MirkoBoeddecker
And it looks like it’s going to stay that way.
It’s not quite as cheap as it used to be, but it seems A&O will continue to produce everything.
That’s good news, isn’t it?
Best regards,
Mirko
Goetz
That's really good news; I've still got 1 litre left, but it's good to know.
Schwedenstahl
Hello, I’m glad to hear that,
what about Atomal, or the other products... perhaps the APX 100/400 as well? It should be possible – after all, Ilford still produces films.
Best regards,
Marwan
MirkoBoeddecker
Marwan,
This message only concerns the chemical plant that has been taken over and spun off from the group.
Film and photographic paper will no longer be produced in Leverkusen.
However, as announced in another thread, we can order remaining stock.
Best regards,
Mirko
cfb_de
Hello Mirko,
Since the takeover, is Vaihingen finally allowed to produce Rodinal? Because it wasn’t before.
Best regards,
Franz
MirkoBoeddecker
I don’t know for sure.
But they’ve set up a temporary sale.
To me, ‘temporary’ means ‘until they’ve set up their own sales department’.
Otherwise, they might as well call it a clearance sale or a liquidation.
In any case, we can place orders.
Unfortunately, the super-duper price is no longer valid.
Everything newly sourced is now around 30% more expensive.
I’ve therefore had to adjust the prices in the catalogue slightly.
Best regards,
Mirko
CarstenM
Hi Franz,
Why wasn't Vaihingen allowed to produce Rodinal, and where has Rodinal been manufactured up to now?
Best regards,
Carsten
MirkoBoeddecker
Carsten,
Rodinal has always been produced at the Agfa chemical plant there.
The plant was sold to a service provider for minilabs.
They intend to prioritise supplying existing minilabs with colour chemicals, as that is a lucrative ongoing business.
The big question over the last two weeks has been whether they are also interested in continuing to produce black-and-white chemicals.
I think we can answer that with a cautious ‘yes’ as of yesterday, even though there has been no official statement from Potsdam yet.
Hence my thread.
Best regards,
Mirko
CarstenM
Mirko,
In the neighbouring forum from Hatten, however, it has often been pointed out loud and clear that Rodinal is not/was not manufactured in Vaihingen. Franz’s question in this thread also suggests as much.
So which is correct?
I’ve already heard that A&O has bought the laboratory division of Agfa-Photo.
Ultimately, I’m glad if Rodinal stays on the market. It saves me the hassle of experimenting with R09.
Best regards
Carsten
silberkorn
Scala chemistry is back in stock. The Hamburg-based Scala lab Dormoolen, which had to suspend the Scala process two weeks ago due to a lack of Agfa chemicals, emailed me today to say that the necessary chemicals are available again and the process can be offered once more. That’s certainly positive news. Let’s just hope that the supply of Agfa chemicals is secured for the long term. :(
Regards
Jo
Gast
... that said, the Scala process isn’t much use without Agfa Scala films (you can perform film processing in it too, but that works with Foma/Kodak as well).
SamuliSchielke
While we’re on the subject of figuring out which Agfa products will still be available in the future, does anyone know what’s going to happen with Sistan? And if Sistan is no longer going to be available, is anyone else producing something similar? I’ve heard there’s something from Fuji, but only in Japan – that’s not much help for now.
Samuli
PhilippReichmuth
Hi Samuli,
Have you used yours up yet? It’s only been two weeks :) You could have a look around for an importer of Fuji Ag-Guard.
Philipp
cfb_de
Hello Mirko,
Rodinal was never produced in Vaihingen/Enz at the former Hauff factory. Partial batches were packaged there (i.e. filled into bottles in an inert atmosphere). The stuff comes from another European country (‘Benelux’ is the interesting clue here, ‘Mortsel’ a possible location).
It may be that this has now changed, but my two contacts in Vaihingen (plant managers) haven’t heard anything about it yet. And they see their equipment every day and should know exactly what comes out of the tap at the back of the plant.
As for the rest of the chemicals, particularly the E6 and C41 stuff, it’s of course true that they come from Vaihingen. And that’s why a&o bought them. One of the most environmentally friendly and modern medium-sized chemical plants in the world.
Best regards,
Franz
StefanHeymann
One of the most environmentally friendly and modern medium-sized chemical plants in the world.
Do you mean A&O or the Agfa plant in Vaihingen?
Regards, Stefan
cfb_de
Hi Stefan,
Both are the same plant :-) Seriously though: given the plant’s location, they’ve had to go to great lengths to control emissions – and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
I could try to organise a visit there once all the fuss has died down a bit.
Best regards,
Franz
MirkoBoeddecker
Hello Franz,
Thanks for the tip.
Of course, I don’t know exactly where it’s produced.
Information channels like yours are, of course, very helpful in this regard.
If Rodinal used to be bottled there, then there’s certainly no reason why they shouldn’t continue to do so in future.
The information I was given was that it would still be available through this distributor, and from that I deduced that it must also be manufactured there.
The formula for Rodinal isn’t that complicated. It’s always a question of demand.
See Ilford chemicals.
I’m rather optimistic about it.
It would just be good if we could get our old terms back for the chemicals range. Unlike with film and paper, they’ve unfortunately been temporarily suspended.
So I too am eagerly awaiting the end of this takeover drama.
Best regards,
Mirko
StefanHeymann
@Franz
Tour: I’d be up for it :-) *signing up*
@Mirko
Rodinal is so cheap (especially at the dilutions they usually use there), so the price really doesn’t matter that much. Anyone who judges a negative developer based on the cost per development, well, they’ve only got themselves to blame. The biggest costs in photography are actually the photographic paper and the film (apart from ‘hardware’ like cameras and lenses...). We’d all be happy if we could even still buy the original Rodinal.
Best regards, Stefan
MirkoBoeddecker
Hello Stefan,
In principle, that’s correct, but there are suppliers who have significantly increased (doubled) their prices for Agfa materials since Agfa was no longer able to supply them, even though they’re selling from stock – meaning they bought them at very low prices.
In contrast, we only switched over when there were still around 20 packs of paper and about 30 bottles of Rodinal left in total – that is, about two days before the very last unit went out (you have to do it at some point, otherwise there’s a huge mess).
We have to buy new Rodinal and new paper at a higher price, which is why it’s more expensive – not because we want to double our stock value.
In the meantime, there will inevitably be two price levels in the catalogues of the various suppliers. It remains to be seen who can still supply at the old price and who cannot.
Best regards,
Mirko
arothaus
Hi Mirko,
So this "expensive Rodinal" isn't a new product, but the gold-labelled "Last Edition"? Are there any signs yet that there will be more stock available once the current stock has sold out, or is that it once the last bottles of the "Last Edition" are gone?
I know – the question is a bit of a long shot, but I’d be interested to know whether it’s still worth testing films with Rodinal or whether I should switch to R09 straight away.
Regards,
Andreas R.
