Good News for B&W Film Fans

[Mackinaw]

It looks like J&C Photo has purchased the old AGFA B&W film coating machinery and will be producing their own B&W films. See this URL for the announcement:

http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=31

And see this URL to follow the thread on APUG:

http://www.apug.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29703&page=1&pp=10

Very interesting indeed.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Nachkebia]

Excellent news.

 

[nico]

Good, it makes me feel safe for the hard times coming 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Nico

 

[wlewisiii]

I'd be happier if they had bought the Agfa formulations as well as the machinery. I'm really not sure they are a big enough organization to be successfully developing & testing a new emulsion formulation. Hope they do succeed, I'll happily buy the sheet film, but ...

William

 

[colyn]

I wonder how it will compare to Fuji's Acros??

I'd be interested in trying their IR film.

 

[rpsawin]

That's great news! I am looking forward to trying these out.

Bob

 

[anselwannab]

I'd be more inclined to give them business, not that my usage is going to float them. If they are targeting this niche market and look as a viable long term provider as we go into uncertian times, I think they may be an interesting solution.

 

[doubs43]

Looking at the ISO ratings of the B&W films they plan to introduce, it will be interesting to see what formulations they actually use. The ISO's they propose could be a combination of Ilford, Agfa, ADOX and other old-school films.

I'll certainly give them my support.... and business.

Walker

 

[Kevin]

Looks like BMattocks really did put his foot in his mouth.

 

[KoNickon]

I didn't see any mention of Agfa in that brief announcement. Was there something more?

 

[kmack]

Looking at the discussion on APUG it looks like it will be neither AGFA nor Efke but a new formulation. J&C seems to be committed to this project so whatever the formulation is used it should be consitant and of a reasonable quality.

I'll be ordering as soon as some is offered just to see how it performs.

 

[KoNickon]

I should have asked this question also -- do I infer there's a missing comma, so it should read "35mm, roll and sheet film formats"? In other words, I'm hoping medium format versions of these formulations will be available.

 

[kaiyen]

Without having read the apug thread (too early in the morning for apug)

ISO 25 film with fully panchromatic spectral sensitivity.

No mention of much, so it's likely a direct efke 25 competitor, though hopefully it will be fully panchromatic. That would be nice. I keep forgetting about the lack of red sensitivity.

ISO 100 film with fully panchromatic sensitivity and designed to be ideal for alt processes requiring high density. Specially designed for minimal reciprocity failure

The only films I've seen with notably lower reciprocity failure have been newer emulsions, like t-gran and e-grain plus, of course, neopan acros. This will be intriguing.

ISO 400 film fully panchromatic multi layer film designed for minimal reciprocity failure at rated speed.

I haven't seen mention of multi-layer outside of fuji's color stuff, so not sure what that means. Same comment as above on the reciprocity comment.

Infrared film with a true 820 nm sensitivity and green blind so it can be handled under safelight and developed by inspection.

For me, what matters is actual EI when shooting. That's what I've got my fingers crossed on.

anyway.
allan

 

[amateriat]

I should have asked this question also -- do I infer there's a missing comma, so it should read "35mm, roll and sheet film formats"? In other words, I'm hoping medium format versions of these formulations will be available.

Usually, "roll" film and "medium-format" are interchangable terms.


- Barrett

 

[amateriat]

Looks like BMattocks really did put his foot in his mouth.

IIRC, Bill was referring to the South Korean chemical concern that bought a good chunk of the remains of AgfaPhoto a short time ago (and, yes, I know someone else "got" Rodinal); there was much speculation that the new owners might get film and chemical production back on track, but it appears the company was only interested in "industrial applications" regarding their new acqusition. To this end, Bill called it right (which reminds me...anybody hear from him lately?).

Be that as it may, I do wish J and C much luck in this venture. It's a strange time in the photo biz (and will likely only get stranger), but having yet another going film concern can only be good news.


- Barrett

 

[SDK]

The "green blind" 820nm sensitive IR film sounds quite cool. This means you could probably get the infrared look with a Yellow or Orange filter, rather than a Red or Dark Red filter, especially nice if (horrors) you are using an SLR. That's because you would only need to filter out blue light with the new film, rather than blue and green light, as with conventional IR films are mostly panchromatic with extended red & IR sensitivity.

The multi-layer 400ISO film is probably aiming for curve and granularity performance that is similar to C41 color films, all of which are multilayer, having some grains that have large grain and high sensitivity and some layers that are small grained with lower sensitivity for recording fin details. This film may strive produce a look similar to Kodak T400CN (B&W 400CN) chromogenic black and white films, but with a silver image developed with conventional B & W processing instead of C41.

 

[Socke]

Mirko Boeddecker, the owner of Fotoimpex in Berlin, confirmed the project is in its planning state but nothing concrete yet. They intend to offer all the products JandC mentioned in the UK and Germany as well, as far as there are no legal and/or environmental restrictions.

Mirkos answer in his forum