Readyloads to be scrapped?

[Gene McCluney]

Such as?



This paper has been out for a long time - prior to their reorganization.

Now if they would introduce some of there ol Galerie papers that would be exciting news.

Don Bryant

Well ,they brought back SFX 200 film.

And that is all I can think of, if the Cooltone and Warmtone papers were from before the reorganization.

They are also engineering and making the current Bergger papers and films.

[Vlad Soare]

Ilford on the other hand seems to be completely out of the R&D picture. They haven't updated an existing film or introduced a new one in what, decades? Yet they always seem to wear the mantel of "committed to film." Hmmm... I don't understand what that is supposed to mean.

It may be that their films are already so great that they can't be improved.

Anyway, by "committed to film" I understand not only regular improvements, but also stability, I mean the (relative, at least) certainty that the products you use and love today will be available tomorrow. Kodak improve some films while killing others, and it's anyone's guess which film will be killed next. Will it be another Ektachrome? Will it be the Tri-X? Nobody knows, it's a lottery.
Ilford may not improve their products so often, if at all, but at least they keep them alive. I'd rather have an available, albeit unimproved (whatever that means, since their products seem great to me as they are) film or paper, than a state of the art discontinued one.

I'll admit that their remaining products are gorgeous, though. I just love the Tri-X and the E100VS. And if they discontinue the HC-110 I'll probably kill myself.

[Keith Tapscott.]

Well ,they brought back SFX 200 film.

And that is all I can think of, if the Cooltone and Warmtone papers were from before the reorganization.

I believe that Ilford are also manufacturing some papers under licence for some companies such as Berrger and Adox although I am not sure which. I read some where on `apug`IIRC that there is an FB paper which uses the Multigrade IV paper base, but is coated with the Multigrade Warmtone emulsion and another which is coated with the Cooltone emulsion. Personally, I would like Ilford to add those papers to their own range of products.

Now back to the topic of "Readyloads", there must be an alternative manufacturer who can continue with the production of the Kodak Readyload film holders.

[Bobf]

Well, they bought the whole company back from the dead, mortgaging their houses and borrowing to the hilt and gambling their families' futures: that sounds pretty committed to me!

Remember, Harman/Ilford is a fraction the size of Kodak or Fujifilm except in the specific areas of b&w film where they are similar and b&w paper where they dominate (and were market leader worldwide even when Kodak was making b&w paper). Kodak & Fuji have the much larger and still highly lucrative colour film and paper markets pretty much to themselves.

Ilford looked at buying the Polaroid equipment etc but could not come to terms with Polaroid's owners.

[Allen in Montreal]

...... Kodak improve some films while killing others, and it's anyone's guess which film will be killed next. Will it be another Ektachrome? Will it be the Tri-X? Nobody knows, it's a lottery.

............. And if they discontinue the HC-110 I'll probably kill myself.

They just overhauled the Tri-x line, so they must plan on keeping it for the foreseeable future.

The good thing about HC is, unopened, it lasts forever! If they cut it from the line, just buy a few cases and there will be no need to jump over any bridges.

[Allen in Montreal]

Well, they bought the whole company back from the dead, mortgaging their houses and borrowing to the hilt and gambling their families' futures: that sounds pretty committed to me! ...............

Ilford looked at buying the Polaroid equipment etc but could not come to terms with Polaroid's owners.

I was not aware of either of those points Bob, thank you. That is commitment indeed.
I guess Polaroid wanted the sky and the moon for something they don't care enough to continue with.

[Bobf]

I didn't mean that to come across as an eulogy ! It's just that after Ilford went into administration the board stuck together and bought the UK based b&w side of the company with a combination of their own and VC money (and the fact that any other bidder would have found themselves suddenly minus a board...). If it fails there are no big financial parachutes of the kind you can bet that Kodak board members have written into their contracts.

Of course Harman/Ilford are in business to make money, it's not a charity, so any deal they make, such as with Polaroid, has to make financial sense. Maybe Polaroid wanted only a reasonable sum, IDK, but whatever it was, it was rejected... Shame: Delta 100 in Ilfoloads would have been neat!


Cheers, Bob.

[Narcissist]

So, as the market consolidates, we are left with one manufacturer for Instant Film, and Quickload film products. Fortunately, that manufacturer, Fuji seems committed to film.

Unfortunately acros quickload is twice the price of tmax 100 readyload and that is even before they are left with the total monopoly of the ready/quickload system.

Digital is looking attractive....