Return of Agfa paper and films to market.

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Sanders McNew

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As I mentioned in another thread,

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45450

Adox is preparing to return Agfa MCC 111 paper to
market. It is shipping the first production samples
to testers in the next couple of weeks. After launching
the paper, Adox intends to return APX to production.

Here's the full text from the other post, with links
to sources:


Adox has hired Agfa's key employees and bought
Agfa's recipes and the essential machinery and
is tooling up to return Agfa MCC 111 paper and
APX 25, 100 and 400 films back to market -- each
of the films in 35mm, 120 rolls and LF sheets.

Mirko Boddicker, one of Adox's principals, is a
contributor on www.apug.org and has been giving
regular progress reports to APUG members. As
for the MCC 111 paper (my own paper of choice),
they are shipping production samples to testers in
the next two weeks. Adox is waiting until the
existing stocks of APX are run through the dis-
tribution chain before producing APX films.

You can find the Adox announcement of the return
of MCC 111 to market at this URL:

http://www.adox.de/english/ADOX_Papers/MCC/MCC.html

As that site states, "Adox MCC Fibre Based Papers are
being reproduced on original Agfa machinery purchased
from the liquidator of Agfa Photo Leverkusen and show
identical parameters and image properties." I am in line
to be a tester of the paper, so I will be happy to let you
know how "identical" it is to Agfa MCC 111, which I still
use daily.

The APUG threads on the topic are at this URL:

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum172/...-products.html

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum172/...tml#post508159

Here is a direct link to Mirko's post in the second thread,
summarizing Adox's project to return APX to market in
all speeds and formats:

http://www.apug.org/forums/490297-post12.html

This is very exciting news. Adox is going to take Agfa's
formulas and staff and equipment, and produce the old
emulsions in a scaled-down facility where batches will
be better-matched to demand for silver products in the
digital era. I don't care much about Agfa films, but
the loss of MCC 111 paper would be grievous to anyone
who prints under an enlarger.

Sanders
 
I received an email the other day from Mirko Böddekker where he explains that the first samples are about to be sent out in a few days. I suspect that I'm pretty far down his list of voluntary testers, but I look forward to receiving the paper samples when I do.

I have never tried MCC111 but I know someone left a box in the darkroom, I'll try to compare them. On the other hand, a return of APX100 is great news, I love that film.
 
Seeing this quote has me worried:

"Ideally we finalize one project and use the return on investment to finance the next one. So much depends on the financial success of the first (MCC) project."
 
rich815 said:
Seeing this quote has me worried:

"Ideally we finalize one project and use the return on investment to finance the next one. So much depends on the financial success of the first (MCC) project."
Click to expand...

All the more reason to buy lots of the new MCC 111
when it comes to market. :)

Adox is not Kodak, for better and worse. Better,
because it is entirely in the business of making and
selling traditional photographic films and papers.
(Adox's existing product lines are very very good.
If they fail to bring MCC 111 to market, my fallback
is their Emaks graded paper line.) Worse, because
they do not have Kodak's capital at their disposal.

So, nothing is certain in life. But Adox has invested
the money to buy the equipment and hire the people
and work up test emulsions. That is more than
wishful thinking on their part. Keep your fingers crossed.

Sanders
 
I am hopeful that each project will be successful. I really want APX 25 and APX 100 formulations to be available.
 
Lets wish all success to this project. Anything that widens the choice of materials available is good news indeed. !!!!
 
Thank you for the information that is really good news.You see the changing film market is getting back in lower quantities again ! For a long time there will be a market for traditional photography. (at least I hope so)
 
Thank you Mirko! Way back when I used to print on MCC paper and I would love to have APX 25 too. I have a big stock of APX 100. :)
 
Whether you're an Agfa fan or not this is great news. it shows the interest in B&W is strong enough to get a major corporation to make big investments in keeping the products alive. Hopefully the demand is there and the art is growing.

I was using Agfa papert at the time they folded and went to Ilford warmtone FD VC but will have to revisit Agfa again.
 
Great news about the paper. Here in the UK though, it's like APX100 and 400 never went away. I nearly bought some yesterday for the price (£17.50 for 10 rolls) but stuck with my usual Delta 100.
 
markinlondon said:
Great news about the paper. Here in the UK though, it's like APX100 and 400 never went away. I nearly bought some yesterday for the price (£17.50 for 10 rolls) but stuck with my usual Delta 100.
Click to expand...

Yes, APX is still in the distribution pipeline here in the US as well.
Adox, I gather, doesn't want to compete with existing APX stocks
and intends to delay its own APX production until the existing
stocks are exhausted. Agfa films remain in the marketplace not
only in Agfa boxes but also as Rollei Retro films. Maco bought
the last Agfa master rolls from the Agfa liquidators and have been
spooling it and selling it under the Rollei brand name.

Sanders
 
LeicaTom said:
As soon as 25ASA B&W film comes BACK on the market I`m FILLING my freezer!

Tom
Click to expand...

I've still got >2000 feet of APX400 in my freezer, should be able to hold out.

Noel
 
Sanders McNew said:
So, nothing is certain in life. But Adox has invested
the money to buy the equipment and hire the people
and work up test emulsions. That is more than
wishful thinking on their part. Keep your fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

I've been following this thread (and others from Mirko) on APUG for quite some time. What gives me optimism that this may succeed is that they are using Agfa's old research facility to make these new paper and films (think small-volume production) and not a large high-volume plant (expensive) that other companies are saddled with. Of course the proof's in the pudding, so we'll have to use their new products first to see if they can successfully pull this off.

Jim Bielecki
 
I too will be a loyal purchaser if APX25 returns. I have one roll left. I was never much of a MC paper fan, loved Portrigia though!

Thanks for the info! I'll be watching with bated breath.
 
sepiareverb said:
I was never much of a MC paper fan, loved Portrigia though!

Thanks for the info! I'll be watching with bated breath.
Click to expand...

I gather they have looked into the earlier discontinued Agfa papers like Portriga but concluded that they would be more difficult to return to production because they contained substances like cadmium that are tightly regulated today.

Sanders
 
Sanders McNew said:
I gather they have looked into the earlier discontinued Agfa papers like Portriga but concluded that they would be more difficult to return to production because they contained substances like cadmium that are tightly regulated today.

Sanders
Click to expand...

No wonder I always tingle when I handle a Portrigia print :D
 
First Test Results with Adox's New Agfa MCC 111 Paper

First Test Results with Adox's New Agfa MCC 111 Paper

Adox has now shipped its test batches of its reformulated MCC 111
paper, and the European testers are now printing. (Alas, we
Amercans are still waiting for ours.) The early returns report that
the new paper has a slightly whiter base, and thus a slightly colder
tone, than the extant old stocks of MCC 111. Otherwise, the
testers report, tonality and contrast and speed and paper
characteristics are all spot-on. Here's a link to the APUG thread:

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum172/40721-resurrection-mcc-progressing-2.html#post512009

Stay tuned! :)

Sanders
 
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