Fuji have restarted colour film production and are open to orders from wholesalers - Price increases likely

[wlaidlaw]

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I have heard that after a few months pause in production, Fuji have restarted their colour film machinery, having secured sources for raw materials. Whereas I am not a big fan of Fuji colour film, I recognise that it is important to the market and their shut down sent very worrying signals to the film end user community. I know that film use has climbed a modest amount over recent years but it is still a drop in the ocean compared with back when film was king and digital cameras were still in development laboratories. 

Wilson

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[frame-it]

2 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

I have heard that after a few months pause in production, Fuji have restarted their colour film machinery, having secured sources for raw materials. Whereas I am not a big fan of Fuji colour film, I recognise that it is important to the market and their shut down sent very worrying signals to the film end user community. I know that film use has climbed a modest amount over recent years but it is still a drop in the ocean compared with back when film was king and digital cameras were still in development laboratories. 

Wilson

yes, its old news from June, and the C200 etc films will be made at a factory in China [Guangxi Giant Star Medical Equipment Co Ltd], not in Japan [not that it really matters]

 

Edited September 15 by frame-it

[Anbaric]

I'd missed this story at the time, but have now found this summary:

https://kosmofoto.com/2024/06/fujifilm-colour-films-china/

'It will start producing “C200” and “C400” colour negative films at a production line in the city of Nanning, in Guangxi province, according to reports on the Xiaohongshu social network which were published on the Reddit subreddit r/AnalogCommunity ... It is unclear whether the two films will be Fujifilm’s own emulsions or Eastman Kodak’s Gold 200 and UltraMax 400, which have been packaged as Fujifilm 200 and 400 in recent years. The images shown on various Chinese social media posts show the same packaging which has been used for the Kodak-made Fujicolor films.'

I remember the original C200 being regarded as a cheaper or older emulsion than Superia. I don't think I came across 'C400' under that name, having used Superia 400 for a long time (that's the film I'd really like to see back in production).

[nitroplait]

45 minutes ago, frame-it said:

yes, its old news from June, and the C200 etc films will be made at a factory in China [Guangxi Giant Star Medical Equipment Co Ltd], not in Japan [not that it really matters]

 

It does kind of matter if one is not too keen of buying from a dictatorship. 

[frame-it]

Just now, nitroplait said:

It does kind of matter if one is not too keen of buying from a dictatorship. 

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/list-of-american-products-made-in-china/

and of course components for products that are assembled elsewhere

Sony now [since 2023] makes cameras for most countries in Thailand, the china factory sells only inside china

the Lumix S series is apparently made by Panasonic in china, and Panasonic has increased their investments in china [weird]

Sigma is one of the few that's totally made in japan

 

 

by the way, the china-loving-koreans recently discovered that over 1000 CCTVs at critical sites were made in china and connecting to a Chinese server, [DJI drones do that as well, which is why many countries are making their own drones]

 

[250swb]

6 hours ago, nitroplait said:

It does kind of matter if one is not too keen of buying from a dictatorship. 

If there was just one film manufacturing company left in the world wouldn't that be a dictatorship? While there are choices nobody is dictating to you. 

[Anbaric]

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I imagine everyone reading this is doing so on devices that have components made in China or are entirely made there. I suppose one difference between China and Japan-made films is that we might just conceivably get Superia back if Fuji restarts domestic production. It doesn't sound like this will be the case from the factory in China. But sadly, Fuji may no longer care much about the specific emulsion, provided it is of decent enough quality. The new 'Fujifilm 200/400' branding has already been used for both US-made (i.e. Kodak) film and some Japan-made film, and it looks like it will now also be used for the film from China (whatever emulsion that is). It's a bit like those store-brand films that pharmacy and camera shop chains used to sell. The film might change from Ferrania to Konica or Agfa from year to year and have rather different characteristics, but the branding would remain the same.

[wlaidlaw]

As well as the emulsion, the substrate can make a substantial different. I never really liked Fuji's 100 ISO reversal films with their blue/green bias but add a warming substrate to that same emulsion and you used to get Agfa Precisa CT100, my favourite colour reversal film. I still have seven or eight rolls of this sitting in one of my wife's many freezers (we raise our own beef and pork) so have two upright freezers and two large chest ones. I just hope my films are not sitting in the caked on ice at the bottom. 

Wilson

[Einst_Stein]

13 hours ago, nitroplait said:

It does kind of matter if one is not too keen of buying from a dictatorship. 

You against Apple? and ...

[erl]

r but for stage and theatrical work that I used to a great lot of, FujiPress 800 romped it in. However, I welcome any new or returning film production as it seems I am moving back substantially to film. To hell with the cost! It's still cheaper than dining out. 

[Anbaric]

It used to be claimed that Press 800 was the same as Superia 800, or at least closely related. I used the latter and liked it a lot - it didn't seem much grainer than the 400.

[Mr.Prime]

Adding choices is good - I'd support the use of Harmon's colour film which is made in England. However, the characteristics of this film just don't suit my shooting needs for regular use but it's good to see them giving it a go and I hope it stimulates interest from younger shooters to experiment with film more.

Edited November 10 by Mr.Prime

[mark_s90]

Wait,  if i recall isnt that the name of the company that makes the Shanghai black and white film

[Anbaric]

16 hours ago, mark_s90 said:

Wait,  if i recall isnt that the name of the company that makes the Shanghai black and white film

The current Shanghai GP3 is apparently 'based on the Orwo UN54 emulsion'. I'm not sure if that just means it's a German film rebadged (and perhaps spooled and packaged) in China, or something else. The relationships between some of the lesser known film companies seem murky at best, and there is a lot of rebranding going on.

Edited November 15 by Anbaric

[Anbaric]

On 11/10/2024 at 11:58 AM, Mr.Prime said:

Adding choices is good - I'd support the use of Harmon's colour film which is made in England. However, the characteristics of this film just don't suit my shooting needs for regular use but it's good to see them giving it a go and I hope it stimulates interest from younger shooters to experiment with film more.

It looks like Harman Phoenix is an early attempt after starting from scratch, the sort of experiment that would never have left the product development lab in the days before photographers became interested in unusual emulsions. I think they've said they intend to refine it further, so perhaps one day they'll be able to challenge more mainstream films on their own turf.

[mark_s90]

4 hours ago, Anbaric said:

The current Shanghai GP3 is apparently 'based on the Orwo UN54 emulsion'. I'm not sure if that just means it's a German film rebadged (and perhaps spooled and packaged) in China, or something else. The relationships between some of the lesser known film companies seem murky at best, and there is a lot of rebranding going on.

Last year I tracked down the website for shanghai sellers, and from what I can make out via translate option, 

 

OEM PROJECT | JIAN CHENG  apparently they will now make the gp3 product line for ANYONE who wants custom packaging, logos, branding, etc. 

And will cut color film to any size and package it, but custoemr has to provide the color film.

 

However last year one of their pages was saying that they coat the film base using emulsion they buy from germany in barrels.

[wlaidlaw]

I wonder how old the barrels of emulsion are? 

Wilson

[TomB_tx]

I’ve been using GP3 in unusual sizes (220, 127) for a bit and it seems decent quality 

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Hallo,

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