Agfa Vista 200

[Ricoh]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

7dayshop still stock a lot of film:

https://www.7dayshop.com/35mm-negative-and-slide-film

Jim

I purchase from 7dayshop, and other vendors too. 7day are competitive and p+p is included, so the price you see is what you pay.

[Ricoh]

Originally Posted by Naughty Nigel

That is very interesting Steve, although it soon becomes clear that many of the emulsions listed are in fact manufactured by third parties, so the total number of 'different' films made will actually be much lower. All the same there is clearly much more life in film than many of us had feared.

I suppose the question is, how many films do we actually 'need', (I currently use five, or maybe six from three different manufacturers), and what is a healthy number for the industry?

I didn't realise until a few days ago that 'Kodak' (as in the amazing Kodak Ektra 100) is actually a new and different company to the ailing behemoth Eastman Kodak, that has presumably acquired intellectual property rights from the old company. I don't know whether the new company actually manufactures films themselves (I had heard that a lot of production was contracted out to third parties), but they seem keen to resurrect the best of the old firm's products.

However, I doubt that we will ever see Kodakchrome 25 again.

It does appear that the number of films available is smaller than the headline figure. It's encouraging, though, that some can make a business by doing so.

A while back Petapixel posted a video of film being made in Kodak's Rochester plant (much done in darkness obviously so no photos) here's a link if you missed it originally: https://petapixel.com/2018/04/09/thi...-film-is-made/
I'm eagerly awaiting the re-launch of Ektachrome, like many. Kodak announced their intention a year or so ago with great excitement from the photographic community. However the projected release dates have come and gone, until I read within the last week or so that ag photographic (agphoto) are processing a trial batch, so hopefully it won't be too long before the film is released in sufficient quantity to meet the inevitable high demand.
I mostly use Ilford for B&W and Kodak for colour, but my appetite for alternatives is growing, eg Washi, Berger Panchromatic (a two emulsion film composed of silver bromide and silver iodide, differing in grain size, the synergy of which provides a wider exposure latitude) and Fomapan which is supposed to have an inferior anti-halation to induce 'glow'. I can't think of a parallel to analogue where you can change the imaging sensor as often as you wish without having to change the camera body.

[Naughty Nigel]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

When I was at school we visited the nearby Kodak factory at Wealdstone.

It was a huge place and they manufactured everything, included the film. I can remember that we were handed a large bar of silver that was passed around. IIRC it was the size of a house brick, but much heavier..

Jim

I presume the Hemel Hempstead works was for film processing rather than manufacture? It wouldn't do to get the two mixed up I suppose.

I can still remember the address for Kodakchrome processing now: PO Box 14, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7EH.

It used to be good to post films there from holidays, knowing that they would be on the doormat when you returned home.

[Otto]

Box 14 was actually a small wooden box attached to the side of the gatehouse where you could drop your films off for processing. I used it quite frequently when I lived in Hemel.

[Naughty Nigel]

Originally Posted by Otto

Box 14 was actually a small wooden box attached to the side of the gatehouse where you could drop your films off for processing. I used it quite frequently when I lived in Hemel.

I didn't know that.

Just as one could post northbound letters on the mail train at London Kings Cross (for a small supplement) until its departure at about 23.00 Hrs.