Visiting FOMA factory in Hradec Kralove

As much as I wanted to focus on the film production, two things leapt out at me from these pictures: 1, the extreme retro feel of the control room; and 2, these chaps are hockey-mad! No wonder they package some of the 30 m bulk rolls in black canisters so that they look like very large hockey-pucks!

Anyway, am I correct to infer from your first picture, that this entire manufactory is in one building about the length of a city block and two storeys high? If so, that's rather smaller than I would have expected. "Cottage industry" indeed!

--Dave
 
The factory is from 1920s and the BW film has been constantly produced there since 1930s. It is typical factory areal from that age with several buildings.
You eyed well the control room. The whole film life cycle can be followed on the main control board. And yes, in order to produce the film you need one looong room and at least three floors.

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Argenticien said:
As much as I wanted to focus on the film production, two things leapt out at me from these pictures: 1, the extreme retro feel of the control room; and 2, these chaps are hockey-mad! No wonder they package some of the 30 m bulk rolls in black canisters so that they look like very large hockey-pucks!

Anyway, am I correct to infer from your first picture, that this entire manufactory is in one building about the length of a city block and two storeys high? If so, that's rather smaller than I would have expected. "Cottage industry" indeed!

--Dave
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My main observation: Since when has any factory or assembly plant allowed outsiders to photograph inside? Amazing to me that you could freely shoot photos. Hell I can't even photograph the front of a store at our local mall without risking trouble.
 
A few more.

A few more.

From the same visit. BW on Fomapan 400 only. Summar on Canon P and Fuji DL super mini.

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Don't Tell Anyone :angel:

jonmanjiro said:
That chap on the right in the foreground with the hat on looks VERY dodgy. I bet he made off with a stash of film stuffed under his coat when nobody was looking!!!

Great set of photos, Martin. I've been waiting to see them since last November!!!!
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To all you guys who have problems getting hold of Foma, why don't you just order online?

www.fomafoto.com, fotoimpex.de and macodirect.de typically sell these.
They, and other places, have all Foma films in stock, this is no different than ordering from B&H.

Hell, even freestyle has both the Arista/EDU and Foma brand available for sale.

I would never expect a local shop to have anything else than Kodak and Ilford in black & white (usually they don't), buying film online is a standard operation.
 
kshapero said:
My main observation: Since when has any factory or assembly plant allowed outsiders to photograph inside? Amazing to me that you could freely shoot photos.
Click to expand...

Generally of course that's true of factories or even offices. But it seems to me that in this case, Foma have little to fear. A factory that is making film (a business that others are exiting, not trying to break into) and doing it with a mix of 1930s tech to modern tech including Sharpie-handwritten instructions on the wall, probably is not high on the list of industrial espionage targets. It may even be on the list of places that industrial espions run the other way from.

Edit: By the way, what do those instructions say, if anyone reads Czech? I could only get one word into it with Google translate: "Describe..." (?) and then I'm struggling to read the handwriting of the other words.

--Dave
 
it says: "write (or mark?) on the bag you have got (from the company)." and word "fix" means "marker-pen".

thanks for sharing this, it's really nice to see foma alive, kind of unbelievable they survived 89 and digital revolution at once. to my eyes their technology does not look outdated for what they are doing. "darkroom" atmosphere is there. my childhood is preserved on foma films.

one more thing: "zdenicka" is a girls name (given to machine).
 
Thank you Vobluda for taking us along with you.

This thread is why I am so fascinated with photography.
As one who likes to "create" photos, seeing those old machinery and the people running them almost bring tears in my eyes.

"Image only" ??? ... yeah, right.
 
Argenticien said:
Generally of course that's true of factories or even offices. But it seems to me that in this case, Foma have little to fear. A factory that is making film (a business that others are exiting, not trying to break into) and doing it with a mix of 1930s tech to modern tech including Sharpie-handwritten instructions on the wall, probably is not high on the list of industrial espionage targets. It may even be on the list of places that industrial espions run the other way from.

Edit: By the way, what do those instructions say, if anyone reads Czech? I could only get one word into it with Google translate: "Describe..." (?) and then I'm struggling to read the handwriting of the other words.

--Dave
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It means: Sharpie! Sign your bag.

And the tech is from 50s-60s 🙂
 
Let's not delude ourselves, film production lines haven't changed much since 1950s anywhere. There's only thus many efficient ways to mix and coat emulsions. The ancient phones and CRTs in control rooms have nothing to do with core technology.
 
P3tr said:
It means: Sharpie! Sign your bag.

And the tech is from 50s-60s 🙂
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Looks more like 80s-90s if you ask me - much of the visible machinery seems powder coated and CNC milled, both things that did not get widespread before the late seventies even in the West. You'd be closer to the mark if it were a US setting (or maybe ten years early in Western Europe), but this is a former East Bloc plant, where the state of 60s industrialization still was pretty much steam age, struggling to slowly get back to pre-war conditions. Pictures of Orwo in the sixties look like Agfa of the 1890's in a state of advanced decay...
 
All right, all right, as to misoverestimating the obsolescence of their technology, I'm sorry, as it appears I started that.

Meanwhile, thanks to the translators for help with the bag-labeling instructions.

--Dave
 
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