Asking for another size is a less complicated request by many orders of magnitude than asking for another emulsion, particularly one they don't currently make in sheet sizes.
I guess its worth going around it again so people are aware of the issues....ILFORD Photo coat sheet film on a different base to 120 and 35mm and the coated formulation is different, many people think we just coat one film product so why can't finish it into sheet sizes. The reason we do this is to produce the highest quality sheet film professional product that we can. When you get to films you coat specific 'campaigns' that relate to emulsion batch sizes, if you coat smaller volumes waste is increased to unacceptable levels, at the normal coating volumes we must ensure that the product is finished and sold at an acceptable rate as film must have significant date left on it when it leaves this factory or it has to be destroyed and sent for silver recovery. I actually costed PANF F + sheet film and the price we would have to charge makes it totally unviable, again people presume the volumes sold of these products are much higher than they actually are. Regardless, it is interesting to get all your feedback re products you would like to see...I do read them all and report it to marketing etc.
I hope that shines a little light on the subject :
I honestly don't understand how people can ask for XP2, Delta, SFX in this thread. I believe Simon is absolutely clear on the how and why. I think this ULF offering may even cost money for Ilford/HARMAN, and by offering only FP4+ and HP5+, the loss is at least minimised. Or maybe there's even some profit, who knows. Either way, there's a lot of work involved. I think the original post from Simon is 100% clear.
Kraker,
I'm with you. SImon has clearly stated reasons for limited emulsions and sizes. It is not unlikely that the wide variety of emulsions which used to be offered were significant in the failure of the previous Ilford film branch, as well as Agfa and others.
It is time we learned to work with what is available and be thankful it is still withus.
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Films NOT Dead - Just resting[/FONT]
Thanks Simon. I've been crossing my fingers in the hope that you'd make another batch of 11x14 HP5+ before I run out again. Last time I ran out I had to re-import some from North America which was madness. I'll order some 10x12 too if I can afford it .
Forgive my ignorance; I understand that PanF 50 isn't even made in 4x5, and you'd have to reformulate it from scratch to coat on LF film base, but aren't Deltas 100 & 400 already made in sheet film sizes?
Obviously, coating on thick 7 mil (thou) support is going to be much different than coating on 3 or 5 mil (thou) support.
Forgive my ignorance; I understand that PanF 50 isn't even made in 4x5, and you'd have to reformulate it from scratch to coat on LF film base, but aren't Deltas 100 & 400 already made in sheet film sizes?
Obviously, coating on thick 7 mil (thou) support is going to be much different than coating on 3 or 5 mil (thou) support.
I think Simon made it perfectly clear which sizes would be available and the reasons behind the decisions. Give the guy a break...
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