Hello APUG from FILM Ferrania (PART 2)

[ericdan]

I personally wrote this one off. I just assumed it's not gonna happen and was pleasantly surprised when I read the last update.
That being said, under-promise over-deliver would've been a better strategy from the beginning.

 

[FILM Ferrania]

That being said, under-promise over-deliver would've been a better strategy from the beginning.

Always good advice.

 

[ericdan]

Always good advice.

I know... probably easier said than done

 

[Nzoomed]

Main thing is that progress has been made and the first film has been made on a coater that has not run for at least a decade!
Only can be onwards and upwards from here on...

 

[Diapositivo]

First: my compliments, applause, and embrace.
Second: what's the name of the horse? It's going to be one of the most famous horses of the history of photography.
Third: I understand the silence. The moment when the decision was made, to abandon the old road and start a new one, how can that be communicated without being submerged by an ocean of disbelief, and a ton of crepes?
Sometimes it's wiser to stay silent and work.
When a new "goalpost" is reached, communication is made. Results will speak more than press releases and weekly updates.
This new update comes, not by chance, because there is the news of the coating. Now it is possible to tell the world about the old method, the new method. Before having the roll to show, that wouldn't have been possible. The internet discouragement could have crept inside the team.

I like the invincible determination of these guys. New problems will appear, new obstacles will bar the road.

Keep the bar straight, never give up. Forget weekly updates!

 

[Lionel1972]

No need for weekly updates for me either. The pace of the updates so far has been fine by me. The website is very nice, the photos, videos and news are great. We all know everyone is working hard there to make our common dream come true. Keep up the great work!

 

[Meyer Trioplan]

Exactly! There HAS to be ton of topics that can be explored!

I was thinking this too. Sure the "hang in there" or "we tried more of what we tried last week" sort of posts would possibly clutter the site, but some write ups about the team members and their love for film and this project as well as some historical posts about Ferrania, the film maker of "olden days" would certainly enlighten many of us here who may not have even known we were shooting Ferrania stocks when we had a roll of Clark Color Labs film in our cameras 10-20 years ago!

 

[Sal Santamaura]

Can Ferrania's revival survive this?

http://www.kodakalaris.com/en-us/ab...ris-reintroduces-iconic-ektachrome-still-film​

If not, will Kodak keep making Ektachrome afterward? Let the speculation begin!

 

[1L6E6VHF]

I don't know if I can trust this.

I hope it's not a scheme to nip Film Ferrania in the bud. :-(

 

[flavio81]

Can Ferrania's revival survive this?

http://www.kodakalaris.com/en-us/ab...ris-reintroduces-iconic-ektachrome-still-film​

If not, will Kodak keep making Ektachrome afterward? Let the speculation begin!

This is good for Ferrania, i think, because:

- It increases the chance E6 labs keep doing E6 in the meantime
- It encourages people who left shooting slide film to do it again
- One of the reasons for making Ferraniachrome viable was to offer a more affordable film than what the well-known japane$$e manufacturer is charging us. And i expect that the film from Ea$tman Kodak Alari$ will not be priced too low compared to Ve£via...
I'm all for an italian E6 film, reasonably priced, as long as the colors are nice. I don't mind if it's not the finest grained of all films.

 

[FILM Ferrania]

Just to be clear - we have absolutely no problem at all with ANY film company announcing new (or re-released) analog film products. As I've said before - there is no market without multiple players, and Kodak seems serious about remaining on the field.

How's the quote go? A rising tide raises all boats - or something like that?

Our latest update isn't so glitzy - but it requires no speculation:
Dead Link Removed

 

[Sal Santamaura]

I don't know if I can trust this...(-

Why not? It's an announcement directly from the manufacturer.

...I hope it's not a scheme to nip Film Ferrania in the bud. :-(

That's the nature of capitalistic competition. What else could it be, beyond a scheme to sell more Kodak film and make more money?

 

[flavio81]

Just to be clear - we have absolutely no problem at all with ANY film company announcing new (or re-released) analog film products. As I've said before - there is no market without multiple players, and Kodak seems serious about remaining on the field.

How's the quote go? A rising tide raises all boats - or something like that?

Our latest update isn't so glitzy - but it requires no speculation:
Dead Link Removed

Thanks for the update, i just commented there...

Let's hope you have a baby slitter for the 120 format soon!! My 6x7 cameras eat film like Jabba the Hut!!

 

[Photo Engineer]

Jabba does not eat film. He eats froggy little alien things.

PE

 

[FILM Ferrania]

Let's hope you have a baby slitter for the 120 format soon!! My 6x7 cameras eat film like Jabba the Hut!!

The Baby Slitter can be quickly reconfigured to produce pancakes of almost any width - up to the width of the miniJumbo itself, of course.

 

[kb3lms]

Thanks for the update! Good stuff.

And I do remember VAXes very, very well. I have a bunch of DEC 3-ring binders (the actual manuals are long gone) and an RA-60 disk pack here somewhere.

Geez, if slide film can make a comeback, maybe the VAX can, too.

 

[Nzoomed]

Just to be clear - we have absolutely no problem at all with ANY film company announcing new (or re-released) analog film products. As I've said before - there is no market without multiple players, and Kodak seems serious about remaining on the field.

How's the quote go? A rising tide raises all boats - or something like that?

Our latest update isn't so glitzy - but it requires no speculation:
Dead Link Removed

I completley agree with you and the other replies.

I think this is the best news that I could wish for about Kodak re-introducing Ektachrome!

Firstly as mentioned, this will ensure more E6 labs survive, secondly, I want to shoot Ferrania anyway, but with analog photography, its good to try multiple films.

If anything, kodak see the commitment that Ferrania is doing and see that there is the market for E6 films and also they see how this will benefit both parties looking into the future.

 

[Nzoomed]

I completley agree with you and the other replies.

I think this is the best news that I could wish for about Kodak re-introducing Ektachrome!

Firstly as mentioned, this will ensure more E6 labs survive, secondly, I want to shoot Ferrania anyway, but with analog photography, its good to use different films, I intend to shoot Fuji, Kodak and of course #1 is Ferrania!

If anything, kodak see the commitment that Ferrania is doing and see that there is the market for E6 films and also they see how this will benefit both parties looking into the future.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Firstly as mentioned, this will ensure more E6 labs survive, secondly, I want to shoot Ferrania anyway, but with analog photography, its good to try multiple films.

E6 is not in a healthy state at this time. If it is to survive into the medium-term, a huge lot of E6 film across all manufacturers that we currently have must be consumed. The fact that throughput is so small through commercial processors is worrying enough because the process is filthy and wears out machines; the more films going through them, the better their operation over the longer term. Once the machines are clapped out through lack of use, they are very rarely (if at all) replaced anew. It's cheaper and most cost effective in terms of business to simply dump E6 processing. I have seen this with many labs with their machines too far gone to be salvaged.

Processing one or two rolls now and then doesn't cut it. Twenty to thirty rolls in a fortnightly period, continuing, is a good improvement, but thousands of photographers should be doing just that. They are not. It's all talk, little action. All of that E6 consumption should be done now, not at such a time in the future intedeterminate another film should make an appearance (Ektachrome, Ferrania) and somehow, the world is saved!. Ektachrome would require expansion beyond the 35mm format to MF and LF where the take-up would be more appealing. How well Ferrania fares in a global market that so many (outside the wizened confines of APUG) would be challenged to recognise the name (if at all) remains to be seen.

 

[Cholentpot]

E6 is not in a healthy state at this time. If it is to survive into the medium-term, a huge lot of E6 film across all manufacturers that we currently have must be consumed. The fact that throughput is so small through commercial processors is worrying enough because the process is filthy and wears out machines; the more films going through them, the better their operation over the longer term. Once the machines are clapped out through lack of use, they are very rarely (if at all) replaced anew. It's cheaper and most cost effective in terms of business to simply dump E6 processing. I have seen this with many labs with their machines too far gone to be salvaged.

Processing one or two rolls now and then doesn't cut it. Twenty to thirty rolls in a fortnightly period, continuing, is a good improvement, but thousands of photographers should be doing just that. They are not. It's all talk, little action. All of that E6 consumption should be done now, not at such a time in the future intedeterminate another film should make an appearance (Ektachrome, Ferrania) and somehow, the world is saved!. Ektachrome would require expansion beyond the 35mm format to MF and LF where the take-up would be more appealing. How well Ferrania fares in a global market that so many (outside the wizened confines of APUG) would be challenged to recognise the name (if at all) remains to be seen.

Kodak will probably include development in the price of the film like they did in the very old days. Buy the roll and send it back with a nifty free envelop. Get your mounted slides or prints back a week later with a roll to replace the one you shot or something. This way one lab will process the bulk of E6 and everyone is happy.

 

[flavio81]

Thanks for the update! Good stuff.

And I do remember VAXes very, very well. I have a bunch of DEC 3-ring binders (the actual manuals are long gone) and an RA-60 disk pack here somewhere.

Geez, if slide film can make a comeback, maybe the VAX can, too.

I suspect there are hundreds of virtual (emulated) VAX machines currently running and doing useful stuff as we speak. Or at least the old software is running on modern hardware (or virtual hardware) running the modern OpenVMS operating system.

 

[andreabg]

Always happy for updates.
Keep all time you need to produce new film. no problem to wait!
always proud to be a backer

Ciao
Andrea

 

[pbromaghin]

It is almost shocking that Ferrania has been able to get that old VAX and the process control computers to work again. I was around when that stuff was new and this is where I expected the whole project to come crashing down.

 

[FILM Ferrania]

Processing one or two rolls now and then doesn't cut it. Twenty to thirty rolls in a fortnightly period, continuing, is a good improvement, but thousands of photographers should be doing just that. They are not. It's all talk, little action.

You raise a very good point! Yesterday on Instagram, a friend of mine posted that he was shocked how many people were posting photos of their own personal "stash" of Ektachrome in the wake of Kodak's announcement. He was shocked because people seemed to be proud to show film that they haven't actually used while at the same time claiming to be excited about Kodak's announcement...

This hoarding/stashing/freezing issue is of course a big big problem for all film companies in general - one that has been gaining some attention lately in the online film community. I've actually seen the hashtag #shootyourshit being used in online posts - and I could not agree more.

We're not quite sure at this point how we can truly tackle this problem, but it's most certainly on our minds...

 

[FILM Ferrania]

It is almost shocking that Ferrania has been able to get that old VAX and the process control computers to work again. I was around when that stuff was new and this is where I expected the whole project to come crashing down.

The VAX doesn't work at all, thus we used the Windows box with terminal emulation to program the TCS controllers.

We have salvaged tons (literally) of computer hardware, drives, floppies, etc. We have VAXs, PDPs, PCs and even a dozen or so Mac Quadras. We also have thousands of floppies, drives and other storage media. One of the major projects ahead of us is extracting all useful info from this mass of silicon and migrate it to a modern system.

One thing is for sure - SAMANTHA VAX will remain right where she is...