pete_c__uk_

<p>Very nice photos. There were some very nice APS SLR's - I have a Minolta Vectis S100. Unfortunately nobody seems to be making new film in this format. Although 110 has made a come back, and perhaps 126 will, I doubt if anyone will revive APS, but it would be nice to be wrong!</p>

<p>You can see some results here:-</p>

<p>https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Lomochrome+purple&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=eNV&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NjYnUfjYJurY0QXirYCIDw&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=785</p>

<p>I've bought from several sellers in Hong Kong, Taiwan & elsewhere in Asia, all through ebay. The only problem I had was with one seller who sent me slightly outdated film. As it was only 5 rolls I didn't bother to return them but I commented in my feedback.<br>

<br />The following I can recommend (& all the film sent by these was indate) - I give their ebay names:-<br>

<br />cliffchuk - is in Hong Kong, has some films rarely seen in the west<br>

<br />isaac.chen - is in Taiwan - his ebay shop is called Black White & Silver, sells Shanghai GP3 rollfilm & sheet film & Lucky sheet film. Used to sell Era 35mm film but that seems to be no longer in production.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The Shantou Era company still have an English language version of their website, with the date 2011 at the bottom, and it still lists the Era 100 film. However I can't find any on ebay or elsewhere. There seems to be a minimum order of a carton of 400 rolls, which would perhaps put many dealers off. Maybe they are waiting for orders before coating some more. The brand has often been subject to rumours, so it is difficult to know what to believe.</p>

<p>The KX was my first Pentax and my first new SLR, which I bought in January 1977. At the time it seemed a toss up between the Pentax and an all black Rollei SLR, (can't remember the model), which was larger and not so pleasant to hold. In view of Rollei's subsequent history, I think I made the right decision to go for the Pentax. The KX came with the 55mm f1.8 lens. Shortly afterwards I got a Pentax 35mm f3.5 lens. I still have all of these, but the KX needs new light seals, which I haven't yet got round to doing. It was used a lot in the early years of ownership, has had one service (long ago) and a couple of times has needed attention to the flash synchronisation not working Otherwise no problems. It was particularly useful for copying work (in the days before scanners) with a macro lens and the mirror lock-up facility. Very few cameras seem to have that.<br>

I think it's a better camera than the K1000, which has less features and as far as I recall, there was no way to turn the power off when not in use. The KX got used a bit less when I bought first an ME Super, and then much later an autofocus MZ-3 in 2002, which I preferred. Now I've kind of come full circle and have bought a digital Pentaz K-x. Another very nice camera in my view.</p>

<p>I don't know Budapest but if you decide on the UK, the Cotswolds is a very nice area to visit - it would offer you lots of opportunities to photograph attractive landscapes & buildings, and it is not too distant from London. Most buildings are in the local Cotswold stone, which is a creamy yellow colour. By late September there will be less tourists around but the Autumn (fall) colours should be very nice. Good places to base yourself are Cirencester, Stow-on-the-Wold, or if you want a bigger town there is Cheltenham.</p>

<p>The film was withdrawn from the market because of a problem with sourcing one of the ingredients. Foma have worked on it, and now Fomapan 200 is back in 35mm and 120 formats. It's a pity Fujifilm couldn't do the same thing for their 120 size Neopan 400, but there doesn't seem to be the motivation there, or maybe it's just taking a long time.</p>

<p>As well as the Rollei replacements, Adox are working on their versions too. The 400 speed Adoxpan 400 is already available in its first coating (not the final version). The 100 speed will follow later, because there is still a lot of Agfa APX100 around (in Europe anyway). These films are claimed to be improved versuions of the originals made with input from former Agfa employees. The Rollei films are reputed to be coated by Ilford. Whether that's correct or not, it's not clear how near they will be to the Agfa originals.</p>

It is possible that the US Bergger site is that of the US importer/distributor rather than a site set up directly by Bergger. Certainly it does not contain a comprehensive list of Bergger materials, for example there has been an ISO 400 film in 35mm & 120 for several years but I can't see it in the film section.

 

Anyway the 2 new 120 size films can be found on the linhofstudio site referred to earlier. They are BRF15 and BRF100. The former seems incredibly slow for a modern B&W film but no doubt it will suit some. The 100 speed film is stated to be formulated for indoor photography. Both of these films seems to be in stock at linhofstudio who are a UK dealer (& I think they may be Bergger's main UK importer). Presumably these have been coated by Ilford on behalf of Bergger.

Ilford's Pan 100 and Pan 400 were intended for markets that were experiencing problems with grey products and undercutting. They enabled Ilford dealers to remain competitive by offering these lower cost Ilford lines. Although they may not be shown on the Ilford website they appear to still be in production in 35mm size (36 exp & 30m bulk length). They were certainly sitting on the shelves of the Ilford factory warehouse when I was there in June last year and are listed on the website of First Call, a UK mail order dealer. They are not normally available in the UK but I read elsewhere that there is at least one other UK source.

Unless it's been exposed to damp, very hot conditions or high humidity, black & white film is usually good for years past the nominal expiry date. Six years is really nothing, even ten is usually no problem. Colour film though is not so forgiving.

It should be said that as Ilford have stated on several occasions they no longer make 220 film because the special equipment required is old and not repairable. The cost of a buying a new machine and the fact that they would have to place a huge minimum order for the special 220 leaders & trailers means it would be completely uneconomic to make this size. They have attempted to persuade other leading manufacturers (probably Kodak & Fuji) to help by doing the finishing of the films but they have had no success. So I don't see what more they can reasonably be expected to do. At the end of the day the number of 220 films sold is minute compared to 120, and the number of 120 sold is very small compared to 35mm.

 

Interestingly, in the UK, for years Kodak TXP-320 has only been available in 220 not 120. But the 400 speed film has always been available in 120. I could never understand the logic of that.

Durst used to sell plastic reels for 110 film and also a loader device to make loading the reel easier. Mr Cad in Croydon was recently advertising Durst tanks with 35mm reels. Maybe they might have some 110 reels lurking about?

There has been a problem in recent years with Ilford films when used in cameras that use a red window. The ink used on the backing papers is more grey than black and can be difficult to read through the window.

Personally I have never found this camera particularly heavy. I used it a lot in the 80's and early 90's when photographing canal restoration scenes in rural areas, which meant a lot of walking. It benefits from the attachment of the L shaped grip. It is not in the same league as the Mamiya RB 67 which is very very heavy and probably best confined to a studio on a tripod. I never used a tripod with the M645.

The current Rollei TLR lineup are the FX, FW and the new Tele-Rolleiflex the FT.

 

The GX was replaced by the FX. I'm not sure what the differences are. The GX was produced in umpteen different special versions, certainly up to 2000. Most of the later ones had a Japanese shutter instead of the German Synchro-Compur. These special editions were so expensive that it's quite likely there are a significant number floating around new and unsold.

 

It seems strange that there should be a new production run of the GX after a 7 year gap, could it perhaps be a special edition of the FX rather than the GX or maybe a batch of new unsold GX models made several years ago?

These films are actually Agfapan APX 100 and APX 400 respectively but cut from master rolls that weres originally intended for 35mm film. So the 120 rollfilm base is slightly thicker than usual. They are cut and packaged for the Maco outfit who brand them as Rollei Retro 100 & 400. Maco have given this information themselves recently on another site. So they can be developed exactly the same as the Agfa films.

Well I don't know about in my back yard, and certainly not if it was leaking. But one would have been useful on Saturday when a main dual carriageway road was badly flooded. By some miracle I got through but not an experience I would wish to repeat.

TLR's can be very good for architechural photography. I used them a lot when I was photographing for a canal restoration group, and that included lots of bridges and other structures. You can do a lot with a 80mm lens but in some situations I found using a 55mm lens on a Mamiya C220 was better. These are now quite cheap but if money is no object there is always the wide angle Rolleiflex, both the original model and the currant one!

The only black & white film still made in 220 size is Kodak's ISO 320 Tri-X Professional. They did also do Plus-X Pro in that size but it now seems to have disappeared.

 

Ilford stopped producing this size some years ago because the special machinery required for finishing the film was not economic to repair. Compared to 35mm B & W film, sales of 120 is much smaller. Compared to sales of 120, sales of 220 was miniscule. Ilford have said they did recently approach both Kodak & Fuji to see if they would undertake the finishing of 220 film for Ilford but without success. Fuji did at one point produce Neopan 400 in 220, according to a catalogue I still have, but that seems to have gone from the market several years ago.

I think the original reference to 2 1/4 by 3 1/4 rollfilm was in the sense that the 120 film size was commonly referred to as this, because originally it was intended only for cameras that produced that size negative. So I don't think the authors meant that the Rolleiflex itself took 2 1/4 by 3 1/4 negatives; none of the TLR Rollei's did, they all took square negatives (although some models could be masked down using a kit to produce a 24 x 36 neg on 35mm film & a few Rollei TLR's, mainly late 'Cords, could take a kit to produce 16 or 24 oblong negs on 120 film).

As I understand it Macophot films are being replaced by Rollei branded ones. The Rollei ISO 25 film is supposed to be based to some degree on the discontinued Agfapan APX25. Its often difficult to know exactly who is involved in the production of these newish brands but it seems that the surviving Agfa-Gevaert plant in Belgium has a major involvement in the manufacture of the Rollei line. The Rollei Retro 100 is supposed to be rather similar to Agfapan APX100. Some people believe it may be cut from leftover master rolls of that film. I've no idea if that's true.

 

The Efke films of ISO25, 50 & 100 have been around (originally as Adox) since the 1950's. They used to be manufactured by Adox (later taken over by Dupont) in the former West Germany. Dupont sold the equipment to Fotokemika in Croatia decades ago together with the license to manufacture them and they continued the line under the Efke name. They also now label them Adox for certain distributors. The films are unusual in having a single-coated emulsion. They are renowned for fine grain.

 

Foma is a Czech manufacturer who seem to be doing OK. Their films are well thought of. The slowest is Fomapan 100. There used to be a much slower film but that disappeared years ago.

 

The Gigabite film seems to be another variation on Agfa Copex.

 

The Fuji Acros is claimed to have the finest grain of all ISO 100 films. Not having used it I can't say.

 

Being in the UK where the weather is frequently quite dull and overcast, I have stopped using anything slower than ISO 100 and even that not very often.

 

I did use in the past Pan F (not the current Plus version) but it was too contrasty for me (maybe that was my developing). I've used all the Efke films and though very good, the emulsion is delicate and I used to prefer a hardening fixer for them. Also occasionally the quality control for a batch can slip a little.

 

Coming down the line, maybe, is an Ilford Delta 25 but this isn't definite and the Fotoimpex people in Germany are experimenting with coating and have talked about (another) emulsion emulating Agfapan 25.

 

In the past I used Agfapan APX100 in 120 quite a bit and was very pleased with it. I've also had very good results with Kodak T-Max 100 in both 120 & 35mm.

 

So there's still plenty of choice out there!

I went on a tour of the Ilford factory last year and was amazed at the size of it and the complexities of the manufacturing process. Particularly impressive was the devotion to quality control. This doesn't come cheap but the quality control of Ilford, Kodak & Fuji is far more consistent than that of any of the other remaining manufacturers of black & white film.

 

On the tour we were able to speak to some of the senior Ilford people and they are very much intending to be in B&W film for the long-term. They certainly wouldn't be planning to price themselves out of that market but manufacturing anything in the UK is not cheap and there are quite rightly stringent health & safety requirements which add to those costs. I think it's fair to say that countries like China don't pay the same attention to this (or pay very high wages) so it's not surprising that the B&W film from their surviving manufacturers is priced much lower.

There is a dealer in Taiwan who sells this film on several ebay sites. Even with shipping it is very cheap & he has good feedback. I have dealt with him satisfactorily on something else.

I took my first colour pictures on a 620 roll of outdated Dufaycolor in 1956. It was first made in the 1930's and quite successful in its day. But it was an additive colour process which meant the transparencies it produced were very dense and not very good for projection. But it could produce reasonable prints and I have seen some interesting ones in a book of colour photos taken in the UK during WWII by American service personnel stationed here. Although most of the prints reproduced were from Kodachromes there were a few from Dufaycolor transparencies.