New Agfa Discovery?

[jeff_drew3]

Just announced on the news: Agfa has developed and patented a film

process making emulsions 10 times more receptive to light, meaning

faster film base. No dates for release, but here we go again!

 

What do you hear?

[stuart_phillips1]

I think it's interesting to speculate what a new film technology would do to the advance of digital imaging in the marketplace. I think it might seriously retard the use of digital cameras by giving film cameras a strong advantage.

[sergio_ortega]

Jeff, Tom Brokaw announced that on the NBC news broadcast last night, with some fanfare. I too was intrigued. No other details were provided. Agfa's name was not mentioned. I wonder where one could research this further? Sergio.

[bobatkins]

They found that if you add a compound (I believe it's a platinum carbonyl complex), you increase the quantum efficiency of conversion of photons to silver. I think there are issues of wavelength specificity and practicality. Lots of interesting ideas that get patented never make it into a commercial product. I wouldn't get too excited yet. Agfa clearly have a good PR department.

 

I'm not sure this is really medium format fodder though.

[jeff_drew3]

Bob: You always write interesting comments! I appreciate your information. Perhaps you are correct in thread placement, but I put the idea here because of the caliber of people that frequent this forum. Darron, Andrew, yourself and all the others deserve my thanks for providing a generally lucid and intelligent forum. I enjoy this virtual place. A development of a new film product is news, and probably extends the lives of our interests. Putting this question to another forum may provide quantity of replies, but not necessarilly better. Sergio came through with a tip on another site for information etc.

[bobatkins]

I'd equate the current situation with the "wonder drugs" we hear about in development but never see on the shelves. Things that work in the lab don't always work in the real world, though we can always hope. This isn't a film, it's probably nowhere near a film. It's an interesting lab observation that may result in high quality fast film. Of course maybe it will only be available in APS and 35mm. See, I said it wasn't really MF stuff! There's a thread on it in the photo.net Q&A. The one in the nature Q&A will be vanishing soon...

 

Any bets on how long it will take Pop Photog to run a cover headline "Super fast film on the way????", accompanied by a small inside article which basically says "maybe".

[david_m._young]

It's definitly a ways off... especially since it apparently doesn't work well in the red end of the spectrum, and has not been tested yet with color film dyes. But I give it until next issue before it appears in Pop Photo and Petersons.

 

From today's newspaper:

TECHNOLOGY: If the approach works it could revolutionize photography. By CHRIS TOMLINSON

 

The Associated Press Scientists say they have found a way to produce

photographic film that is 10 times more sensitive to light � an advance that could make true- to-life pictures of candlelight

dinners possible without a flash or muted colors. Agfa, the European

film manufacturer that sponsored the study and holds the patent, would not comment on when the film might become available commercially. And researchers acknowledged that more work is needed

to determine how well it can reproduce certain colors. But if the approach works, it could revolutionize photography, improving on the basic design that has been around since the 1840s. In a study published in today�s issue of the journal Nature, researchers at the

University of Paris-Sud said they have managed to capture every bit

of available light on film by adding a simple chemical. A camera focuses light from an object onto film, which is made of plastic with

a chemical layer. The film uses two kinds of light-sensitive crystals � halide crystals and silver crystals� to produce an image. When a bit of light called a photon, strikes one of the halide crystals, it breaks an electron loose. Ideally, that electron combines with a nearby silver crystal. Later, when the film is placed in a developer, the silver crystals that picked, up electrons darken and stick to the plastic while the rest are washed away. The result is a negative. One photon of light cuts loose one electron, but most of the time the electron quickly returns to the halide Instead of combining with the silver. As a result, most film is not very efficient. In dim light, long exposure times are needed to capture enough photons to create an image. The French researchers added a chemical called formate to the crystals. That kept the loose electrons from re-combining with the halide crystals. So every electron knocked loose by a photon was captured by a silver crystal. Other chemicals can keep electrons from recombining with the halide crystals, but they ruin the film�s ability to produce an image. The chief researcher, Jac-queine Belloni, said her technique could be used to make images with greater clarity or to take pictures in very low light without a flash. The new film could also widen the gap in

picture quality between conventional photography and no-film digital photography, which has been growing in popularity. One question is how the tech-nique will work with dyes that allow film to record red light.

[chris_grantham1]

Ugh. Chemists don't try and write about the news, so journalists shouldn't attempt chemistry. There's so many half-truths and misconceptions in that article - silver doesn't "get darker" (and if it did, it would be a "tree falling" sort of scenario... you couldn't see the silver anyway). The term is reduction. Silver is reduced. To my knowledge, there is no color change involved. For a nice intro to the chemistry behind photography, check out Dan Sapper's response to <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000iKb">this question</a>. I'm curious to that last statement on improving picture quality. Is that an allusion to sharpness? This might actually reduce sharpness... all 'dem perrrty 'lectrons bouncin' 'round matin' with 'em silvery thingys, mmm hmm.

[jeff_drew3]

Thanks for the input and discussion. Bob: Santa failed to leave me a new megapixel camera; not even a brick of film! Considering how poorly I dealt with film exposure on recent images, I think I'll leave the newer technologies in more competent hands! Happy Y2K!

[Bill Bowes]

It's July, 2002 and I am still waiting!!!! Boring!!

[isaac_poad]

I was looking through the online catalog of a film distributor today and noticed that the Agfa B+W films are now listed as Agfa Platinum. Does that mean that this type of extremely sensitive film is now on the market? Has anybody else seen this?