Dear Mr Kunze,
If it weren’t for us, many Calbe products would no longer be on the market.
We’re proud of that, and we want it to stay that way.
It was only because we accepted an order of thousands of A49 units as the minimum quantity that this developer could continue to be developed at all.
We couldn’t do that with the F 19, and unfortunately it’s now gone.
In future, it will probably be more a case of manufacturers like Calbe producing the products and people like us branding and marketing them worldwide.
That way, everyone does what they do best.
And who knows, maybe the F 19 will even make a comeback ;-)
We’ll certainly do everything we can.
ADOX should help with this. Not work against it.
Calbe colour chemistry: It contains F-jihunt. It’s only bottled by Calbe.
Demand is virtually zero.
You haven’t bought anything for ages either...
Colour is so dead... it will soon be 100% replaced by digital.
Unfortunately, I can’t promise you anything there. If Calbe decides to discontinue it, we won’t be able to guarantee any supplies...
It’s a different story with B&W.
Unifix is being replaced by Adofix, and once you’ve tried Adofix, you won’t miss Unifix at all.
Higher capacity, equally suitable for baryta and PE. Relatively speaking (in terms of usability/yield), it’s also cheaper.
What more could you want?
Best regards
Mirko Bödecker
PS
Please don’t worry that anything will disappear or become too expensive just because it’s being rebranded under ADOX.
ADOX is more an expression of the reality that has long been the case.
New products that we’ve developed ourselves are now coming onto the market as ADOX.
Old products to which the same applies are being rebranded so that it finally becomes clear what comes from us and what doesn’t.
Then all professionals will know what they can get a full 10% discount on, and retailers will know what they can get from us at trade prices.....
Ultimately, with ADOX we are responding more to your wishes than trying to push something we have come up with ourselves.
We would, of course, continue with ‘Classic’, but unfortunately this is not recognised as a trademark under German law (absolute grounds for refusal).
So it will be ‘ADOX Classic’
Hello Mr Boeddecker,
Thank you for your reply and also for offering Calbe.
I quote: “And maybe the F 19 will even make a comeback ;-)” Well, if I were to make a wish, I’d prefer the A03.
“ADOX should help with this. Not work against it.” That’s good.
“You haven’t bought anything for a long time either....” That will change in January :-)
“Colour is so dead.... it will soon be 100% replaced by digital.” I’ve been hearing that for ten years now, that digital is so much better. An unbiased look round the chemist’s shows that more than half of people still have colour photos taken on film. But both analogue and digital are printed on RA4. So there’s no question of it being dead.
I’m not denying that for certain professional applications (speed, studio work), the trend is towards digital capture. But professionals can pass on the exorbitant costs (constant new developments in hardware and software, changing standards and rapid obsolescence) to the customer.
For the private individual, it doesn’t pay off with films, hardware or prints. None of it is cheaper than analogue. I doubt whether digital manufacturers even have any desire to build a camera or playback system (computer + printer) in such a way that it can be used for 10 years, like a Meopta or Praktica (Leica, Nikon, ...). We won’t see it in the next five years, I’d bet on that.
Whether the sole advantage – immediate visibility – is worth the vast sums of money is something everyone must decide for themselves. It’s in our hands. However, pessimism is warranted, as the average person derives their self-confidence from how clever they are and what great gadgets they own, rather than how sensible they are. That’s what made digital marketable in the first place, or does anyone know of a sensible, high-quality use case for a 2-megapixel point-and-shoot?
“Unifix is being replaced by Adofix, and once you’ve tried Adofix, you won’t miss Unifix.
Higher capacity, equally suitable for baryta and PE. Relatively speaking (in terms of usability/yield), it’s also cheaper.
What more could you want?”
I don’t understand that. A comparison of the yield figures from you and Calbe shows 450 sheets (18x24cm) of fixability with both fixers. But the ADOX costs more. That’s why I’m moaning. Please remember, higher prices are always a pain; they hurt my wallet :-) Besides, why give up something tried and tested for something that isn’t clearly better?
Wishing you a lovely rest of your Sunday,
Gerd Kunze
