Fotokemika shuts down paper manufacture

[MDR]

The Q.C. wasn't always the best but the look of their films and even of their paper is unique. Won't be easy to replace those. The Adox CHS 25,50,100 line was repackaged EFKE. Adox/Fotoimpex has yet to coat a film without defects. Much lower ISO etc.. is not a sign of quality but a defect. Still I am sure that Adox will come out with a quality product in the end.

Dominik

[Roger Cole]

As long as Adox MCC 110 is still available I'm not TOO upset.

[LF_rookie_to_be]

Sadly, it's no rumor. It came from the horse's mouth, as they say, from the very person in the office at the Fotokemika factory I visited a number of times. And yes, I asked about 820 and Aura in 120 and 4x5 formats, and there are still quite a few boxes in storage. There are also Emaks G1 rolls in 10m and 30m length (finally!). I'll be in Samobor next week, so if anyone is interested in getting some of Efke while you still can, PM me.

[jcoldslabs]

Man, that blows. I just began sorting out my EI and processing times for Efke PL100 in 9x12cm size. Time to stock up, I guess.

Jonathan

[Oren Grad]

From the Freestyle "Industry Snapshot - August 2012", which arrived in my email this morning:

One bit of industry-product related news we need to report is the discontinuation of Fotokemika Emaks and Varycon black and white photographic papers by the manufacturer in Croatia. Efke brand films will continue to be produced for the foreseeable future but paper production from this factory will cease. This is due to the coating machinery no longer being economically repairable due to age and current manufacturing volume. While this is sad news, we are continuing dialog with the Fotokemika factory and working with them to acquire as much of Emaks and Varycon paper that they have left to keep this product in stock as long as possible.

[MDR]

Thank you Oren
So this is one of those classical the glass is half full kind of things. Emaks and Varycons were my favourite Paper but at least they still produce film.

Dominik

[LF_rookie_to_be]

Production of all Efke photographic films and papers in all formats has ended. From now on they will only make X-ray films and some other specialized products. All of this may change if someone comes in and restarts it, either temporarily or permanently, which could happen. The company is replete with problems - price of raw materials, age of equipment, rent, ownership of the facilities...

This is what they told me this morning in Samobor.

[Roger Cole]

There is not only confusion but outright disagreement among people who should know surrounding this situation. There was the info sent out in the Freestyle newsletter that said this was only paper, not film. But the above poster isn't the only one who has been told "film too" by people at the factory, check out this thread on APUG:

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/1...otokemika.html

And for that matter (also from that thread) Mirko of Adox seems to have a different take on it. Someone posted their impressions from the German but I'll just re-post the link here. I speak and read no German at all so this doesn't mean much to me but I'm sure it will to some here:

http://forum.fotoimpex.de/index.php?showtopic=2589

Finally, here's what Eric at Freestyle told me WRT their Arista Silver Artist series. A shame too - I tried a pack of 8x10 and liked it enough I was going to buy more as soon as available and did buy a pack of 11x14. It fits a minority of my images but could look really superb when it does fit. I sent a print on it (before I knew it might never be available again) as part of the APUG blind print exchange and the recipient said he thought it was platinum at first. I wouldn't go that far, but it looks and feels unlike anything else I've used. Maybe they can at least bring back a large batch so those of us who like it can stock up:

=====================================================

Hello Roger,

Good question. Yes, this factory situation does affect our Arista Silver Artist series. It has been project we had been working on for quite some time and this recent news has presented a bit of a hiccup in the future production of this paper. We were quite proud of this product and were looking for continued production for the long term. The good news is that we do have three other papers on their way to us that will be very exciting. This will include Platine White Matte, BFK Rives Cream Semi-Matte, and Arches Velin Black Semi-Matte. They should be arriving in the next few weeks.

We are trying to convince Fotokemika to do a big production of the BFK Rives White Matte paper we had coated earlier this year so we can have it for a while longer.

Unfortunately, no one else has the capability of coating this emulsion on the thick fine-art base. Fotokemika’s coating technology is quite old and totally incompatible with the machinery in the other remaining coating facilities.

If you have any other questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Regards,


Eric Joseph
Senior V.P. Merchandising & Product Development
Freestyle Photographic Supplies
www.freestylephoto.biz
etjoseph@freestylephoto.biz

[Doremus Scudder]

I'm getting quite depressed over the current state of availability of black-and-white graded papers with a white paper base. With the alleged demise of Fotokemika, Emaks and Adox Nuance (which was/is manufactured by Fotokemika) will be gone. Oriental graded papers disappeared just a short while ago. Kentmere and Slavich are gone as well (at least from Freestyle, and I know no other source).

In the glossy, white-base graded paper department, that leaves ONLY Ilford Galerie. Fomabrom and other warm-white paper-base papers are still around, but are not for me... every time I find a paper I like to work with, it gets discontiued. I've watched a host of papers disappear over the years. Ilfobrom, Oriental G, the Agfa lineup, Kentmere, not to mention Kodak Elite, which I liked a lot.

Yeah, yeah, I can switch to VC papers and work with them, but they lack separation in the low midtones that grade 2 graded papers deliver. I guess I'll be underdeveloping and printing with grade 3 and above filters on VC more now. And, I'll be springing for Gallerie more often. However, it is quite a bit more expensive and, now that there are no competing products left, we will be at Ilford's mercy, so to speak. As much as I respect Ilford for their commitment to traditional photography, I find monopolies dangerous and unfortunate.

One can only hope that someone, somewhere is still making or will make graded, glossy, white-base papers and that they will step into the void left by the exit of Kentmere, Oriental, Slavich and now Fotokemika. Adox maybe?

And, if we are lucky, maybe the demise of Fotokemika is not as certain as this thread makes it seem. Mirko's post that Roger linked to above and my translation follow:

"Dort sind zur Zeit Betriebsferien.
Mir sind Probelme bekannt ich würde das allerdings nicht so ausdrücken wie oben. Ich werde in zwei Wochen runter fliegen und dann sehen wir weiter.

Viele Grüße,

Mirko

Operations there (the Fotokemika factory) are shut down for vacation at this time. I am aware of problems, however, I would not express them as above (i.e., Fotokemika shutting down all paper production). I'll be flying there in two weeks and then we'll see what is happening.

Best,

Mirko"

Rant over...

Best,

Doremus

[Sevo]

"Operations there (the Fotokemika factory) are shut down for vacation at this time. I am aware of problems, however, I would not express them as above (i.e., Fotokemika shutting down all paper production). I'll be flying there in two weeks and then we'll see what is happening.

Best,

Mirko"

Well, Mirko would be the one to do something about it. There is little doubt that Fotoimpex switching to other suppliers for their Adox product line was one of the nails in Efke's coffin. But even if they increase the volume of Efke products in the Adox catalogue, that will only buy Fotokemika some more time. In the long run, all depends on whether Fotokemika can attract investors for a significant modernisation and change of corporate culture. Given the speed at which prices in Croatia are converging with EU standards (with all the consequences for the wage structure), merely carrying on is no option any more. At EU standards, high manual labour products can only survive as a luxury product - Fotokemika would either have to modernize to produce a "hand-made classic" product at truly magnificent quality standards, or modernize to a more robotic workflow.