I saw these links on APUG. They certainly look like the half expected bad news. Can anyone confirm them?
I was thinking about getting back into Ilfochrome but even at today's prices much less with a 30% increase I can't stockpile any meaningful amount, and I'm not about to jump back into a process that will be gone by the time I practice with it a bit.
If this is confirmed, there is now essentially no good, totally analog/optical way of printing from a positive color original.* You can scan and output with inkjet, which can look pretty good but not like Ilfochrome, or I suppose the scan can be reversed by software and output on something like a Lambda but conventional reversal printing is dead. You can reportedly also reversal process RA4 but again, not with the best of results.
http://noringcircus.blogspot.com/201...otography.html
I don't read German but I'm sure someone here does:
http://www.aphog.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19218
Someone in Switzerland and thus probably closer to the source:
http://kodachromeproject.com/forum/s...0&postcount=44
From the first link above
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Dear Customer,
ILFOCHROME Classic has been a flagship brand within the ILFORD range of products for well over forty years. The importance of this range is underlined by the fact that ILFORD has continued to manufacture this product even though overall demand has decreased significantly over the last few years. The reduction in volume has led to higher production costs that have been further exacerbated by the dramatic increase in the cost of silver.
Unfortunately, the combination of low demand and higher raw material and production costs has left us no alternative but to discontinue the ILFOCHROME CLASSIC materials and related P3/P3X chemistry.
The affected products are:
ILFOCHROME CLASSIC
CLEAR DISPLAY FILM – CC.F7
TRANSLUCENT DISPLAY FILM – CT.F7
DELUXE GLOSSY MEDIUM CONTRAST – CLM.1K DELUXE GLOSSY NORMAL CONTRAST – CPS.1K
We understand the importance of these products to you and your business, and therefore, if there is sufficient demand, we are proposing a final production. We would like to offer you the opportunity to make a final purchase with the following conditions:
• An official purchase order will need to be placed by 30thNovember 2011.
• Will hold the pre-ordered rolls in storage until June 2013.
• ILFORD Payments for the order can be made in monthly installments.
As indicated, ILFORD has fully absorbed the high raw material and production and unfortunately we are unable to do this for the final production. Therefore, we will need to increase our supply price to you by 30% However, this price will be held
between now and June 2013 and covers all storage and inventory costs.
We would like to thank you for your understanding with this situation and if you have any questions or need any further information, please contact
Mr. Christian Neumann (Tel: +41 26 435 7504)
We look forward to continue serving you in the future Yours sincerely
Paul Willems CEO
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*EDIT: Internegatives. Why didn't I remember internegatives? Some folks have mentioned making pretty good ones on Portra 160. Given the price of Ilfochrome that may prove to be cheaper if not as easy and still give pretty good results.
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