Wonderpan 400 - whatever next?

henryyjjames

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I think they want the overly contrasted/grainy look. It could be just old stock Kentmere they got for cheap. They said they are only selling 1000 rolls of it, which means they would need around 56 100-foot rolls.
 

Don_ih

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henryyjjames said:
I think they want the overly contrasted/grainy look. It could be just old stock Kentmere they got for cheap. They said they are only selling 1000 rolls of it, which means they would need around 56 100-foot rolls.
Click to expand...

Well, at least Kentmere 100 would push two stops and move your midtones into the shadows. Aviphot, pushed two stops, tends to drop your midtones into the abyss.
 

Donald Qualls

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Their marketing says why -- they like the "pushed two stops" look. I've said in the past that Foma 100 is about as good a 400 speed film as Foma 400; the same might be true (in someone's eyes, anyway) for Kentmere 100 and 400.
 
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Agulliver

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Their customer service and packaging are superb. I cannot fault them in any way when I've placed an order. My unease is at them claiming they stock 250 different films when many of these are just rebrands of the same few films. They have a level of hype that I am uncomfortable with. BUT it is imaginative and presumably lawful. They enjoy great popularity with the younger photographers who are driving the film resurgence, also operate a well regarded lab, and because of those reasons I cut them slack. But I order from them seldom due to their marketing. Basically when they have a deal that appeals to me, or something is in stock that I cannot get elsewhere. They've often got oddities like Lomography Tiger 110 film in stock, or glass plates. I've also reviewed a lot of films on their website which got me enough "Wonder Points" to get a £15 discount. As long as you go into AW with open eyes regarding what you're buying, you'll find their service to be first class.

In the end I have to agree....if it sells film, I cannot be too upset with them. I just hope that someone paying £15 for Aviphot or whatever knows they could get exactly the same film at half the price under another name. Some customers are happy to pay extra for a specially designed box or a beloved brand name. Me, I don't much care what name is on the packet.
 

Niglyn

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I went into a fishing tackle shop recently.
The shop was full, rods & reels everywhere, nets, bait,
every imaginable bit of kit was there.

I said to the owner, you sell all of this to catch fish?

He replied no, I sell this to catch fishermen.
 

pentaxuser

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Niglyn said:
I went into a fishing tackle shop recently.
The shop was full, rods & reels everywhere, nets, bait,
every imaginable bit of kit was there.

I said to the owner, you sell all of this to catch fish?

He replied no, I sell this to catch fishermen.
Click to expand...

This sums AW's customer philosophy very neatly
 

foc

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I got an email this morning to say it is now in stock

Has anyone purchased some yet?

It will be interesting to see what the negatives look like.
 

Helge

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Not sure who the artwork is supposed to appeal to? Is it supposed to be camp?
Outside the overall cutesy style, that looks like the usual recent compulsory amalgam of Japanese and European comic book style filtered through a teenage girls brain, the artistic quality is just ghastly.
Who did it, his niece?

The whole thing smells either halfhearted or desperate.

I’m guessing getting walled in by Brexit makes people do strange things.

Five years ago when he started he was competitive with Maco and Fotoimpex.
Now his only customer base is the film shooters of the UK.
67 million vs. over 500 million before.
He will manage I’m sure and hope, but how well is another question.
 
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foc

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Ballinderry-Michael said:
Prompted by Félim's post I've ordered three rolls. If they arrive and we emerge from the gloom, I'd hope to photograph a negative or two for this thread.
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Can you let us know the total price of the 3 films delivered, (including Vat &any custom charges and handling charge)
 

Ballinderry-Michael

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I put a roll into my modest Yashica J (other cameras are full at the moment) and had a snappy half hour yesterday evening when some sun finally emerged. Once the film was in the developing tank, the spool gave me a clue or two about its original manufacturer. My go-to developer is Ilfotec HC: working on its datasheet and those of a couple of likely films, I developed it about 90 minutes ago. 8 minutes in 1:16 at 22.5° (it's a warm day here) and I have some reasonably exposed but very contrasty-looking negatives. The film rebate betrays its origins at once; but, in fairness to AW, I won't say here what it is (maybe once they've sold the run). The negs don't look easy to print (I find this film nice and punchy at box speed) so, if I scan it, I may put up a couple of cropped basic scans.

It's marked as 24 exposures; but I stopped at 25 and could have got two or three more. The price is a bit above the market but not a rip-off, in my opinion. I'll put my next roll through a more up-market camera (but the J does have a fine lens). Maybe just shoot the third at box speed or just keep it intact as a memento.

Quite fun.

[forgot to mention: the guesses don't include the actual film]
 
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Agulliver

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Good to know that it's "not a rip off". While it grates with me that less clued up customers will think this is a new product....if people who are aware what it is use it, have some fun and don't feel ripped of then that's great too.
 

Ballinderry-Michael

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Just a couple of representative negative scans (Epson F-3200 with Vuescan, not altered by me but re-sized to 2mb) from the roll I described in post 64 above. I used a yellow filter and don't like the grain in the blue sky:


 

faberryman

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Ballinderry-Michael said:
The film rebate betrays its origins at once; but, in fairness to AW, I won't say here what it is (maybe once they've sold the run).
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In fairness to AW? What about in fairness to the customer? In their marketing they say it was made by someone else and they just changed the ISO designation, so it's not a secret they didn't make it.
 
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faberryman

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Ballinderry-Michael said:
There don't seem to be any other customers here.
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Maybe if Photrio members knew what they were getting they might buy some, and make the transition from potential customers to customers. Not many Photrio members are going to buy film based on it having a cutesy picture of a chef on the cassette.
 
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Ballinderry-Michael

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Look, if any of these ghostly customers is remotely likely to have been influenced by this thread or my posts, they are more than welcome to approach me direct. As I can't see that happening, I'm going to be a bit unresponsive to people who are talking at me as if I was born yesterday.

Time to go and empty my iiif to make space for roll no. 2.
 

Don_ih

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Ballinderry-Michael said:
I'm going to be a bit unresponsive to people who are talking at me as if I was born yesterday.
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I was just saying this thread will likely be read by more people than will be responding in it and some of those people will probably buy the film. I don't care if you never say who made the film.
Your results look good - certainly a better endorsement than any of the Catlabs 320 results.
 

Ballinderry-Michael

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koraks and I have had a word about the problem with my scans, which I hadn't noticed until looking at them again on this thread. The scans aren't like that on my computers and other devices; so there's some issue that I'll have to investigate. I'm sorry about that.
 
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