Who makes all the films anyway?

[bogeyes]

Here in the UK we have many films on offer branded with the store name as well as imported film. We have: Kodak, Fuji, Konica, Ilford, Efke, Foma, Tura and Agfa, who makes the film for Jessops, Dixons, Boots, Tescos, Truprint, Bonusprint etc.?

 

[rjr]

Tura is a confectioner, they buy in Bulk from Agfa and cut their papers and films (and probably by order from Maco, who is only a distributor, too).

Jessops 120 rollfilm is Efke/Fotokemika, I had a glimpse on a few packs of their films at Photokina and there is cleary a "Made in Croatia" stated. But they rate the film a stop faster, which is definitely within the margon of Efke R.

 

[Brac]

Boots is made by Agfa, Tesco's is made by Ferrania in Italy, Truprint & Bonusprint were (& probably still are) made by Agfa. Jessops B & W 35mm was in the late 90's made by someone in Spain (presumably now defunct) but the current stuff is probably Agfa.

 

[raucousimages]

In the US Freestyle sells "arista" that is re-pack ilford fp-4 and hp-5 and "arista edu" that is re-pack forte pan 100 and 400

 

[David Ruby]

Film Spreadsheet

Being the tightwad that I am, I've been trying to compare costs etc. between the various films available in the US. The attached pdf is from an Excell file that I have so I can keep track of it all. I try to update it as I see threads like this one.

 

[Tobik]

According to data in tech sheets I think that Paterson films and papers are Foma.

 

[Brac]

According to data in tech sheets I think that Paterson films and papers are Foma.

They definitely are. Acupan 200 is Foma Creative 200. Foma's 100 & 400 films are packed by Paterson under the PhotoTec label. But only 35mm, Paterson no longer seem to handle 120. The Paterson enlarging paper is also by Foma but of course Paterson's chemicals are their own.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Similar topic: Help identifying 620 "Panchro, Made in Italy, in blue foil packs".

Someone suggested Ferrania, probably identical (?) to Verichrome Pan.

Any ideas whose film, how old, etc?

Thank you

Murray
Holland MI

 

[Brac]

Similar topic: Help identifying 620 "Panchro, Made in Italy, in blue foil packs".

Someone suggested Ferrania, probably identical (?) to Verichrome Pan.

Any ideas whose film, how old, etc?

Thank you

Murray
Holland MI

The only film manufacturer in Italy (at least in recent decades) is Ferrania (it changed name a couple of times but has reverted to Ferrania now that it is no longer part of 3M.) So you can I think be 99% sure that it is made by them. They haven't made B & W film for quite some time so I suspect your film is at least 20 years old. It would be a different emulsion from Verichrome Pan as that was a Kodak product.

In a Focal Guide dating from 1974 there are 3 Ferrania B&W films listed:
P30 (80ASA), P33 (160ASA) & P36 (320ASA). If you wanted to develop it perhaps the safest thing would be to use one of those 2 bath developers where the time is the same for every type of film. If you could definitely identify the emulsion then maybe somebody somewhere could make a more definite suggestion.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

OK....hmmmm...there were some other things on the paper indicating how many exposures for 3 normal formats (6x9, 6x6, 6x4.5) and possibly one other my brain didn't process because I didn't recognize it. There was something else cryptic that looked like a mfg code...

Another educated guess was Ferrapan @ 100 and to run it at 25 due to aging...

I guess I'll try it out...nothing to lose but time and money...

Thanks

Murray

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Italian Gevaert (Agfa) Panchro 620 pink paper label

OK - the plot thickens...

Shot a roll at ISO 100 of several pieces of gray-to-black matboard & measured EV 7-11. Set camera at 9.4-ish (1/25 and f/5.6), then 1/10 and 1/5 and 1/2. First three frames made horrible noises while winding. Repeated same 4 exposures again (6x9 for 8 exp). Later found they were shredded.

Did roll at 7 minutes at buddy lab in Tmax developer (that's what they use).

Advise was 6 minutes and ISO 50 for next roll. No visible fog (not measured on densitometer) in my opinion.

Does 'nailing' the correct film manufacturer allow id'ing it's age better? Acetate more brittle than polyester?

Someone suggested 'flame test' to id acetate.

I'm just curious how old it is now that I see it's useable.

Thanks

Murray

 

[Ed Sukach]

The *really* old films were on a nitrocellulose base - a.k.a. "cellophane" or "celluloid". The burn test is valid - if it burns with a clear, yellow flame, with little ash and no "smoldering", it is most probably nitrocellulose. I recently processed a roll of film discovered in an antique shop - Ansco "Plenachrome" - and that was "nitro". Kodak advertised its departure from nitro by edge marking its film as "Kodak Safety Film". Nitrocellulose was first developed as a substitute for ivory in the making of billiard balls; it is also the primary ingredient in "smokeless" gun powder. Many Motion Picture Theaters - Cinemas - burned to the ground when the nitro film in the projector ignited from the heat of the projection lamp - thus the concern with "Safety."