Ferrania color film?

[Stu W]

Some stores in the neighborhood ary selling Ferrania color film asa 200. $1 a roll, so I bought a few. Never heard of them before, but for a buck why not try. Stu

 

[drmatthes]

Ferrania is from Italy. In Germany, their color films are named "Solaris". They are comparatively cheap over here, too. I keep a couple of ISO 800 rolls in my fridge but found the color rendering under artificial light a bit too yellowish. Maybe it was the lab. Any other experiences?

Jesko

 

[VictorM.]

About 35 to 40 years ago, 3M marketed Ferrania film as "Dynachrome."

 

[bmattock]

Not quite. Dynacolor was a film company based in Oklahoma, Ferrania was a film company based in Italy. Eventually 3M bought them both, and later spun off Ferrania with the assets of the former Dynacolor - still based in OK. Ferrania is still based in Italy.

I've not been impressed with their film. However, they still make 126 cartridge film, available through the Frugal Photographer, so if you want to shoot 126 cartridge, they're the only choice.

Basically, they were the default 'store brand' until Agfa took that business over - consumers preferred the Agfa store brands to the Ferrania store brands. Now with Agfa gone, I guess Ferrania is back into the game.

It is my understanding that Ferrania has been bankrupt for more than a decade - a quirk of Italian politics and right-to-work laws won't let the company fold. That's just what I hear, no proof of that.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Tin]

About 35 to 40 years ago, 3M marketed Ferrania film as "Dynachrome."

These names bring back some memories. I did use quite a few rolls of these slide films. I remember the color as a bit too yellow even under daylight. However, it was the cheapest slide film on the market at that time, and it suited a student budget very well.

 

[derevaun]

I use it pretty regularly in my 110 cameras--they're one of maybe four producers of the format of the future. I like the results I get by exposing ASA200 at 80 and also at 400. Haven't shot it at box speed 🙂 It always seems a little more vivid than the Walgreens-branded Agfa stuff, but I haven't done programmatic testing of them.

 

[wlewisiii]

Shudder. That is some truely bad film. Even if you could get it free with free developing and printing you'd still be paying too much... 😱 Horrible yellow cast to everything. About 6 months ago I bought some film that expired in 1972 and it was better than the brand new Ferrania I've had the misfortune to use.

It is my understanding that Ferrania has been bankrupt for more than a decade - a quirk of Italian politics and right-to-work laws won't let the company fold. That's just what I hear, no proof of that.

Wouldn't surprise me. Scary part about that is that, if this is true, they could well be the last color film company standing as a result :bang: :bang: :bang:

William

 

[Trius]

The shots in the fixed RF comparison album in my gallery were made on Ferrania 200 film, private labelled "Finast", and sold through supermarkets around here. I found it over-saturted and contrasty, but that have been the mini-lab scan. I have another roll lying around; I'll probably use it in shadowy, low-contrast situations where the yellow shift and "enhanced" saturation can be tamed. For performance in shadow, see here.

Earl

 

[trittium]

Throw a blue filter over the lens to knock out the yellow everyone is complaining about and it should be fine.