Possible new film

[ConnorR]

Why?

Genuinely curious. If you really need film that slow you could get Adox or Efke 25 and use a two stop ND filter. That would give you EI 6, assuming the original rating of 25 is accurate.

That's seriously slow. Motion studies with long shutter speeds in bright sun maybe?

Definitely, yes.

I love shooting Pan F and routinely use ND filters with it. My reason for suggesting such a slow film is that his product would have to be significantly better or cheaper than the big brands for me, personally, to consider it. There are too many unknowns for someone to risk their photographs to save a couple of bucks or get a slightly more pleasing grain pattern. However, if there was no other alternative, I would absolutely purchase it.

Is such a slow film practical? Not really. I can't imagine a lot of volume would be sold. Which would probably be good at first for a startup business. Do I still want it? Yes, especially because then I can slap my 3 stop ND filter on it and make it ASA .75. And that's just awesome.

[Roger Cole]

Definitely, yes.

I love shooting Pan F and routinely use ND filters with it. My reason for suggesting such a slow film is that his product would have to be significantly better or cheaper than the big brands for me, personally, to consider it. There are too many unknowns for someone to risk their photographs to save a couple of bucks or get a slightly more pleasing grain pattern. However, if there was no other alternative, I would absolutely purchase it.

Is such a slow film practical? Not really. I can't imagine a lot of volume would be sold. Which would probably be good at first for a startup business. Do I still want it? Yes, especially because then I can slap my 3 stop ND filter on it and make it ASA .75. And that's just awesome.

Try shooting paper negatives maybe?

Someone above wanted EI 25 color film. My thought was "just use 100 and a 2 stop ND" but maybe they have in mind using the ND with the 25 as you do.

Me, I'm often annoyed by lack of speed with 400 film in sheets. I'm curious about getting enough folks together to get Ilford to cut some Delta 3200 in sheets.

[Jeff Dexheimer]

Wow, Thanks for all the replies. I definitely see there is a market for certain films. If I go ahead with this project this is all good to know.

From my own experience I can also agree there is a need for faster film.

[Drew Wiley]

Just how many millions of dollars can you afford to lose in R&D before you even come up to bat marketing?

[Ben Syverson]

Millions on R&D? Hardly.

To make B&W sheet film, you don't need much more than emulsion, a curtain coater, a roll of plastic base, and a paper cutter. Anything else you add is a bonus to improve the product or ease production.

dexmeister, if you're serious about the project, I recommend taking it to a mechanical engineer who can help you think through the film transport step by step through the coater and drying stage. If you pay an expert to spend 8-10 hours drawing up some preliminary ideas, you can take that to Kickstarter and raise $50,000 in 30 days. That's more than enough to set up a miniature film production line, and it would give you a headstart on marketing.

Once you get the hang of making a simple, consistent product, you can start experimenting with high speed, high silver content, etc.

[Oren Grad]

To make B&W sheet film, you don't need much more than emulsion, a curtain coater, a roll of plastic base, and a paper cutter. Anything else you add is a bonus to improve the product or ease production.

Not if your customers give a hoot about quality. Fotokemika still can't get it right... after how many years in the business? The revival of MCP and MCC production at the InovisCoat facility took a substantial effort even with established infrastructure and experienced staff. Adox/Fotoimpex still hasn't finished debugging renewed APX film production, though part of the delay is due to market conditions - which should itself tell you something.

Once you get the hang of making a simple, consistent product...

That's precisely the problem; it can't be assumed away.

To the OP: Buy and read Robert Shanebrook's book. Then go to APUG and read everything that Ron Mowrey ("Photo Engineer") has ever posted on film manufacture, with special attention to what's entailed in quality control. And Mirko Boddicker ("ADOX Fotoimpex"), too.

[Renedage]

I second the opinion, that with the imminent death of Kodak there will be huge gap in fine-grained iso 400+ films. Ilford may jump in and restart Delta 400, making its ultimate leader in bw films. But even if they brind Delta from dead the price of Ilford in USA will be quite high to give you a chance.

Still Kodak's not dead yet and I think there will be enough of T-MAX films in year of two to satisy the need after it runs out. So you'll have some time.

Wish you great luck.

[Brian C. Miller]

Jeff, have you taken a look at the APUG emulsion forums, and at Dar's site, The Light Farm? The APUG forums also have a sticky up about a fellow in Australia who built his own emulsion coater from parts of a scrapped Kodak machine.

added:
Here's what Ron Mowrey said about recreating Tri-X (link):

Even if the formula for Tri-X were to be made public, it is not likely that anyone could produce it. The formula is quite complex and involves many manufacturing steps that just don't work out in small scale. If TriX were easy to make there would be companies making it right now by reverse engineering.

[Oren Grad]

I'm curious about getting enough folks together to get Ilford to cut some Delta 3200 in sheets.

The problem isn't cutting, it's that Delta 3200 has only ever been coated on acetate roll film base, not on polyester sheet film base. Making a sheet film out of it would entail an R&D investment. This has been discussed already with Harman - it's not going to happen.

[Lachlan 717]

I'd wish for a 400asa B&W with no/little reciprocity failure…

Think Fuji Acros 400.

To me, that would be a niche in this arena!