Dennis_2
Hello!
Unfortunately, the Fomapan R100 has been ‘out of stock’ at Impex in Berlin for quite some time now. I’m actually a big fan of ‘support your local dealer’ and have been a customer at the Impex shop for six years now. I’d recommend it to anyone: the staff are more or less friendly depending on who you speak to, but always knowledgeable, and the prices are fair...
But now I’d really like to get hold of this film.
I know it’s a bit cheeky to ask here, but does anyone happen to know where I can get hold of this film? Perhaps even from abroad? Does Foma ship directly to private individuals?
Well then, happy shooting and thanks in advance for your replies.
Dennis from Berlin
MirkoBoeddecker
Dennis,
I’m sure my colleagues in the shop have told you that there’s a reason why we don’t have this film.
It’s quite simple: Foma isn’t delivering.
It’s not as if we hadn’t ordered the film.
We’ve actually received two deliveries from Foma in the meantime, but despite a thorough search, no Räs have turned up so far :) :)
Today we’re expecting a final delivery from the October production run – I’ll check straight away and let you know if anything has changed.
It actually started when a complaint appeared here on the forum that the film had defects during development, and shortly afterwards someone else had the same problem with a film from the same batch.
I then isolated all the films from that batch. Since then, we’ve been arguing with Foma about it – they refuse to accept the complaint and don’t have any films from a different batch either – so they want to supply even more from the supposedly faulty batch.
I’d be happy to sell you this batch (20% discount = our cost price), but first have a look for yourself in the relevant thread to see what might happen.
It’s also a tricky case in terms of liability law because, strictly speaking, you can’t really prove anything against Foma. They claim their samples are flawless and therefore the film is fine. And it could well be that the fault only arises due to an unfortunate chain of events and wouldn’t occur under different circumstances.
It’s quite possible that it’s a combination of the gelatin used and some kind of reaction during the process.
Bottom line: At the moment, I can only offer you film by the metre. We have a batch that was produced just one batch before the ‘unlucky batch’ and so far, touch wood, it’s been fine.
We actually have quite a lot of it. My special offer would be: 2 rolls of Fomapan R and a Bobinquick film loader, with a 20% discount on the total.
How’s that?
Believe me – we’re doing everything we can.
Best regards,
Mirko
PS I’d be delighted if shop customers could hold a vote on which sales staff are friendly and which aren’t. I always get vague ‘complaints’ like Denis’s, but I never know who deserves praise and who deserves a telling-off....
RomanJRohleder
Dennis,
You do turn things out quite a lot – go for the roll-cut fabric. It’s good quality, it’s cheap (a fair bit cheaper than the ready-made stuff), and during the processing of the ‘broken’ ready-made version, it came out in one piece.
Plus, you get a very nice tin can thrown in. ;-)
cfb_de
Mirko,
Nice photos of your staff – put some ballot papers underneath them, and a ballot box a bit closer to the floor... Nothing stands in the way of the ‘Employee of the Month’ award.
An American burger joint has been doing it for years.
;-)
Franz
P.S.: Have the rollers been cast yet?
MirkoBoeddecker
The rollers will be cast on Monday.
At last!
Mirko
Christoph
Two questions:
1. Surely there’s still some roll film available that was produced before the ‘potentially faulty’ batch, or have I got that wrong? Or is there a newer batch now?
2. How exactly does the film loader work? I’ve heard that you just need to load the roll film in the dark, and that the cassettes can be assembled in daylight. How exactly is the film leader then shaped into the correct form?
cfb_de
Mirko, Christoph,
@Mirko: Great!
@Christoph: Regarding 1), I don’t know. Regarding 2): You’re right. To start the film, you’ll need a pair of scissors; the film is secured in the cassette with adhesive tape.
Best regards,
Franz
MirkoBoeddecker
Hi Christoph,
The film sold by the metre is obviously fine, as the two complaints came from different batches.
If you have a Bobi, you place the 30-metre roll inside in the dark and pull out the first 1–2 cm of film.
This will naturally be exposed to light, but that’s not a problem because this residue will remain unexposed inside the cassette anyway.
In daylight, you would then secure the start onto the spool core (punch and pin or glue). Then place the cassette around it, close the lid, and wind the film into the cassette. The film counter counts the frames accurately as you do this.
Once you’ve wound in the desired number of frames, open the cassette and cut the film.
The start then protrudes from the cassette as usual, and if you like, you can also cut a Leica tab with scissors. However, this isn’t necessary for any other cameras.
A diagonal cut is sufficient here.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Mirko wrote:
"PS I’d be delighted if shop customers could hold a vote on which sales assistants are friendly and which aren’t. I always get vague ‘complaints’ like Denis’s, but I never know who deserves praise and who deserves a telling-off..."
What do you mean by that? A vote here on the forum? About your staff??? Er, well.
Regards,
unadodox
Christoph
Hi Mirko,
I rang the shop on Thursday (or maybe Wednesday or Friday) to ask about Fomapan R100. I was told they didn’t have any in stock, not even by the metre. After reading here on the forum that it is available by the metre, I rang again yesterday (Saturday) to ask about it. However, the member of staff didn’t know that it was in stock. Please look into this (no offence meant and nothing against the staff member!), so that I can place an order.
Christoph
RomanJRohleder
Christoph,
The roll-stock seems to be Bueckware. ;-)
When I ordered my last roll of R100, I insisted they had it in stock. Lidja paused, said, “I’ll have a look on the shelf,” and two minutes later I heard, “Oh yes, they do!” over the phone.
Mirko,
I’ll keep my fingers crossed then that nobody in Samobor accidentally knocks the light switch. ,-)
Best wishes,
Roman
Gast
Well done, Mr Mirko!
How can you expect loyalty from your staff when you publicly shame them?
Everyone has a bad day now and then; nobody can know everything.
Bosporus
MirkoBoeddecker
Christoph,
The fabric by the metre is in stock, but unfortunately it’s ordered so rarely that not all staff members know where it’s actually kept.
I wasn’t in the office on Saturday, and Sabine probably couldn’t ask Florian because the shop was too busy.
But we’ve now ‘found’ it and, because of the promotion, labelled it and placed it so that every little bee should be able to find it.
Best regards,
Mirko
MirkoBoeddecker
Bosporus,
What I was after was praise (!) and, if criticism was to be offered, then constructive criticism rather than vague ‘accusations’, so that I can address any specific issues with my staff where necessary.
A feature on the forum (voting with comments) is ideal for this.
After all, nobody can make sense of unqualified accusations along the lines of “everything’s bad” or “generally unfriendly”.
In a way, this has worked very well before. Namely, when employee X dismissed the complaint about the Fomapan Rös without wanting to look into it, and someone else came forward who had the same problem.
Had this not been discussed so openly, we would have sold the remaining Fomas from that batch as well, because I wouldn’t have received any feedback.
I think we all agree that this sort of thing isn’t acceptable. With this specific example to hand, I was able to sort it out with him calmly, so that (hopefully) it won’t happen again in future.
But you can take that however you like. If you yourself feel that ‘something could be done better’, then such criticism would be most welcome and would certainly benefit everyone involved.
I’ve probably mentioned criticism four times now, so please don’t forget the praise either!!!
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
On the subject of voting on FOTOIMPEX staff: I’m strongly against it (even though I can’t stop anyone, of course…), I’m an employee in a small company myself and I think I’d find it awful if my own performance were discussed publicly (i.e. for the whole world to see). Anyone who wants to offer praise or criticism should, in my opinion, send Mirko an email... I realise that such matters are best dealt with by the boss, but not in a forum.
Gast
That sounded a bit like an employee ranking up there, and I wouldn’t take part in that even if I had every reason to complain.
It’s normal for everything to run smoothly, and ‘normally’ there’s no praise for that; rather, it’s taken for granted that, as a customer, you get what you’ve ordered and paid for, and in impeccable quality.
Bosporus
Stagirit
I don’t think Mirko’s trying to tell staff off, but rather to find out what they could do better*.
Right?
*Like hiring Jessica Alba in a little black dress, or something like that.
Gast
That said, your suggestion is almost an insult to the female staff at FOTOIMPEX.
Dennis_2
Hello!
It’s Dennis from Berlin again, still without any black-and-white transparency film :(
@Mirko: Thanks for the detailed description of the problem
with the Fomapan transparency film. If I’d been told this story in such detail
in the shop, I’m sure I wouldn’t have
lost my patience so quickly ;-)
Nobody ever mentioned roll film to me either, and unfortunately I
didn’t think of that myself either...
Mirko, I’ll take you up on your offer: two rolls of 100R roll film and
a single-roll spool, at a special price.
I’ll probably pop by your shop on Wednesday evening around 5.45 pm
.
Personally, I don’t think much of publicly shaming staff
online. I can always leave my
own personal impressions in person at the shop on Wednesday :)
@Roman: Thanks for the kind words!
Well then, all the best
Dennis
Gast
"I don’t think Mirko’s trying to tell staff off, but rather to find out what they could do better*.
Right?"
I don’t want to accuse Mirko of anything either... I’ve no idea what he’s getting at, I can’t judge that!
My point is that I find the approach he suggested inappropriate (regardless of whether his intentions are ‘good’ or ‘bad’), and that’s what I wanted to express (and I suspect Bosporus did too).
