Encouraging Adox / Fotoimpex news

[HHPhoto]

On Monday there has been a report about Adox / Fotoimpex (both are "sister companies" under the same roof) and their CEO on German TV:
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/zdf-mittagsmagazin/zdf-mittagsmagazin-vom-4-januar-2021-100.html

Just a short summary for you non Germans 🙂:
- the film revival is gaining further strength
- Fotoimpex has become market leader in Europe for film / photopaper / chemistry etc. distribution
- their annual revenue is about 6 million € meanwhile (with currently 25 employees)
- they have growth rates of 20-25% p.a. during the last years
- Adox is further investing in new products and production capabilities
- Adox has hired new young chemists and engineers, and is training/educating them in this very special area of silver-halide products
- Adox is considering themselves as a "Manufaktur" (= means focussing on high quality, special products on much lower production volume (volume compared to the big players like Kodak, Fuji, Ilford and Foma).

Cheers, Jan

 

[titrisol]

That is great!!!
I visited them a few times in Berlin and they are nice pople

 

[KoNickon]

Great news. Only 25 employees -- good for them! (How many work at Ilford?)

 

[HHPhoto]

How many work at Ilford?

About 200. That was at least the situation 2 years ago when Ilford said that. Maybe meanwhile there are a bit more.
Foma has about 300, by the way. But Foma is also a big player in X-Ray film, and competing in that field with the bigger players Fujifilm, Agfa-Gevaert and Carestream.
Harman technology / Ilford Photo is not active in the X-Ray film business.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Mackinaw]

.....Adox has hired new young chemists and engineers, and is training/educating them in this very special area of silver-halide products......

Very encouraging that Adox has hired some young engineers and chemists.

Jim B.

 

[lukx]

This is great to hear, they are a very good company and I am proud to have them here in and around Berlin. Their service is great and the products are, too.

Also it is cool to see a small company come up with high quality, innovative new films that are more than rebadged, expired film.

 

[hap]

X-ray film? For what purpose.....certainly not for medicine

 

[BernardL]

X-ray film? For what purpose.....certainly not for medicine

Non-destructive testing of metal parts.

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Very glad to hear. Most of the non-Ilford film and chemicals I buy are from Fotoimpex - even with the appalling Sterling exchange rate at present the prices are always keen, and they stock an immense range of things from Germany I hardly see over here.

Good news also on Adox, very glad that they are selling so well. I love CHS100II for medium format and above, and a friend has recently had great results from the CMS20.

When all the Brexit customs issues have settled down I'll hopefully be ordering some more stuff. I want to give Moersch Pyro a go!

 

[zuiko85]

More players, better sustainability of the whole film market. The slow speed and fine grained film interests me as I still have a Minox IIIs and a film slitter (two side by side 9.2mm from 35mm). The tiny negative really needs very fine grained film.

 

[HHPhoto]

X-ray film? For what purpose.....certainly not for medicine

Yes, for medicine. Mainly in Asia, where this market is a growing market! Because in the last years several thousands of small hospitals were implemented there, especially in China on the countryside outside the big cities. And they are all using the cheaper X-Ray film technology.

And as BernardL correctly said also in non-destructive testing of metal parts, especially for quality control of weldseams. That is a huge market. And digital X-Ray cannot be used for it in most cases.
Film can be used extremely flexible in foils, so you can bend it and control even the weirdest and most complicated constructions. Impossible with digital sensors.
In my work as an engineer I have often seen it at work, film is the perfect medium for this purpose.

I have just seen some minutes ago over at photrio that Adox has officially also announced that they are working on improved versions of D-76 and XTOL. Will probably be introduced in the coming months. Further very good news, indeed.

Cheers, Jan

 

[agentlossing]

I raise a glass of Adox Rodinal to them! May they continue to prosper.

 

[Oren Grad]

(How many work at Ilford?)

Per their latest annual report, covering the year ending Dec 31, 2019, head count for Harman Technology is as follows:

135 production
23 R&D
19 sales/marketing
21 administration
___

198 total

 

[zuiko85]

Thank you Jan for the post and information about continuing uses for X-ray film. I had no idea there was still such a huge demand.

 

[Andy Kibber]

Excellent news. Thanks. I haven't used Adox film. I try to stick to 1 or 2 emulsions and get familiar with them. But more choice is good for everyone shooting film.

 

[Graybeard]

Thank you Jan for the post and information about continuing uses for X-ray film. I had no idea there was still such a huge demand.

Dentists here in the US continue to use film.

 

[HHPhoto]

Thank you Jan for the post and information about continuing uses for X-ray film. I had no idea there was still such a huge demand.

You are welcome.
The market is so big and attractive that about two years ago Fujifilm even in their annual report explained that they are working on further increasing their market share in X-Ray film.
It also keeps the the coating line of Carestream in the US (former Kodak Healthcare) running. And as written above, also Agfa-Gevaert and Foma are very active in this business.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Erik van Straten]

Is it already clear when the AdoxMCC110 paper will be available again?


Erik.

 

[zuiko85]

Dentists here in the US continue to use film.

Since all my dental care is out of pocket (probably true of many here).
I go to a local dentist group that is part of a chain, they have many offices all over the northwest. But they use very modern digital imaging for all x-rays. I use them because the charges are very reasonable for seniors. And they can fit you in on short notice.

 

[Prest_400]

Saw the report although the summary is great as I do not know German. Product wise, they still have to consolidate and re-release films and papers which have been out of stock for long and of course the pandemic impacted their capability.
No MCC or polywarmtone yet but glad to support Adox through Fotoimpex to get film goodies. I should someday roadtrip to Berlin and visit their factory as well whenever that is possible.



Indeed there is positive momentum in the market, Orwo and filmotec were recently integrated in a venture and there is a new social media profile hinting at new products such releasing Orwo films in Medium format.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJquNj1HyOd/
So it is getting interesting.