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The Mighty Tri-X Brand


plasticman

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I agree that the branding could be better. The name Tri-X is so much a part of photographic history, so this is a bit of a missed opportunity. But Tri-X is still on the label, so it's not a total failure. And it still has the yellow and green. Kodak has had some bigger misses in the past ...

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I don't think the Ferrania packaging is targeting point of purchase displays. Most people seeing it probably wouldn't know what it is.

 

Those who know what Tri-X is will buy it regardless of packaging and those who don't will be happy shooting 400 TX or even TMax.

 

I don't think film is much of an impulse purchase today. Perhaps some film will be sold that way to hipsters in trendy shops.

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[...] Perhaps some film will be sold that way to hipsters in trendy shops.

 

Only if the package has faded colors and the film has expired. A REAL hip film will have pre-expiration dates, or "found as scraps on the floor".

 

Hipster guys don't use camera straps. "Straps are for suspenders."

 

Hipsters are the type that go to public computer places to browse the trash.

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I have no idea why you people are so bitter, nor where all this repetitive hatred for 'hipsters' comes from. The 'hipsters' I know tend to be the nicest and most creative people amongst my friends and colleagues. They tend to be the makers and doers. They tend to be generous and curious.

I'm frankly tired of seeing them routinely abused by the grey old guard.

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I'm frankly tired of seeing them (Hipsters) routinely abused by the grey old guard.

 

 

Grey old guard? Being grey and old is, thankfully, the way I remain visually separated from naive persons stereo typing me as a Hipster, unless there is an age requirement: is there one?

 

A self- deprecating sense of humor helps, unless that is unacceptable. Is it?

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I really like the Ferrania packaging: it's flat, bold and very contemporary, while incorporating elements that evoke a sort of 1950s Italian cigarette brand - I see Marcello Mastroianni opening a pack of Ferrania 120 film and raffishly smoking a roll.

But I guess that's just me.

 

( Here's the - very big - Kickstarter image that shows all the packages - zoom to see it at 100%: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/746/909/22c50604e6220cf286e3ffc779490548_large.jpg?1413405194 )

 

I'm expecting to be welcomed to Ferrania Country by The Ferrania Man any moment now....

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I think Kodak changed Tri-X at least twice since I started using it in 1965. I'm open to any correction. I still develop it with D-76 1:1 and print with a Leitz condenser enlarger, but the familiar grain is no longer there on 8x10" enlargements - and, BTW, it does not show up in scans of prints, but that is a different issue.

 

It is impossible to show this on any browser. This photo is grainy a ~5x7".

 

[ATTACH]480919[/ATTACH]

 

Kodak Tri-X was reformulated around 2007 thus a new designation of 400TX instead of TX400. So it is now finer-grained. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, don't know but I'm sure it was a cost cutting measure. Is D-76 processing still valid? Don't know.

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Kodak Tri-X was reformulated around 2007 thus a new designation of 400TX instead of TX400. So it is now finer-grained. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, don't know but I'm sure it was a cost cutting measure. Is D-76 processing still valid? Don't know.

 

D-76 is still good for Tri-X (400TX) as is its equivalent Ilford ID-11.

 

Thank you for the good information.

.

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I don't think looking like a cigarette pack is going to harm sales, it's not as if cigarette branding has been unsuccessful over the years is it?

 

Steve

 

I wonder, whether this will include the health warnings ("using film can be addictive"). Not that these seem to hurt cigarette sales either...

 

Stefan

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Do hipsters really exist in real life or is this just another internet thing? I am confused I may have seen one once but was not sure. Same for the aura around Tri-X, I certainly got the impression when I started last year that the net was obsessed with it but the more and more widely I have read the less I get this impression.

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Well, several of these points would actually apply for me (where others definitely don't). I have the impression these are the young people gentrificating the part of town I'm living in. I kind of like them, they've put some stores to their taste in an old cattle market and don't appear to get up before 11 am at Saturday, which makes shopping relaxed for me. Just be prepared, if you are queueing up beind them, they like to discuss at length the contents of the bread they buy.

Thinking about it, if they like film, this market could use a C41 minilab.

 

Shall we move this OT discussion to Barnack's Bar?

 

Stefan

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I only brought up hipsters to illustrate the only kind of people I can think of who might buy a given film on display in a shop as a purchase based on seeing film packaging. I think most film users know what kind of film they want. I don't even know what kinds of shops have film displays or film signs any more except maybe Lomo shops and Lomo displays. E.g. in what stores is Ferrania going to be doing point of purchase advertising and who is the targeted audience for this?

 

Anyone wanting Tri-X or any other specific film will simply buy it on line or ask for it in a store.

 

My fiancee shops at farmers markets and discusses at length what is in the bread too. (7 or more sprouted grains please, grass fed beef, natural eggs from happy chickens, etc.) She is no hipster.

 

I found this interesting about the "Tri-X factor." But don't forget that a lot of well known great b/w images were made way before 35mm Tri-X was available.

 

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/features/bryan-appleyard/tri-x-factor?page=full

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