Ferrania returns?

[CliveC]

I caught wind of this thread going on at the ishootfilm group on flickr. Apparently there are plans in the works to bring back Italian film manufacturer Ferrania.

I have not had the opportunity to shoot their films, but a new supplier for colour negative film can only be a good thing, no?

They have a placeholder website in place and a submission field for a mailing list.

 

[kuzano]

They used to sell.....

They used to sell.....

I caught wind of this thread going on at the ishootfilm group on flickr. Apparently there are plans in the works to bring back Italian film manufacturer Ferrania.

I have not had the opportunity to shoot their films, but a new supplier for colour negative film can only be a good thing, no?

They have a placeholder website in place and a submission field for a mailing list.

Their film used to be available on www.frugalphotographer.com some time ago.

 

[Mauro]

I am Italian and I grew up with the films (and cameras) made by Ferrania: I would be really happy to see those films on sale again (I bought some of them, when the shops cleared out heir warehouse).
Clive, if you like I may ship one ferrania roll film to you for a test: PM me if you are interested.

 

[charjohncarter]

I hope it is true: good news.

 

[Kanamit]

Details of this just went out. If all goes well they'll be shipping a color negative (based on Solaris FG-100 Plus) and color reversal film (based on Scotch Chrome 100) by the first quarter of 2014.

 

[Sylvester]

I did subscribe to their mailing list some time ago. Here's what I received this morning. Made my day.

Hello and welcome to this mailing list.
Just a few words to thank everybody who subscribed, although no more than a single brand is shown at the moment on the Ferrania home page.

We think it is worth answering some questions that often arise on the discussion boards we are also following.

As you know, Ferrania discontinued its photographic products some years ago and after that some buildings and equipments were dismantled or sold because the destiny of film seemed to be compromised forever after introduction of digital. Obviously we dream to put the film in a new era where it can live in symbiosis with digital imaging technologies.

After more than one year of work, we are finally trying to start again with a small production of film. But rescaling a production workflow is not an easy process: some chemical products are not available anymore on the market, former Ferrania workers and engineers must be involved again in a completely new production workflow, etc.

We worked a lot on many of the above issues and now we are proud to say that the moment is arrived of really making film.

Right now there is a six month R&D project aiming to produce a first Jumbo of film. If during this period we are able to solve all the remaining technical issues and if the market gives us a reasonable preliminary feedback, we will be ready to go ahead and ship new film in the first quarter of 2014!

Ok, now the question is: what kind of film?
We think it is better to start revamping the very last produced emulsions. The first two that we will make are a color negative film derived from Ferrania Solaris FG-100 Plus (only for still photographs) and a professional color reversal film derived from Scotch Chrome 100.

And which formats?
We have the equipment to finish film in almost all photographic and motion picture formats: 110, 120, 126, 127, 135, 220, Super 8, Double 8, 16mm, 35mm and 70mm but at first we will put on line only the ones that are requested by the market.

More details are coming, please continue to follow us!

Cheers

The FILM Ferrania team

And here's from Wikipedia (from what I understood, edited by the one who owns the FILM Ferrania website):

FILM Ferrania s.r.l. is a manufacturing company located in Ferrania (Liguria), Italy.
The original firm was started in 1923 as a maker of photographic film, papers, and equipment. The company was purchased in 1964 by the 3M company, who spun it off to their Imation Division. The firm was acquired by Schroder Ventures in 1999 and then spun off as a separate company. Subsequently it was acquired by a Genoese shipping company, GRUPPO MESSINA (Ignazio Messina & Co. S.p.A).
The production of film was acquired in 2013 by the new company FILM Ferrania s.r.l. which took over some of Ferrania's manufacturing equipment and buildings. Former Ferrania technicians are involved too. FILM Ferrania inherits the historic brand Ferrania to launch analog products suitable for the actual needs of cine/photo market.
The firm manufactured photographic film and sold it under the Solaris brand, as well as private label products. Ferrania remained the only manufacturer of 126 “Instamatic” films after Kodak discontinued them in 1999, but 126 was discontinued by Ferrania in early 2007.[citation needed] In July, 2008, the company's President announced to its unions that manufacture of color film products would cease in December, 2008. As of March 2009, Ferrania customer service states that they are producing only 135 format color film in 200 and 400 ASA.
Ferrania's film production is going to start again in early 2014.

 

[farlymac]

Ooooh, I'd love to see the 126 come back. Got me a Kodak 500 I've been itching to try, but don't want to use the only two cartridges I have.

PF

 

[Sylvester]

A chrome film called "Scotch"? I drink to that.
It will be refreshing to have another player in this field than Fuji. I hope they will not charge 10$ a roll for it...

 

[ajramirez]

It would be so sweet if they brought 126 back. I have a couple of Minolta Autopak 700 paperweights that could be put to much better use.

 

[CliveC]

I am Italian and I grew up with the films (and cameras) made by Ferrania: I would be really happy to see those films on sale again (I bought some of them, when the shops cleared out heir warehouse).
Clive, if you like I may ship one ferrania roll film to you for a test: PM me if you are interested.

Thank you for the offer Mauro, but I suspect mailing film from Italy would be a costly proposition. Hopefully this new entity will have distribution in North America.

 

[thegman]

Very interesting. I'd be very interested in 120 sizes, if the colour is nice, then that will do me as grain is rarely an issue in 6x7.

 

[Photo_Smith]

A chrome film called "Scotch"? I drink to that.

Lets hope they make it and that they don't put it on ice... 🙂

 

[dct]

I am Italian and I grew up with the films (and cameras) made by Ferrania: I would be really happy to see those films on sale again (I bought some of them, when the shops cleared out heir warehouse).[...]

Very funny.
I know the brand too, for exactly the same reason. My 1st own camera was this ibis 6/6 and the gift came along with two rolls of some ferrania negative film, which I don't remember the type.

 

[KoNickon]

127!!!! I sure hope this finally comes to pass -- their plans sound quite promising.