Gast
Hello,
Does anyone here know of a professional specialist lab that develops Fomapan 100 R black-and-white transparency film? There doesn’t seem to be one in Hamburg. Dormoolen, PPS, Wolfson and Grauwert have unfortunately turned me down, and FOTOIMPEX was also unable to help me when I asked.
Best regards
Jörg
MirkoBoeddecker
Jün,
Unfortunately, there is no specialist lab for Fomapan R.
The reason:
Agfa has equipped all Scala labs with Agfa-licensed technology and signed them up to exclusive contracts.
A few years ago, the EU effectively abolished commercial black-and-white wet processing with its excessive new hazardous goods regulations.
Only Agfa, as a large industrial group, had the political clout to obtain a special licence for Scala technology.
As far as I know, processing continues to use potassium dichromate, but within a closed system that an expert has declared to be compliant with the law.
Through the licensing of this special permit, Agfa then contractually bound the laboratories to perform only Scala film processing, thereby effectively securing a unique monopoly position with the help of a completely excessive environmental protection law.
Bad for competition, but good for Agfa’s bottom line.
Therefore, any laboratory that develops Scala reversal film will have to turn them away....
--> However, we would like to point out specifically that the film must be developed by the user.
Private individuals are not allowed to simply tip away the used chemicals either, but they are not subject to the same intense scrutiny from the Trade Licensing Authority as specialist laboratories, which, under the new regulations, have simply had to ‘throw in the towel’ and have all ceased reverse processing.
Therefore, unfortunately, we are also unable to process this film commercially.
In theory, this isn’t a problem, but in practice we are no longer permitted to use potassium xxx.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Thanks for the explanation. PPS and Dormoolen had already pointed out to me that their licence from Agfa does not allow other films to be developed using the Scala process. It’s a shame, because I actually find the Scala too harsh; despite its high dynamic range, it doesn’t produce enough grey tones.
Regards, Jü
rherz
Hi Jürgen,
Dormolen does develop the reversible Maco for slides – somehow the licensing doesn’t seem to be quite as strict (but what if they don’t want the Foma?). Have a go on the search engines. There’s also someone somewhere in Austria who reverses the Foma.
Best regards,
Robert
rherz
Hi Jürgen,
I had a quick look:
ZEBRA,
Burggasse 46, 1070 Vienna
You’ll have to look up the phone number yourself :P
Best regards,
Robert
MirkoBoeddecker
Hello everyone,
As far as I know, Dormoolen has also received some carriers.
In any case, Maco isn’t selling reverse bags anymore ;-(
If this really is possible in Austria, we could perhaps organise a collection and central distribution.
Different countries implement EU regulations in different ways.
Perhaps the Austrians have been luckier with their government here, and there’s still some scope for analogue reversals in the Alpine nation.
We’ll run a test ourselves at some point.
I’m looking forward to hearing about your experiences!
Mirko
masterprinter
Hello Mirko,
Here is the Zebra-labor website:
http://members.chello.at/zebralabor/
You can also email Ms Natascha Auenhammer regarding the R100:
zebralabor@chello.at
Best regards from Vienna
Walter
Gast
Hi,
Thanks for the info on development opportunities in Vienna. Let’s see if anything comes of it there, or if I’ll end up continuing to develop on my own after all.
Something else I’d be interested to know: what have your experiences been like with the reversible Maco?
Best wishes from Rome for the time being
Joern
