[font=helvetica]<SPAN style="background-color:rgb(230,237,240);">Does that mean the well-known but out-of-print CHS 100 II will no longer be available?
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No, it shouldn’t be seen as an ‘either/or’ situation.
Rather, the reality is that we are constantly learning just how complicated it is to stock everything needed to produce a quality product. There are already significant differences between the effort required to run a business like Forte or Fotokemika and that of Ilford, Fuji or Kodak.
We are steadily making progress, and the gap to what is still needed to produce a film entirely in-house is getting smaller and smaller.
This is then compounded by the very tight margins in the film sector. It was never certain that we could even make the move to producing the CHS II commercially viable. We are already pushing the limits in every respect and, for example, spreading research costs over projected sales spanning 20 years. Nevertheless, it probably won’t be enough. Our competitors are already raising money on Kickstarter simply to order finished raw film from third parties and repackage it. We don’t do any of that. For me, a product should always at least be able to cover its own costs. We gave up on making a profit for good over 15 years ago.
Against this backdrop of production sustainability (covering costs), a product involving other partners is naturally somewhat more difficult to manage than in-house production. But that’s all speculation. It still depends first and foremost on technical feasibility.
Best regards,
Mirko
