What happened to AGFA

[scottwallick]

I was reading about AGFA earlier and I came across this presentation on the demise of the AGFA Photo.

Camera Demolition by Chris Sandström

I do lament the loss of Afga APX 100. Sigh. I enjoyed the presentation and I thought to share it. I had a look but couldn't find a mention of it on the forums. Anyhow, enjoy.

 

[vorgonyi]

get some Agfa APX 100 here
http://www.fotofachversand.at/shop/...category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=23

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Here in Spain I buy APX100 and Rodinal too...

 

[HHPhoto]

No need to worry at all. This building was the former administration building of the Agfa camera plant in Munich, Germany.
The Agfa camera production there was stopped about 30 years ago.
AFAIK the building was sold then and used by a different company.

Agfa film production at Agfa-Gevaert, Belgium, is still running and doing well:
www.agfa.com

They are producing movie film (color negative), sound film, aerial films (both BW and color negative and color slide), graphic films, microfilms, traffic and surveillance films.
They are the second largest BW film manufacturer worldwide behind Kodak.
They are market leader in graphic, microfilm and surveillance films.

As a "normal" photographer you can buy their films by Rollei-Film, Germany.
Rollei ATP
Agfa Copex Rapid (=Spur DSX)
Rollei Retro 80S
Rollei Superpan 200
Rollei Retro 400S
Rollei IR
Rollei CN 200
Rollei CR 200 (that is the original Agfa RSX II emulsion on PET base)

All these films are fresh made by Agfa-Gevaert.

If you want Agfa APX 100 and 400: There is still lots of it available, sold as Rollei Retro 100 and 400. Look here: www.macodirekt.de
The master rolls were frozen and now they are being cut and packed by Rollei-Film.

Furthermore there is a kind of second or new "Agfa" in Germany: This new company is called "InovisCoat" www.inoviscoat.de
All employees of Inoviscoat are former engineers and technicians of the former Agfa film plant in Leverkusen, Germany (that was the plant where the APX film line and the MCP / MCC paper was made).
These engineers have bought one of coating machines of Leverkusen, have scaled it down and modernised it.
They are cooperating with Fotoimpex/Adox in Germany and are producing the Adox MCP and MCC photopaper for them.
The first production run of APX 400 is scheduled for this month. This film will be sold as Adox AP 400. So APX 100 and 400 will have a future. If you like these films, you can buy new production in the future.

Best regards,
Jan

 

[tenderobject]

thank you very much for the info hhphoto!

 

[shadowfox]

No need to worry at all. This building was the former administration building of the Agfa camera plant in Munich, Germany.
The Agfa camera production there was stopped about 30 years ago.
AFAIK the building was sold then and used by a different company.

Agfa film production at Agfa-Gevaert, Belgium, is still running and doing well:
www.agfa.com

They are producing movie film (color negative), sound film, aerial films (both BW and color negative and color slide), graphic films, microfilms, traffic and surveillance films.
They are the second largest BW film manufacturer worldwide behind Kodak.
They are market leader in graphic, microfilm and surveillance films.

As a "normal" photographer you can buy their films by Rollei-Film, Germany.
Rollei ATP
Agfa Copex Rapid (=Spur DSX)
Rollei Retro 80S
Rollei Superpan 200
Rollei Retro 400S
Rollei IR
Rollei CN 200
Rollei CR 200 (that is the original Agfa RSX II emulsion on PET base)

All these films are fresh made by Agfa-Gevaert.

If you want Agfa APX 100 and 400: There is still lots of it available, sold as Rollei Retro 100 and 400. Look here: www.macodirekt.de
The master rolls were frozen and now they are being cut and packed by Rollei-Film.

Furthermore there is a kind of second or new "Agfa" in Germany: This new company is called "InovisCoat" www.inoviscoat.de
All employees of Inoviscoat are former engineers and technicians of the former Agfa film plant in Leverkusen, Germany (that was the plant where the APX film line and the MCP / MCC paper was made).
These engineers have bought one of coating machines of Leverkusen, have scaled it down and modernised it.
They are cooperating with Fotoimpex/Adox in Germany and are producing the Adox MCP and MCC photopaper for them.
The first production run of APX 400 is scheduled for this month. This film will be sold as Adox AP 400. So APX 100 and 400 will have a future. If you like these films, you can buy new production in the future.

Best regards,
Jan

Jan, thanks for this, out of curiosity, you seem to know a lot about this. Are these companies quite well known in Germany?

I have heard about ADOX marketing APX-type film but I didn't know that the new company actually employed ex-Agfa personnel.

I personally like their quoting Samuel Johnson: "clear your mind of can't" 🙂

There's hope for film yet.

 

[bmattock]

AgfaPhoto GmbH went bankrupt. Agfa-Gevaert spun it off to die, and die it did. Agfa-Gevaert still makes a few photographic films, but none of the films that AgfaPhoto did. The equipment to make the film was sold to a South Korean company, and is currently in use doing something else.

News to the contrary is wishful thinking.


http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133902835.html

Article date: June 1, 2005
AgfaPhoto GmbH, the photo/imaging spinoff from Agfa-Gevaert, filed for insolvency earlier this month. According to an Associated Press report, bankruptcy proceedings were opened in AgfaPhoto's home town of Leverkusen, Germany. AgfaPhoto employs 2,400 people worldwide.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2005/10/19/afx2285533.html

AgfaPhoto to be wound up after it rejects Photo-Me offer
10.19.2005, 07:15 AM

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AFX) - Agfa Photo GmbH will start the process of winding up after a committee of creditors rejected a takeover offer submitted yesterday by UK group Photo-Me International PLC, Agfa Photo spokesman Thomas Schulz said.

'It will be the end for Agfa Photo GmbH on Dec 31, 2005,' Schulz said.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/...9380711910.htm

Hyosung Acquires Agfa Film Factory

By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
South Korea’s Hyosung group said Wednesday it took over for an undisclosed price the industrial film manufacturing department of Agfaphoto, the German photographic film maker bankrupted last year.

The facility in Leverkusen, Germany, will produce plastic films for industrial use, such as automobile windshield coatings, construction materials or films used in LCD and PDP TV panels.

 

[sevo]

The equipment to make the film was sold to a South Korean company,

Please don't repeat outright false statements! A South Korean company (if we may say so of a multinational conglomerate) purchased the plastics film production plant, and may still be operating it in Leverkusen. The latest Agfa film coating line was purchased by Inoviscoat who moved it to a new plant some 10km off the old site.

 

[bmattock]

Please don't repeat outright false statements! A South Korean company (if we may say so of a multinational conglomerate) purchased the plastics film production plant, and may still be operating it in Leverkusen. The latest Agfa film coating line was purchased by Inoviscoat who moved it to a new plant some 10km off the old site.

http://baby.boom.com.hk/portfolio/research/Korea/hyosung 29032007.pdf

Hyosung seeks to enhance its existing businesses through a series of M&A deals and continues to explore new markets. The company took over the high-performance film and coating unit from AGFA (Germany) to establish OpCo in April 2006 and acquired LED-based wafer chip producer Epiplus in September 2006.

 

[bmattock]

http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1233584036012.shtml

Translation from Babelfish from German to English:

Agfa successor OpCo must announce the insolvency

By Thomas Käding, 09.02.09, 16:58 h, updates 09.02.09, 17:56 h
After scarcely three years the Korean backers terminate their commitment with the Agfa successor OpCo. The enterprise, with which 34 humans are busy, is insolvent.
Leverkusen - out of own Kraft it did not go: The Agfa photo folder OpCo is insolvent. 34 persons employed, including managing directors Wilfried Sill, go with some fears into the insolvency proceedings. Why that went out scarcely three years old company the money, Sill told fast: „ there was no more support from Korea “. Over the reasons Sill did not express itself.

So OpCo did not make it either, as of September 2009. You might remember Wilfried Sill, his was the name bandied about in 2006, when he announced that Agfa was about to get back into the film coating business. He means industrial coatings, not photographic, but die-hard film buffs pounced on his words and twisted them to suit their own meanings. Now it should be quite clear what is what.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

"Disclaimer regarding AgfaPhoto
Press releaseMortsel (Belgium)August 07, 2009 13:34
Agfa-Gevaert sold its worldwide Consumer Imaging business group in 2004 to the AgfaPhoto group of companies (not affiliated with Agfa-Gevaert).
In connection with that sale, a Trademark License Agreement, dated November 2, 2004, was entered into between Agfa-Gevaert NV and Agfa-Gevaert NV & Co. KG, as Licensors, and AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, as Licensee, giving AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, a German company having its registered office in Cologne, Germany, the right to use and to sublicense the trademark 'AgfaPhoto' for products having a photographic application, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Trademark License Agreement.
Agfa-Gevaert declines any liability whatsoever with respect to or in connection with any AgfaPhoto-product.
Agfa-Gevaert does not manufacture, market, distribute or sell any AgfaPhoto-products.
Agfa-Gevaert does not provide any service, any support or any product warranty with respect to any AgfaPhoto-product.
Any request for support or information regarding "AgfaPhoto"-products should be addressed to AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, www.agfaphoto.com"

 

[HHPhoto]

Dear Will,

Jan, thanks for this, out of curiosity, you seem to know a lot about this. Are these companies quite well known in Germany?

Yes, in the analogue photographic community they are well known. And the economic and photograhic media reported about it as well.

I have heard about ADOX marketing APX-type film but I didn't know that the new company actually employed ex-Agfa personnel.

The company InovisCoat was founded by three former leading engineers und scientists of Agfa in Leverkusen, Germany. These engineers are the "fathers" of the MCC / MCP papers and the APX films. They have developed these products at Agfa.
And all other employees of Inoviscoat are also former Agfa Leverkusen employees.
And most of the machinery is from Agfa Leverkusen, mainly the coating machine.
There is a cooperation between InovisCoat and Adox. Inoviscoat is producing the products, Adox is responsible for distribution.

Best regards,
Jan

 

[HHPhoto]

The equipment to make the film was sold to a South Korean company, and is currently in use doing something else.

Dear Bill,

I have already explained to you in an other thread that Hyosung had not bought one of the two film and paper coating machines of Agfa Leverkusen.
What is written in the link you posted is simply wrong (bad research by the author).

Hyosung had bought a machine for film base material production (Triazetat, PET). That has nothing to do with emulsion coating.

Here is the right information, I quote from a report in the leading german economic newspaper HANDELSBLATT, 5. April 2006:

"Bei Agfa Photo werden wieder "rohe" Filme produziert

Ein Teil der Filmproduktion des insolventen Traditionsunternehmens Agfa Photo läuft wieder an. Ein südkoreanischer Konzern hat einen Zweig aufgekauft. 50 Mitarbeiter, die momentan in einer Beschäftigungsgesellschaft untergebracht sind, werden übernommen. Vielleicht werden es sogar mehr.

Teile der Filmsparte seien an Hyosung verkauft worden, teilte Agfa Photo am Mittwoch mit........

Bei dem verkauften Bereich handelt es sich um die Filmfolien-Herstellung. Filmfolien sind das Trägermaterial des eigentlichen Films.
Unter anderem der Schwarz-Weiß-Film-Hersteller Ilford aus Großbritannien hatte Interesse an dem Material geäußert. das Unternehmen benötigt die Filmfolien als Grundstoff für ihre eigenen Filme......"

These are the facts. I was in Leverkusen and have seen it. It is not far away from me.
I was as well in Monheim and have seen the completely new, modern InovisCoat plant. I have already used their products.
I have also used the fresh made Agfa-Gevaert films, which are worlwide distributed by Rollei-Film.

Bill, why do you think you know better about what is going on here in Germany than we Germans do? Do you think we are all stupid and don't know what is happening in our own country?
I can't understand it.

If you have doubts, come to Germany, see it by yourself and learn.

Regards,
Jan

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

I noticed a good selection of Agfa films available at Lupus-shop.de

Seems to me that it must still be in production,

 

[sevo]

I noticed a good selection of Agfa films available at Lupus-shop.de

Seems to me that it must still be in production,

Nope, that is old stock. It is rather unlikely that new products made to old Agfa formulas will resurface as Agfa - the brand names have been licensed away separately. The group active resurrecting some Agfa films will probably use the Adox brand, like they already have done with the Agfa papers...

Sevo

 

[HHPhoto]

I noticed a good selection of Agfa films available at Lupus-shop.de

Seems to me that it must still be in production,

Facts about Lupus Imaging in Germany:

The employees are former AgfaPhoto Leverkusen staff, distribution and marketing people.
They can use the name AgfaPhoto because the german AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, which did not get in insolvency (that was their production sub-company), licensed the name "AgfaPhoto" to Lupus Imaging (and some other firms distributing digicams, printers etc.).
The original Agfa, Agfa-Gevaert in Belgium, tried to stop this licensing by court but failed.

The Lupus AgfaPhoto APX BW films are all old stock from last production run in Leverkusen in 2005. Frozen and now cut and packed by Ferrania in Italy (and without quality control, because Ferrania has no BW lab at their factory).

Therefore if you want to buy APX films cheap now, it is better to choose the Rollei Retro 100 and 400, because they are quality controlled. These films are cut and packed by Photostar/Tura in Germany. A company that uses original Agfa machinery.They cooperated with Agfa for several decades, and have their own quality control lab at their factory.

AgfaPhoto Vista color negative film is now relabelled Ferrania Solaris film.
The CT Precisa slide film is relabelled Kodak Elitechrome 100 film.

If you want real Agfa film, you can either buy Agfa-Gevaert made film sold as Rollei-Film, or soon InovisCoat made film sold as Adox.

Best regards,
Jan

 

[Roger Hicks]

Jan's assessment of the situation certainly chimes better with my own experience of talking to people in the industry than does Bill's repetition of reports. Jan's reports and mine are first-hand; Bill's are at best second-hand. EDIT: I have yet to see Jan say anything that does not bear out what I was told, but he knows more about the subject than I. Of course it is possible that he and I were misled but it is also possible that other reporters were misled or simply did not know enough to ask the right questions.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Solinar]

I never used Agfa's color films much - but I did use my share of APX 25 and APX100.

I still have a couple bricks of APX 100 in 135 and a few rolls of 120 in the freezer. Upon on each announcement of discontinuance, I did stock up.

I do hope the new venture can be profitable as a ground up start up verses a division in a giant conglomerate on its way down. The latter refers to Kodak.

 

[bmattock]

These film products are listed on Agfa Gevaert's website. I said they make traffic and surveillance films, and that is pretty much what I see here. If they make other products, they seem not to list it here.

http://www.agfa.com/en/gs/products_services/all_products/alliance.jsp

If Agfa Gevaert is making color print film or the others stated, I'm not aware of it, and I can find no proof that it exists other than the word of someone who a) lives in Germany and b) says so. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. But I see no film, just assurances of how things will be real soon now.

 

[sevo]

Sidetracking again? So far, nobody made any claims that Gevaert are making colour film. But as a matter of fact, they do. And if you had been a bit more careful, and had not only attempted to confirm your prejudices with a quick glance at Agfa Graphics but also looked at the product line-up of Agfa Materials, you should have noticed that they do indeed list three colour print films, three CN and a chrome film in their current product line. But IIRC Maco is only packaging one unmasked Gevaert film as a curiosity, besides a variety of their black and white films.