Ferrania Solaris Color Print Film

bmattock

bmattock

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A couple of days ago, someone mentioned color print film and noted that the last two manufacturers were Kodak and Fujifilm. That's nearly correct, but Lucky (China) and Ferrania (Italy) are still in the game, even if only barely.

That made me think about Ferrania and if they are still actually producing film. I know from the The Frugal Photographer that they have Solaris (made by Ferrania) 126 cartridge film, but I did not know if it was still made - I sure don't see it sold in stores anymore.

So I dropped Ferrania USA an email, and it turns out that they sell it on their website:

http://www.ferrania-store.com

I won't vouch for its quality - Solaris was considered pretty bad compared to Kodak or Fuji color print films when you could buy them in the stores, maybe five or ten years ago. Maybe it is better now - maybe not. But in these days of shrinking supplies, I thought I'd pass it along.
 
My understanding is that Frugal bought all the 126 stock and has enough for a few years. But I don't think it's still made. I use it and send it to Dwayne's.
 
whitecat said:
My understanding is that Frugal bought all the 126 stock and has enough for a few years. But I don't think it's still made. I use it and send it to Dwayne's.
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The link is for 35mm. Just trying to pass along a resource. Looking back, I can see I didn't word that very well. I meant, I don't see Solaris 35mm film in stores anymore.
 
I do see the film in the 110 size sold at Walgreens with thier name on it and am told it is made by Solaris, but you're right, I do not see it anymore in 35mm.
 
I have seen Kodak brand 110 film for sale at Walmart, although the guy at the counter told me they don't process it anymore - they send it out. I tried some 110 a couple years ago for old times' sake. Yuck. It sucked then and sucks now. I'm slowly scanning through ten years worth of 110 film I shot back in the early 1980's. I suppose it was not bad for what it was, but it was really not that good.

I'm tempted to try a 4-pack of the Solaris 35mm film ($9.99) just to see how awful it could possibly be. Maybe it isn't so bad anymore, who knows?

There is (or was) a Ferrania factory in Norman, Oklahoma for many years. It used to produce a film brand called Dynacolor, which was sold to 3M, which in turn sold it to Ferrania. I don't know if they still make film at that plant anymore.
 
I bought a Rollei A110 on Ebay and heard it was the most expensive 110 ever sold back then. Over 300 bucks! I paid $15.00 for it. I got some fantastic prints from the 110 I shot. I still have a couple of rolls and better pull them out. I sent them to Dwayne's and got prints for about $3.49 a roll.
 
whitecat said:
I bought a Rollei A110 on Ebay and heard it was the most expensive 110 ever sold back then. Over 300 bucks! I paid $15.00 for it. I got some fantastic prints from the 110 I shot. I still have a couple of rolls and better pull them out. I sent them to Dwayne's and got prints for about $3.49 a roll.
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Yeah, I had a Pentax Auto 110 when I was in the military. Carried it everywhere with me, overseas, in the desert, etc. I doubt I would have carried a 35mm camera the way I carried that 110 around. So it was good in the sense that at least I have photos. But the quality compared to a 35mm was not really high. Just from the image size, I guess.
 
jamesj said:
i recently saw some shots with this film from her...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattlebonvivant/sets/72157603928313821/

was told it is currently being packaged under the kroger brand...
i dont know maybe i was told wrong...
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That definitely could be true - and I can check at Kroger store to see. Should have a country of manufacture listed on the box.

There is a Krogers near me - I'll check it tonight.
 
Ferrania is a few miles from my town (near Savona, I live in Genoa, Italy). They were having bad times one or two years ago because they were selling film for medical use (their main business, xrays I think) but many hospitals passed to a cheaper product... trade unions were fighting for saving the workers and their families.
If you are interested I can call them, and I let you know.
(I suspect that they actually buy bulk film from other sources and rebrand it for selling as Ferrania rather then still producing it, but maybe I'm wrong)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrania

ciao
Andrea
 
andrealed said:
(I suspect that they actually buy bulk film from other sources and rebrand it for selling as Ferrania rather then still producing it, but maybe I'm wrong)
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You may be right also - but if they are buying it from 'another source' then that source must either be Kodak, Fujifilm, or Lucky - no one else makes color film anymore that I am aware of. Lucky is probably late for the door, so that leaves Kodak and Fujifilm if Ferrania is just a reseller of one of those two.

I can ask my new email contact and see what he says, but if you wanted to check also, that would be great! Thanks!
 
andrealed said:
Ferrania is a few miles from my town (near Savona, I live in Genoa, Italy). They were having bad times one or two years ago because they were selling film for medical use (their main business, xrays I think) but many hospitals passed to a cheaper product... trade unions were fighting for saving the workers and their families.
If you are interested I can call them, and I let you know.
(I suspect that they actually buy bulk film from other sources and rebrand it for selling as Ferrania rather then still producing it, but maybe I'm wrong)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrania

ciao
Andrea
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I googled and I found from my local newspaper online site that:
http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/savona/vi...24/&CODE=ff02f962-e2b8-11dc-869b-0003badbebe4

To cut a long story short:
they will keep the production of color film with 200 workers for the next 3 years.
They promised they are going to sign the agreement, I said: they are going to sign it....
Let's hope.
 
Well, that's good news, anyway. I will see what the boxes on the film at Kroger say when I stop by tonight as well.
 
I've been buying Solaris film here in London for a pound a roll (36 exp) in a place called Poundland which is a sort of a dollar store in the U.S.It says made in E.U on the carton & made in Slovina on the cassette .I'm not sure if it's me,but the last roll I shot with a little Vivitar 35 ES came back with a blue cast although reading through the archives here and elsewhere makes me think it might be somthing to do with bleach (too much too little?) but the first few rolls with an Electro blew me away with the colours...:D
 
Well, I stopped at Kroger (US grocery store chain) and picked up a pack of 4 24-exposure ISO 200 film, which states it is "Made in Italy." I presume then, that it is made by Ferrania, as I know of no other Italian film manufacturers. jamesj, thank you for that information. The pack cost $7.99 USD, not bad for 4 rolls.

I'll try and shoot some soon, and will have it processed and I'll scan it. Will try to use a rangefinder, even, and report back with results. Let's see how bad (or good) it might be.
 
I remember that Ferrania made a lot of store brand films back in the 80's, including, as said, 3M's Dynacolor. I was never impressed with them. Seemed to be grainy, and poor color. Sort of like Photoworks 'free' film. Wonder what that is?
Let us know what you think of the Kroger film.
 
bsdunek said:
I remember that Ferrania made a lot of store brand films back in the 80's, including, as said, 3M's Dynacolor. I was never impressed with them. Seemed to be grainy, and poor color. Sort of like Photoworks 'free' film. Wonder what that is?
Let us know what you think of the Kroger film.
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Yeah, that was my recollection as well. I have a lot of old photography magazines from the 1950's, and Dynacolor was a major advertiser, at that time I do not think they were owned by 3M or Ferrania, I think they were an independent US manufacturer. They made slide film too, again, in Oklahoma.

However, I don't know their entire timeline. I'll be sure and report back on the Kroger/Ferrania I bought this evening.
 
jamesj said:
was told it is currently being packaged under the kroger brand... i dont know maybe i was told wrong...
Click to expand...

I can verify that the Kroger house brand film I tried maybe 1 1/2 years ago was most definitely Ferrania. It said so on the edges of the negative strips.

It was very "ok", but nothing that I would regularly use particularly at the regular price. The normal price for the Kroger house branded 4-packs was more than Target's price for either Fuji or Kodak. I tried it once when it was on sale.

My impression was that it's more grainy and more contrasty than any of the other 200 speed C41 films I was using, including the Walgreens/Agfa.

Edit: Here's a photo I did with the Kroger/Ferrania 200 from another thread:

attachment.php
 
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Interesting. Well, it might be useful for certain effects, we'll just have to see. I was a fan of the Walgreens/Agfa film, stocked up on it when it dropped to a buck a roll, but that's all gone now. Walgreens film is Fuji now, as I'm sure you're aware. Wish it was Agfa, really liked that Vista.

(and before anyone pipes up and says they're making Vista again - no, they're not)
 
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