Filmomat

[Paul J]

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This looks rather good.

 

http://www.filmomat.eu

 

 

 

 

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[nano.anderson]

Tempted to try and build one myself using 3d printing, Arduino, and free time I don't have. Honestly though very intrigued by it, but the price point makes it moot for my budget and needs.

[michaelwj]

I don't see who their market is? Not that many folk are doing huge volumes of film that don't already have a solution that works for them. And 2 rolls/90 minutes is not exactly fast, I can shoot the faster than that!

If the process of developing film was so arduous that I needed a machine to do it for me, I'd probably shoot digital.

Edited February 23, 2017 by michaelwj

[M9reno]

A tried and trusted JOBO CPP3 seems the more versatile machine, especially since it can also be used to print inside Expert Drums. Price is similar.

[ymc226]

I stumbled across a YT video about the Filmomat and was intrigued with another gadget to try out.  I am in the US and purchased my Filmomat directly from the maker with excellent communication and follow up even when UPS decided to split up the 2 boxes it was shipped in.  Presently about $140 US for brokerage fees via this carrier.  In Leica terms, it is less than a third of the price of the new Leica M11/50 ASPH Lux II combo).  I read the PDF manual prior to receiving the machine (about 3-4 weeks between placing the order and receiving) and any questions were answered satisfactorily.  The machine was very well packed.  Programming is surprisingly simple.  

I planned on going back to film and processing at home as I started about 15 year ago in New Jersey and did re-purchase several Paterson tanks and reels which I all got rid of prior to a move across country.  Processing at home and trying different developers adds to my enjoyment in the photographic process.   Being in California, having a wet darkroom for printing with the significant amounts of water use for print washing is not an option due to guilt. 

Developed a total of 8 rolls of Portra, 4x 135 and 4x 120 over 2 runs on the same day and using all of my Arista 1Qt kit so no need to store chemicals afterwards. Negatives came out perfectly. Loading on the Jobo 2500 reels is very similar to the smaller diameter Paterson reels I am familiar with. The only difference and my main concern point was using the red stop located in the middle of the Jobo reels when loading 2x 120 films on the same reel so no overlap occurred. The machine worked very well and clean up was very easy; just open up the valves to drain the water bath, add water to the reservoir and engage the "clean" protocol and no further mess to deal with. My machine sits right at the edge of the sink so never need to move it.  I just used tap water for everything except distilled water for chemical mixing and the 2 final manual fill and dump exchanges after the machine washed the film were also distilled water.

I still have to process B&W but want to have 8 rolls ready for development first as this is about the capacity of 500cc (capacity of Filmomat tank) of working strength Ilford stop and fixer so again no need to store extra chemicals.