Ukrainian Film Factory? Svema lives!

ZorkiKat

ZorkiKat

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An Ukrainian friend, Vlad, who lives in Manila shared this info about an Ukrainian factory which, according to their website, still manufacture film. "OOO Astrum Ltd" appears to be the old Svema factory.
http://www.astrum-ltd.com/

A page from an online Ukrainian seller lists 'Astrum' brand film which is also identified as "Svema".

http://fotofond.com.ua/index.php?categoryID=952

The packing box on the 30m long roll says "made in the Ukraine" at the bottom of the label.
 
Wonderful! Thanks for posting this, I would be curious to try it out.

Their website / online store is only in Ukrainian and Russian ... is there another vendor, perhaps?

I searched on eBay but nobody is selling this stuff. I did a quick search online and couldn't find any good leads.

FWIW I sent the Astrum office in Ukraine an email. I hope they will reply.
 
bobby_novatron said:
Wonderful! Thanks for posting this, I would be curious to try it out.

Their website / online store is only in Ukrainian and Russian ... is there another vendor, perhaps?
Click to expand...

If you are using Google Chrome, the page gets translated to your language almost instantly. 🙂
 
Polypan F obviously is no FSU film, being labelled "made in the EU". It seems to be a clear base version of Ilford Pan F, intended for cine copy purposes.
 
I still have about forty rolls of 120-size Svema 64, bought fresh and stored in my freezer since purchase. I sold all of my Kiev 60's, Pentacon Sixes, Exakta 66's and K88's but I am saving the film for the future.

It's wrapped in foil paper, reminds me of unwrapping a package of lifesavers.
 

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^ Yes, but what I was referring to earlier was the online sales website. The corporate website has an English page, but their online store is only in Russian or Ukrainian.

Google translate helps, but it doesn't translate the pop-ups windows when you 'add to cart' or try to check-out.
 
Get Back to Me

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Interesting. When someone has a chance to do some work with this it would be nice to see some pictures. Right now I have no cash to spare since I have been trying real hard to keep Kodak and Ilford in business. Not too mention Freestyle, BHPhoto, Adorama, KEH and E-Bay! 😱
 
sevo said:
Polypan F obviously is no FSU film, being labelled "made in the EU". It seems to be a clear base version of Ilford Pan F, intended for cine copy purposes.
Click to expand...

Over on Apug the Ilford representative vehemently denied that this film was anything to do with them.

It is apparently some sort of release-print or copy-print film from Filmotec, maybe coated by Innoviscoat? Others have mentioned the same source but suggested a surveillance film, based on the thin polyester base and standard perfs perhaps.

It is good to see that Svema lives again in some way, even if it might only re-packaging of frozen stock, smply on the grounds that diversity is good.
 
MartinP said:
Over on Apug the Ilford representative vehemently denied that this film was anything to do with them.

It is apparently some sort of release-print or copy-print film from Filmotec, maybe coated by Innoviscoat? .
Click to expand...

Well, Ilford need not necessarily admit that they license cheap, sub-standard versions of their emulsions - indeed, they might have disowned it by contract, and might be annoyed that any of it surfaces on the open photography market. At any rate, while the film is nowhere as good as Pan F, it's development times seem to be the same (in particular where the need for disproportionally extended times in low concentration developer goes - a property more common among ultra fast films), which points to some possible relationship. I'll next do a latent image fading test - if that goes as uniquely fast as Pan F, there can be little doubt that it is closely related.

Filmotec being involved does sound likely, with or without Inoviscoat, but there are more casters and confectioners left. And the emulsion might come from yet another source. Perhaps some of the Chinese makers sold a vat of emulsion to a budding young EU entrepreneur that had it cast here? Some of them did cooperate with Ilford and might have a Ilford-originated recipe or old stock they once got from Ilford.

Of course, it is quite likely that it is a tech film throughout (rather than a pictorial photography film appropriated for a tech purpose) - if so, it might be impossible to identify short of tracing the sales to their origin. Each buyer in the chain must know where he got it from - but we could still run into a dead end there if the stuff is sold at some stage in violation of a contract or in some other way not entirely legal. In any case, there must be plenty of proprietary tech films which never surfaced outside the facilities of the client they were made for, so that they cannot be identified by specifications, and every maker could be involved...
 
I just checked that online store... Well... Svema 100 price is 28 Ukrainian Hryvnia. At the current FX rate it is a bit more than 2.5 EUR. It is almost the price of APX100 which I can but at Macodirect (in fact, Svema will be more expensive if I add taxes and duties). Would I prefer Svema over APX100? Nope....
 
valdas said:
I just checked that online store... Well... Svema 100 price is 28 Ukrainian Hryvnia. At the current FX rate it is a bit more than 2.5 EUR. It is almost the price of APX100 which I can but at Macodirect (in fact, Svema will be more expensive if I add taxes and duties). Would I prefer Svema over APX100? Nope....
Click to expand...

Exactly what I did couple of minutes ago...Not that Svema automatically is bad film (though I think they had to change name, as many remember what they made back then) but if they want to attract buyers from abroad, they had to offer something to consider. Better price for same product, or better product for same money. Now I don't know why I would choose Svema.
 
Hello guys!

I'm from Ukraine's capital - Kyiv.
Fotofond is, I think, the best film photography shop (if not only) here in Kyiv. Though small, it offers wide variety of films, chemicals, paper, etc. They even have some old cameras to sell. But, you know, although they have a site, it's mostly for informational purposes. Quite a few times I found out great differences between what's in stock online, and what's really at their shop. Though one time I was lucky to buy a pack (5 rolls) of fresh Provia at the price of expired 🙂 They're funny guys to deal. I recommend you though to address Astrum Ltd. directly, it will be significantly cheaper.

As to Astrum's films, as far as I know, they're not manufactured at Svema plants, because there are technically none left. Modern Svema films are just repacking of the other. And there's no way to tell, because there's no perforation markings at all, not even the frame numbers.

Up to this moment I've tried two Astrum films - Svema Foto 400 and Svema A-2SH (А-2Ш). Feel free to ask questions! 🙂 Examples follow.
 
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