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View Full Version : RIP Ilford Imaging



Grumium
31-Jul-2013, 08:49
Ilford Imaging based in Switzerland is broke. More than 200 employers lose their jobs, as the management couldn't find a new investor. Sad news:
http://www.konkurs.ch/Ilford+Imaging+ist+bankrott+220+Mitarbeiter+betroffen/594713/detail.htm (German)

Isn't it strange, that (e.g. Ilford's) film business thrives and prospers whereas the manufacture of Inkjet papers (e.g. the well known Gold Fibre Silk) seems to be economically unviable - at least in Switzerland?

bob carnie
31-Jul-2013, 08:54
This company is responsible for Cibachrome and inkjet papers , as well colour RA4 paper, they have been in trouble for a decade now with incompetent customer service, and distribution network.
they are in no way connected to Harman or Ilford black and white photographic materials.

I gave up on this company 7 years ago and threw a perfectly able custom Cibachrome machine in the dumpster.

Drew Wiley
31-Jul-2013, 09:26
I still have one box of Ciba to print someday, and sufficient chem, but otherwise saw the handwriting on the wall some time back. What killed the product off prematurely was shoddy distribution - you take very expensive boxes of fragile paper and turn orangutans loose in your warehouse with this, and it isn't good for anything. Now with color neg materials having truly come of age, I wouldn't go back to Ciba and chromes even if they were affordable. But I'll never regret making them. Did lots of wonderful prints on that idiosyncratic medium.

ROL
31-Jul-2013, 09:37
I gave up on this company 7 years ago and threw a perfectly able custom Cibachrome machine in the dumpster.

Glad I wasn't around :eek:. I used to be an imperfectly able custom Cibachrome machine at one time.

Nathan Potter
31-Jul-2013, 10:11
I used Cibachrome from its inception and with some judicious masking have made some pretty stunning prints over the years. I think the first ones may have been as early as 1972 or so. A few with dark storage look as they did about 40 years ago. Even those hung in subdued room light are essentially unchanged.

Just finished a session using older frozen paper and cool stored chemistry. A lot of CC filter correction over the box recommendation and using about the standard chemistry times still can produce a pretty stunning print but the blacks are discernibly muddier than with the really fresh material. I used it a lot with a point source technique and low contrast chromes which really made the print acutance sing.

I always thought Ilford Imaging needed to develop a direct mailing for their products via the net but maybe the opportunity just came too late. And indeed coupled with sloppy marketing the product was doomed.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

LF_rookie_to_be
11-Aug-2013, 15:01
There's still hope:

http://www.srf.ch/news/regional/bern-freiburg-wallis/hoffnungsschimmer-fuer-fotopapierhersteller-ilford

http://www.24heures.ch/economie/entreprises/Ilford-sauvee-de-la-faillite-par-ses-cadres/story/20080589

They are probably too big to simply fold:

http://freshpics-studios.com/blog/2013/3/the-swiss-chapter-of-the-rps-visiting-ilford-marly-switzerland

LF_rookie_to_be
16-Sep-2013, 07:11
Good news, at least for some. Ilford is saved from bankruptcy after all, apart from 90 workers having to find new jobs. Hope they don't quit making Ilfoflex.