Ultrafine Brand Film

[brucemuir]

I have been advised that Kodak may also be doing this. Since Kodak no longer manufactures Plus-X the Arista Premium 100 may be a custom formulation.

AP100 is done for too.
24 exposure rolls are all thats left.

I grabbed a few 100 footer's and when I went back to re up...it was gone

[wogster]

I have been advised that Kodak may also be doing this. Since Kodak no longer manufactures Plus-X the Arista Premium 100 may be a custom formulation.

One has to be careful with the statement company X no longer manufactures product Y, when dealing with a product that is made in large batches like film.

It's not uncommon with film to set up a line, run off several master rolls, break down the line, set it up for another film, then run off several master rolls, break down the line, continuing to run through a bunch of products, eventually looping back to the first one. It's completely possible to manufacture a modern B&W emulsion on the same line as colour emulsions, many are coated in several layers, just like colour. For Kodak the odd man out was Kodachrome, it needed special manufacturing, which took a long time to set up. The master rolls sit in the freezer until there is a call for product, they take them out, thaw them, package them, and ship the film out.

Technically therefore, most products, except the ones in the coating plant, and the ones being slit and packaged, are no longer being manufactured. Now I just looked on Kodak Canada website for Plus-X, normally when Kodak discontinues a product, they post a discontinued notice on the website, there is no discontinued notice for Plus-X.

[tkamiya]

Officially, only Plus-X in 120 was discontinued. 135 is still a current product. I have no idea if they are still intending to produce master rolls when the current one is gone.

[Gerald C Koch]

Officially, only Plus-X in 120 was discontinued. 135 is still a current product. I have no idea if they are still intending to produce master rolls when the current one is gone.

Now that you mention it you are correct, the 35mm film is still made. Sorry to have prematurely killed Plus-X.

[jnanian]

Now that you mention it you are correct, the 35mm film is still made. Sorry to have prematurely killed Pluis-X.

no worries gerald !
i am sure it won't be long before bigK does it for real ...

[cmacd123]

Now that you mention it you are correct, the 35mm film is still made. Sorry to have prematurely killed Plus-X.

Although it is now apperently only made in single rolls and not bulk rolls.

[wogster]

no worries gerald !
i am sure it won't be long before bigK does it for real ...

There would still be TMX and FP4, Delta 100 so all is still right with the world. The problem for Kodak will be that eventually they will have killed off so many films, sending customers elsewhere that they will no longer have enough to justify keeping their film production equipment in a good state of repair. This is where it gets interesting, what the corporate MBA's in charge seem to forget in Kodak's case, the biggest asset the company has is locked up in the files and archives in the film engineering labs. Yet if they stop making film, they will probably sell off those assets for a song....

[Brac]

Ilford will, however, manufacture film for others on a custom, "you supply your desired characteristics" basis.

An example of that seems to be the Rollei RPX 100 & 400 films. These were apparently manufactured for the Hans O Mahn Company, who brand their films as Rollei, in the Harman/Ilford factory. Mahn/Rollei then had the master rolls cut & packaged elsewhere, possibly using different factories for the 35mm & 120 versions.

As far as Kentmere films are concerned, Harman took over Kentmere's photographic side (they also manufactured packaging) and closed the Kentmere coating line. All Kentmere products are coated in the Harman/Ilford factory in Mobberley. Kentmere is therefore now a Harman brand (not a subsidiary company) & the new films seem to have been launched as an economy line and in 35mm only.

[bluesun267]

Side by side comparison of 35mm Ultrafine Extreme 100 I ordered a couple weeks ago shows identical in every way to Kentmere 100 (aka Ilford Pan 100 in some countries.) The only difference is the brand ID on one side, "Ultrafine Extreme ISO 100". Frame numbers etc. are Ilford. More importantly, the emulsion (check the nice relief image when viewed at an angle), density, grain, developing times are the same as Kentmere. It's an excellent film and very close to FP4+ but with a little more grain (in Rodinal). Lovely film. It has the flattest acetate base of any manufacturer, which makes me even more certain it is Ilford. Photo warehouse is clearly bulk loading this themselves as the frame numbers don't always start on 0 or 1 and often proceed to 42 with a space, then restart at 0 on the same roll. The rolls are 36 exp. length.

[rich815]

Anyone tried and perhaps have examples of the 400 version?