It is True Agfa is getting rid of 120/220

[larrydressler]

I Noticed the origional message to this forum is missing I just got

this answer.

Subj: Re: agfaphoto-067544 WWW-request (agfanet)

Date: 8/26/2005 6:33:15 PM Central Daylight Time

From: agfa@ezaccess.net (John Auer, AgfaPhoto USA Corp.)

Reply-to: agfa@ezaccess.net (John Auer, AgfaPhoto USA Corp.)

To: My Address here

 

 

 

Dear Larry,

 

Thank you for contacting AgfaPhoto USA.

 

Indeed it is true, AgfaPhoto is in the process of phasing out all 120

and

220 format films worldwide.

[jtk]

...and per announcement earlier this week, Kodak's terminating 700 workers...in CHINA.

[larrydressler]

I wonder what happened to the origional posting? As for the Kodak in China ...... I wonder if Lucky hired them. Though there is always the Safety net in China. Fear not for those 700 they will soon be working again for the good of the economy.

[25asa]

No big deal to me as I don't really use to much Agfa in anything. It might hurt those who use the APX B&W films however. Since they got rid of APX 25, I haven't had much reason to use anything else of theirs. Ultra 100 is ok, but that's in 35mm anyway.

[david_m]

Where could you ever buy Agfa film anyway? I have not seen it on a store shelf for years. I don't recall seeing an Agfa film advertisment in years either. No wonder they have gone bust. I'm sure their 35mm film will very rapidly follow on the path to extinction.

[rustys pics]

It is true this time. British Journal of photography confirmed it this

week. Whether you use AGFA or not you should lament the

driving of another nail into the coffin of analog photography.

 

That said, I switched from APX 100 to Efke 100 a couple ot years

ago because they changed it to look more like a TMAX film. I

could no longer get those amazing mid tones with Rodinal.

Efke 100 looks just like the APX 100 of the old gold days....

[larrydressler]

Always got it in every town I lived. In Mesa AAZ I got it at a store called of all things Agfa Photo. then when they closed I got it at Tempe Camera. When I was in Montana I got it at Guldt Photo. Here in Clarksville TN. I get it at The right Place/Formerly Camera World.

How many Film ads do you see these days? Infact the price of Memory cards is down under a 5 pack of Agfa Vista 400 in 35mm but I still have all these great cameras and lenses and have not figured out how to insert the memery card. So I will hang onto a perfect dream. and understand that some day I won't be able to find 127 film again...... Or 116 ..... OOPS I can still find them.......

[rowland_mowrey]

Well, all good things.....

 

My venerable Nikkormat EL from the 70s died while on vacation. It expired so insidiously that I didn't know it was dead until I saw the needle indicate 1/1000 sec at f4.5 in a dark room with ISO 160 film. Ooooops. I should have paid attention. I have no idea how much I lost.

 

At least a digital camera might have warned me. Now I have to wait until next week for the pro lab to return the results and for me to learn the bad news.

 

And, what am I going to do with all of my Bronica equipment? It really pains me to see what may be the passing of an art form taking place in front of me.

 

Perhaps this will be our motto: "Sic transit gloria analog photography".

 

Ron Mowrey

[ilkka_nissila]

Ron, don't worry, there will be us diehard film users, at least one or two.

 

I haven't used Agfa films in years. Their slide films had remarkably beautiful and neutral white snow but the grain in the sky made me use other films. I guess in 6x7 it wouldn't be a problem.

 

I tried their Scala black and white film and the rolls came back from the Danish lab doing the development badly scratched, so badly that they're almost useless.

 

I'm not surprised that they are not doing well.

[red_noise]

I posted the original thread that Agfa is discontinuing 120/220. You might want to ask the administrator why threads containing facts are routinely deleted.

[jtk]

Larry, I'm not in the least worried about Chinese workers. But the Chinese businessmen I've dealt with (admittedly from Hong Kong) probably don't want employees at all, and I doubt they want to keep Lucky or other iron/chemical-age industries humping.

 

My guess is that Kodak, PRC, Lucky, everybody else realizes that although there may be X dollars to make in photochem materials, there are 1.5X dollars to make in, um, Hello Kitty or Ace combs or pirated software. They're not photo people, after all, they're the purest of capitalists. Marx, as everybody's forgotten, spoke of scientific materialism, just like George Bush's operators.

[d_purdy]

APX100 and 400 are big sellers here In Portland Oregon. At $1.79 a roll it is

no wonder. I am going down to the pro photo store to buy what they have this

morning. I already have about 75 rolls in the freezer... been sort of expecting

this. I like ACROS better anyway. And the grapes at the top are sour.

[rowland_mowrey]

Well, I am an advocate of freezer storage for increasing the lifetime of film, but I must say that my Agfa films (admittedly high speed color) kept more poorly than any other film I have ever used. Of course that was a few years back, but then the other films of the time kept quite well.

 

Ron Mowrey

[jeff_drew4]

Gee, I am disappointed that the mystery of APX120/220 market life is in the open.

I've been using it for decades and will be stocking the freezer, but I have not seen any

220 Agfa B&W for a very long time. Honestly, there are other good choices to move

to, but old favorites will eventually be missed and reminisced about! Speaking of

Ron's old Nikkormat, perhaps I can send him one of my Konica T3s to fill in? Old iron

and quality film is really tough to beat!

[r.t. dowling]

Agfa films have always been common and readily available at camera stores here in Maine. Photo Market in Portland -- Maine's largest camera store, which isn't saying much -- has always been a treasure trove of Agfa products. The quaint little Ogunquit Camera Shop sells a ton of Agfa stuff as well. Most of my favorite shots from the mid to late '90s are on Optima 100 and RSX 100.

[david_m]

I never buy film at camera stores! In fact, I would not even know where there is a camera store. Did they not all disappear years ago? All I know is you can't find Agfa in any Supermarket, Pharmacy or discount store like K-mart or Walgreens. Thats where I and most other people buy film.

[d_purdy]

In my experience the grocery stores, drug stores and super chains don't sell

120 or 220. It is either a photo store or on line.

[ilkka_nissila]

Also, it is very unusual that these stores would stock _good_ film. 400UC and high definition are examples to the contrary.

[jtk]

Unfortunately for some viewpoints, Walmart's miserable Superia beats many chromes and "professional" negative color films in most respects.

 

The truth is that we're in an incredible end-time situation...we have many staggeringly great films as we watch our labs vanish into the sunset.

[jtk]

..and of course, nobody's going to be selling 120 film within a year. It's a dead format.

[ilkka_nissila]

Of course there will be plenty of camera stores selling 120 film into the future. There are many things you can't do without it. It just requires more effort than most are willing to go through, but if you want your pictures distinguished in terms of looks, shooting 120 chrome is one way which helps quite a bit.

[25asa]

120 may not have the amount of use of 35mm, but I wouldn't call it a dead format. I still use it and prefer it over any other format including digital. There are pros I see that still use it. It has the best quality vs cost ratio of any format. And there are plenty of film choices out there still for it. Now 110 and APS- those are dead formats.

[larrydressler]

Scott I was going to leave you with the last word on this except for 1 point. Agfa is still going to produce APS. 110 and 126 are still being produced in Italy. I think it is because they use the same film base as 35mm so that should be a plus to those of us still using 35mm. Eastern Europe and England are the last places for 120. If Kodak leaves the market that allows only imports. Kodak did not move any 120 to China.<div></div>