Fuji NPS Quickloads Soon?

[Marshall Arbitman]

Ellis or Anyone?

Any word on NPS Quickload availability? I asked one of the film guys at B&H Frid ay. He looked it up on the computer and lo and behold, it came up as To Be Annou nced. That's one step ahead of Portra 160VC ReadyLeaks, which are listed as unav ailable/not in production. Reason for hope? Pipedream?

BTW, any more substance to the rumor Kodak's revamping ReadyLoad yet AGAIN?!

Marshall

[Simon_1319]

Marshall, see the post from Wednesday (titled "Readyload Systems"; it's a few below this thread on the "New Messages" list), where this subject was discussed at some length.

Please note that some people--including me--who use hundreds of Kodak Readyloads per year without a problem are getting tired of photographers who blame their own mistakes with Readyloads on Kodak. But I guess since we can't engage in the "Nikon vs. Canon" wars they have on photo.net, this dispute fills a need, eh?

extra

[Glenn Kroeger]

Simon:

In fairness to Marshall, he did not initiate a QL versus ReadyLoad argument, you did.

Like you, I use both systems and agree that careful operation is critical. But the issue now has become Kodak's lack of support for their own system and Fuji's reluctance to import some products into the US.

Pro100 has been discontinued, and Kodak has not offically announced whether the successor, PortraVC will be available in RL, let alone shipped any product. Those of us who need color negative film have a legitimate question as to whether Fuji or Kodak are going to meet this need.

[J.T.]

We were told that Fuji is coming out with their new film (NPC) in Quickload format.

[Marshall Arbitman]

Woooo!

I feel a little like a firebug with a new book of matches.

Have a cream soda, Simon! Easy Big Guy! I use Readyloads, too; am obsessive about technique, and don't find them to be THAT bad-- about one partially fogged shot in 25-50.

Nonetheless, the lack of 160NC really stings. Why should neg shooters still have to spot prints and fumble with holders? Seems to me switching EVERYTHING over to Polaroid-compatible holders would be a cost-saving, not a costly move for Kodak. Standardization, Rochester?

What's more, if Fuji's sellin' 'em as fast as it can make 'em, well, oughtn't that tell Kodak something?

Jeff. Thanks for the reply, but what's NPC? Some higher-contrast answer to 160VC? If so, RATS! I'm looking to use neg film for those situations when I need an extra zone or two of range. (And PLEASE! Don't anyone jump in with the old Chrome-Print rant! I'm looking to record a longer SCENE range, not just stack up density on film for viewing on a lightbox.)

[Marshall Arbitman]

Oops!

I meant to write Polaroid-compatible PACKETS, not holders. And no, I don't want to start a Slide-vs.-neg war, fun as that seems to be on Usenet.

[J.T.]

Fuji NPC(160) is their version of Kodak 160VC.

[Paul Schilliger]

Fuji NPC? Is this a daylight negative like the NPS but with higher saturation? T his would be handy for some shots! But FujiFilm does not import Astia nor the 64T in QuickLoad here in Switz erland. I doubt this film will be available either.

[Ellis Vener]

Paul, yes NPC160 is a new film, a higher contrast sister to NPS. I've only read about it, not tried it. I can't wait to try it especially in Quickload.

Simon, you are correct: if you are slow and methodical with the Readyload packets you'll get better results than if you aren't, but the truth remains that my failure rate with Fuji Quickload is 000%. On a brighter note, Kodak has acknowleged that the Ready load design has an inherent flaw and is currently starting to have some professionals (unfortunately I'm not one of them) test a resign of the Readyload system that utilizes a single sheet per film packet design. I can't wait to try it! Kodak makes some great films.

(Pardon me for blatantly and publicly sucking up to a large corporation!)

[Ellis Vener]

Paul, yes NPC160 is a new film, a higher contrast sister to NPS. I've only read about it, not tried it. I can't wait to try it especially in Quickload.

Simon, you are correct: if you are slow and methodical with the Readyload packets you'll get better results than if you aren't, but the truth remains that my failure rate with Fuji Quickload is 000%.

On a brighter note, Kodak has acknowleged that the Ready load design has an inherent flaw and is currently starting to have some professionals (unfortunately I'm not one of them) test a redesign of the Readyload system that utilizes a single sheet per film packet . I can't wait to try it! Kodak makes some great films.

(Pardon me for blatantly and publicly sucking up to a large corporation!)

[Glenn Kroeger]

Jeff et al.

As interesting as NPC looks,

http://home.fujifilm.com/photokina2000/press/pdf/pb-070e.pdf

The press release and the color brochure don't even show it being available in sheet film sizes let alone QL?

[Marshall Arbitman]

Great! And I was planning to take pictures with it on my next snipe hunt.

Seriously, why not NPS, or Portra NC? Why do they think sheet film users only want higher contrast/saturation?

[Ellis Vener]

Marshall, it is because the largest market for LFphotography is commercial photographers and this is something they are requesting. It may be however that commercial photographers are the only people ( or the vast majority of people) Fuji and Kodak are getting feedback from.

[Marshall Arbitman]

>>Marshall, it is because the largest market for LFphotography is commercial photographers and this is something they are requesting<<

No doubt, Ellis. But who says commercial photogs. feel the need to limit themselves to high contrast films? I'd think just about any pro needs a reasonable spectrum of tools, even if they don't subscribe to the emulsion-o-the-month club. I know I did in the limited time I spent doing this for a living.

My guess is that rather than doing extensive and careful market research, Kodak and Fuji are simply behaving like most ossified bureaucratized corps--i.e. randomly!

Marshall

[Glenn Kroeger]

Here is the info on the new Kodak single sheet packets!

Portra 160VC will be available, and they fit in the Fuji QL holder!

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/readyload/r eadyloadMain.shtml

[fw]

Here's the link (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/ready load/readyloadMain.shtml). This is very encouraging, but why no TMax 100, I wonder? Is there an opportunity for Ilford release Delta100 in a similar packaging format, or is there a licensing issue here?

[Marshall Arbitman]

Well, what The Great Yellow Father giveth, it looks like he also taketh away. NO TMAX! I'm also floored to see the F-company and the P- company actually mentioned by name! And, really, an implied admission that the ReadyLoad system is, in fact, flawed. Good for Kodak. And if TMAX is being dropped, shame on Kodak, too.

[Ellis Vener]

Very cool... except for the fact of no Tmax 100 announcement! That would be a "killer app" for this technology. I look forward to testing it. Now if they will only supersize the technology to 8x10...(LOL!)

[Sal Santamaura]

My speculation: All driven by competition. No T-Max because Fuji never released Neopan in the US market, therefore no need to match it with a fog-resistant equivalent. Too little volume to justify (to the bean counters) T-Max simply because it's a dynamite product. On the other hand, now that Kodak is selling color negative packets which can be used in a Quickload holder, you'll see NPS in Quickload almost immediately.

[Sal Santamaura]

I sent a complaint about the lack of TMX to Kodak. Their response:

"At this time, only the types of films announced at Photokina will be available in the new single-sheet Readyload format (late 4th quarter in '00)...

Additional products are being considered for introduction in Readyload single-sheet format, but we are not prepared to make any announcements at this time.

Thank you for visiting our Kodak web site. If you should have any questions on Kodak products or services, please be sure to revisit our site as we are continually adding information to enhance our service.

Peter Hamann Kodak Information Center (USA) Kodak Professional"

Note that he included a description of Photokina-announced emulsions identical to those listed on the Kodak Web site.