachusetts.

They are also marketing a 4x5 black and white negative film, called Atomic X. They've said is it made for them in China, I would guess by Shanghai.

But are they actually coating film in their facilities? Or are they using a partner (like Inoviscoat for example)

 

[flavio81]

In Tianjin has a factory call "Sanhuan" is still coating glass plate and l can find some photographers who has plate camera using it. Lucky still coating B/W film call SHD 100 but it has terrible high light.

Is this the same as Shanghai GP3?

Are you certain SHD 100 is still in production? Amazing that it don't get mentioned more often in this forum, i would guess it is a very cheap film which should make it easy to sell!

 

[Ian Grant]

Correct, a quick look around on the publically available information on companieshouse.gov.uk confirms that Kentmere Packaging Ltd is a subsidiary of the old company Kentmere Ltd (formed 1906). There is no connection now with Ilford/Harman, the shares in Kentmere Ltd being currently held by several private individuals.

This seems to confirm that Harman simply purchased the assets of the photographic side of the company....maybe to rescue the knowledge and business rather than just to eliminate competition.

On a factory visit Ilford/Harman the then Chairman indicated that Kentmere made a market leading niche Inkjet product used in the Graphic/Display field not a consumer product, I think it was their biggest selling product, the Harman company were quite keen to acquire it.

Ilford/Harman never planned to run a second site, in the audio linked to there's a mention of 6 months, Simon Galley indicated on this Forum at the time of the purchase that production would be moved to Mobberly. Kentmere wanted to expand their Packaging business so selling the photographic side made sense.

Ian

 

[mitorn]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that there was a manufacturer in India (possible photo papers) ???

Yes there was Hindustan Photo Films, as far as I know they produced Xray Film, Bromide paper and processing chemicals,
The Indian government planned to shut them down in 2013.

Martin

 

[kb3lms]

Kodak Alaris also has a manufacturing facility in Windsor Colorado, where Carestream is. I don't know whether that is actually a shared interest in the Carestream facility, or a separate one.

The Windsor plant is the Windsor Coating operations EK had for many years. Substantially all of the X-Ray film was and is coated in Windsor. When the Health Sciences Division was sold to Carestream (a huge mistake), Windsor became a shared facility with EK running at some times and Carestream running at others. Apparently the EK share was sold/given to Alaris and now run by Carestream, or maybe EK is still there, too. Besides X-Ray product, I believe color paper is also coated at Windsor. Probably a good move for Alaris because Windsor is a more modern facility. Also, I believe that New55 has had their products coated by the Windsor plant.

It is (or at least was when this was first transferred) probably run by all the original EK employees now under a different employer. Many of the engineers I used to work with became Carestream employees in the same building in Rochester after the sale.

 

[alanrockwood]

There was a film called Svema made in Ukraine in the former Soviet Union. I acquired an unshot roll as part of a camera purchase. I still have the unshot roll. (I also have an unshot roll of Kodachrome.) Anyway, according to the Wikipedia article, they quit making film in 2000 and have sold out to a company called Astrum. I don't know if Astrum makes film, but probably not.

Updated info added in edit: Apparently Astrum might still be making film. There is someone on ebay selling it as fresh, with 2018 date. Of course, it might just be old stock.

 

[vdonovan]

But are they actually coating film in their facilities? Or are they using a partner (like Inoviscoat for example)

Good question! New55 instant film consists of a negative sheet and a positive receiver sheet. The negative sheet they source from China (the aforementioned Atomic X). The receiver sheet, which is more complicated, they are coating themselves, in a hand-made machine:

 

[railwayman3]

There was a film called Svema made in Ukraine in the former Soviet Union. I acquired an unshot roll as part of a camera purchase. I still have the unshot roll. (I also have an unshot roll of Kodachrome.) Anyway, according to the Wikipedia article, they quit making film in 2000 and have sold out to a company called Astrum. I don't know if Astrum makes film, but probably not.

Updated info added in edit: Apparently Astrum might still be making film. There is someone on ebay selling it as fresh, with 2018 date. Of course, it might just be old stock.

There is a website: http://www.astrum-ltd.com/en.html . (Most recent info. there seems to be at 2013.)