Film Ferrania - Developments from October 2023 onward

[Nzoomed]

Something i noticed when going into the store is that none of my kickstarter credit is showing when i go to make a purchase and im pretty sure I went through all the steps correctly to credit my account at the time it was announced, but its been so long now.

 

[cmacd123]

Something i noticed when going into the store is that none of my kickstarter credit is showing when i go to make a purchase

were they not planning to phase that in a bit at a time as they could afford it, as of course the Kickstarter money was committed to buying the machinery long ago.

 

[Agulliver]

Yes, I believe that the credits offered in lieu of the colour film they weren't able to produce had a time limit.

 

[Nzoomed]

Yes, I believe that the credits offered in lieu of the colour film they weren't able to produce had a time limit.

I was not aware of any expiration date on that credit, or else I would have placed an order of some P30

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I thought it was a year after you received the credit... I could be mistaken.

 

[Nzoomed]

I thought it was a year after you received the credit... I could be mistaken.

damn, i dont recall them ever saying anything about that, I was just patiently holding onto it until they had colour film available

 

[Agulliver]

I recall them communicating it several times, and I wasn't even directly interested as I never had any credits.

And the colour film, if it ever happens, was always going to be years away. They also made that clear and advised cashing in the credits on P30.

 

[CMoore]

I know nothing about them, only what i read here.
And that makes me wonder how they stay in business.......

 

[cmacd123]

I know nothing about them, only what i read here.
And that makes me wonder how they stay in business.......

Film Ferrania did a Kickstarter to take over a small part of what had been the research lab building and some other machinery from the remains of what had been Ferrania, 3M/Ferrania, Imation, and a few other names that we used by the firm. The kickstarter offered a reward of Newly made colour slide film at a time when Kodak had just discontinued Ektachrome.

by the time the dust settled, the materials that they were going to use to make that film had gone Bad, and they backed up to attempting to make some of the older Ferrania B&W films, that 3M had discountinued after 3M bought Ferrania back in 1964. the sage included finding Asbestos in the building, redevelopment of the rest of the site ctting off Power and water, COVID and many other challenges.

Many of the folks who contributed to the kickstarter were upset as they thought that their contribution was buying the Unable to produce colour film. the Kickstarter was instead to raise enough to save the equipment from being sold for Scrap.

the company has released Very small quanities of three Different Black and white films, But since they are using the equipment from the research lab they have only made VERY small Quanities.

Many of us wait to see what they manage, Just because ferrania has made a Number of special films over the years, and supposedly they have all the recipes. Also as Imation, (or was it one of the later names) they were the last place that made 126 film.

since Kodak is back to making Ektachrome at least in 16mm and 35mm, the ferrania slide film is proably on hold, unless they start making some of the High speed C41 and E6 film that 3M used to churn out for private label cutomers like K-mart and Sears.

 

[Agulliver]

Very nice summary above.

It's worth remembering that Ferrania became one of the biggest, possibly the biggest, manufacturer of amateur C41 film by the late 1970s but you rarely saw their name because most of it ended up with the names of big retailers on it. Ferrania colour film was indeed sold under names like Sears and K-Mart in the USA.....and in the UK they had the contract to be the "buy D&P, get film free" with PTP which was the biggest photo lab in the country by some way....owned by Dixons retail group which also sold the film under their Prinz Color brand. Ferrania film also appeared as supermarket own brand film all across Europe. They were churning out many millions of rolls of C41 35mm and 120 films every year and well as 127, 126, 110 and at least one E6 film. None of which was the best in the world but it was all decent quality stuff, used by zillions of amateurs for decades. It only disappeared in 2009 when the last Ferrania Solaris films exited the original factory. We know that some of the machinery saved, but not yet repaired, was the 127 spooling machinery and the machine to make/load 126 cassettes. So for users of 126 film in particular they remain a small hope that the format might eventually be reborn.

From that once huge factory, the current Film Ferrania is in the LRF research building and the endeavour to use some of the old coating and finishing machines and a handful of old staff to reintroduce former Ferrania films was hampered by several incidents not of their making. Then you had the people who didn't understand what the Kickstarter was about complaining that they didn't get the film they thought they ordered.

I don't know what quantities of P30, P33 and ORtho have been released into the wild. I have several rolls of P30 and I like it when I want relatively high contrast negatives shot in bright light. Where they go from here though is uncertain. It looks like all the founders have left, with the introduction of the "investor". One story is that it was discovered that the founders were stealing funds. Another is that they simply fell out with the investor. Having another viable film manufacturer is important, and the films they've released so far are genuinely not like others so I hope they are able to find a way forward. But it's not exactly looking rosy.

 

[dkirby]

I know nothing about them, only what i read here.
And that makes me wonder how they stay in business.......

They stay in business because their films are excellent. Their business management is significantly lower quality. Hopefully this new ownership changes the latter of those two statements without changing the former.

 

[Nzoomed]

I recall them communicating it several times, and I wasn't even directly interested as I never had any credits.

And the colour film, if it ever happens, was always going to be years away. They also made that clear and advised cashing in the credits on P30.

I thought I had been keeping up to date with all their emails, but then they just stopped, last one i had was the instructions on redeeming the credit, which I went through, nothing was said about any expiry date.
Not very considerate for the loyal kickstarter members who have been patiently waiting anyway, I knew colour film was years off but was happy to wait.

 

[CMoore]

Film Ferrania did a Kickstarter to take over a small part of what had been the research lab building and some other machinery from the remains of what had been Ferrania, 3M/Ferrania, Imation, and a few other names that we used by the firm. The kickstarter offered a reward of Newly made colour slide film at a time when Kodak had just discontinued Ektachrome.

by the time the dust settled, the materials that they were going to use to make that film had gone Bad, and they backed up to attempting to make some of the older Ferrania B&W films, that 3M had discountinued after 3M bought Ferrania back in 1964. the sage included finding Asbestos in the building, redevelopment of the rest of the site ctting off Power and water, COVID and many other challenges.

Many of the folks who contributed to the kickstarter were upset as they thought that their contribution was buying the Unable to produce colour film. the Kickstarter was instead to raise enough to save the equipment from being sold for Scrap.

the company has released Very small quanities of three Different Black and white films, But since they are using the equipment from the research lab they have only made VERY small Quanities.

Many of us wait to see what they manage, Just because ferrania has made a Number of special films over the years, and supposedly they have all the recipes. Also as Imation, (or was it one of the later names) they were the last place that made 126 film.

since Kodak is back to making Ektachrome at least in 16mm and 35mm, the ferrania slide film is proably on hold, unless they start making some of the High speed C41 and E6 film that 3M used to churn out for private label cutomers like K-mart and Sears.

Like i say..... makes me wonder how they stay afloat

 

[Agulliver]

I felt they communicated the time limit on the credits very clearly across multiple social media sites and on their website....and I wasn't even following it that closely because I never had any credits to redeem - I backed them only sufficiently to receive a postcard. It seemed abundantly clear to me that there was a defined window of a year where backers could use credits to purchase B&W film in lieu of the colour film they'd been unable to coat due to all the stuff beyond their control. I mean, when the Italian government decides to slice a campus in two and shut off gas and water supplies....a photochemical company is kinda screwed...

 

[flavio81]

They were churning out many millions of rolls of C41 35mm and 120 films every year and well as 127, 126, 110 and at least one E6 film. None of which was the best in the world but it was all decent quality stuff, used by zillions of amateurs for decades. It only disappeared in 2009 when the last Ferrania Solaris films exited the original factory.

I thought Solaris was decent film. I saw a comparison of Solaris vs the then current (2005?) offerings from Fuji, Kodak and Agfa, and it wasn't bad at all, it was competitive. On some specific aspects (i think latitude) it fared actually better than the competition, while on others (grain) it wasn't as good as Fuji and Kodak.

We need to remember that Ferrania was the main film factory of 3M, a huge, huge company famous for investing a lot of money on R&D and inventing interesting stuff (the 3M digital multitrack recorder being my favorite 3M invention).

From that once huge factory, the current Film Ferrania is in the LRF research building and the endeavour to use some of the old coating and finishing machines and a handful of old staff to reintroduce former Ferrania films was hampered by several incidents not of their making. Then you had the people who didn't understand what the Kickstarter was about complaining that they didn't get the film they thought they ordered.

I don't know what quantities of P30, P33 and ORtho have been released into the wild. I have several rolls of P30 and I like it when I want relatively high contrast negatives shot in bright light. Where they go from here though is uncertain. It looks like all the founders have left, with the introduction of the "investor". One story is that it was discovered that the founders were stealing funds. Another is that they simply fell out with the investor. Having another viable film manufacturer is important, and the films they've released so far are genuinely not like others so I hope they are able to find a way forward. But it's not exactly looking rosy.

Sad story indeed.

 

[flavio81]

They stay in business because their films are excellent.

Are they?

I'm at europe right now, a P30 roll is like 11 EUR while Adox CHS II 100 is like 8 EUR. The Adox is a real 100 speed film and technically very good. The P30 is a very strange film which, as far as i've seen on tests and sample pics/etc (and i've following P30 for years), it's not really an ISO 80 film, more like a much slower speed film that you can develop to expose at EI 80 with the downside of contrast getting to extremes.

Again, a P30 roll is like 11 EUR, while Kodak Tmax 100 is 11.90 EUR, and that one is a truly excellent, superior film. I don't think I need to Xtol the virtues of Tmax here, of course. TMax is truly ISO 100 (or, well ISO 80 in any case), has perhaps the best MTF curve in its class, fine grain, versatil as a swiss knife, etc etc. And these are european prices, on America the prices should be better.

If Ferrania wants P30 to succeed, the price needs an adjustment.

 

[twelvetone12]

Someone edited the italian Wikipedia for FILM Ferrania. Apparently (if true) the current CEO stepped down (the two original founders stepped down in 2023):

Purtroppo l'azienda sotto la nuova guida non ottiene i risultati sperati e dopo un 2024 di profonda crisi Silvio Pignone è costretto a lasciare sia la guida dell'azienda che il suo pacchetto azionario di maggioranza che passa in mano inglese.

In English:

Unfortunately, under its new leadership, the company is not achieving the expected results, and after a deeply challenging 2024, Silvio Pignone is forced to step down from both the company's leadership and his majority shareholding, which is transferred to English hands.

Obviously without citing any sources. I looked around the Italian internet but I could not find any reference, but in a way, if true, it means that these "English hands" wanted to acquire the company and not liquidate it's assets. I hope these "English hands" are the ones close to film photography.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

English hands? Harmon??

 

[Agulliver]

Solaris was a decent amateur film. I used a lot of the 200ISO version branded "Truprint". The 400 was a bit grainy for anything bigger than 7x5 prints but the colours were very pleasing for both. For it's intended purpose, a cheap everyday film, it performed all it's duties admirably.

P30 is simply not an everyday film. Do not make the mistake of confusing that with it not being a good quality film.

I await more news and from more sources regarding a change of ownership. IT's not exactly looking great. I don't know if Harman would be interested, does the small Film Ferrania operation have anything they'd want? Harman are investing £10 million in their own production capacity and already have vastly more capacity than Film Ferrania.

 

[cmacd123]

P30 is simply not an everyday film. Do not make the mistake of confusing that with it not being a good quality film.

I await more news and from more sources regarding a change of ownership. IT's not exactly looking great. I don't know if Harman would be interested, does the small Film Ferrania operation have anything they'd want? Harman are investing £10 million in their own production capacity and already have vastly more capacity than Film Ferrania.

As far as P30, it is an "interesting" film was roots in the 1940s or 1950s even at their peak, Film Ferrania admisted that it is a "specalty" film.

while it would be a strech to tye "English Interests" with Harmon... the Archive at Ferrania should still have the Knowledge to make colour film up to I think it was 640 ASA.

the other "english" guy I can think of is the one who absorbed "Original Wolfen. he might actually NEED the tiny coater in the Ferrannia Building

 

[Nzoomed]

I felt they communicated the time limit on the credits very clearly across multiple social media sites and on their website....and I wasn't even following it that closely because I never had any credits to redeem - I backed them only sufficiently to receive a postcard. It seemed abundantly clear to me that there was a defined window of a year where backers could use credits to purchase B&W film in lieu of the colour film they'd been unable to coat due to all the stuff beyond their control. I mean, when the Italian government decides to slice a campus in two and shut off gas and water supplies....a photochemical company is kinda screwed...

Has anyone got a screenshot on this update, because I never read anything about this in their kickstarter emails and I thought I had been keeping up with this very well, from memory most of their communication stopped abruptly, perhaps I got removed from their mailing list for some reason?
Last communication I remember was about receiving the kickstarter credit in the online store and that was it, nothing was said about a time limit.
Putting that aside, it disappoints me as a backer, they raised a good amount of money from us, and the rewards of a few rolls of film is the least they could do to show us appreciation.

 

[cmacd123]

Like i say..... makes me wonder how they stay afloat

I suspect that Much of the "staying Afloat" has been mostly a passion on the part of the heads of the enterprise, I can't imagine that they have actualy been making any significant money especally with the small availability of product. even if the retired employees who have been working their ae not actually drawing a salary. Likewise, I suspect that the relatively higher prices for film, and the limitations of the reward credits reflect the lack of cash.

 

[abruzzi]

I do hope that Ferrania makes it through this bump. Orto seems to still have stock at lots of places, but I went on a search for P30 in 120 size, and in the US its almost impossible to find. I took a chance on an online shop I've never used that showed stock of P30/120. They seem like a legit brick and mortar store in San Francisco called Glass Key Photo. They took my order and I have a tracking number so I think they are legit and actually do have P30 in stock.

Ferrania P30 120 — Glass Key Photo

Ferrania P30 B&W ISO 80 film

www.glasskeyphoto.com

and for those that like 35mm:

Ferrania P30 B&W 35mm 36exp film — Glass Key Photo

Ferrania P30 B&W 35mm 36exp film

www.glasskeyphoto.com

I ordered 20 rolls of 120, which should last me at least a year, while Ferrania gets their **** together to produce some more film. (hopefully.)

 

[AnselMortensen]

Glass Key is 100% legit.

 

[OrientPoint]

I've bought P30 in 120 from Glass Key. They're for real.