Richard Tuohy

Hi all, I was involved in comissioning the manufacture of a large quantity of 16mm and some standard 8 of Foma 100 negative film. We organised a very large order. All the 16mm is gone to the respective buyers, but I have several tins of R8 400' rolls (two in a tin) left over. I wouldn't mind keeping some and selling some. Is anyone interested? I'm in Australia. Cost is $200 AUD / $125 USD / 120 Euro per 400 feet. Prefer to sell in multiples of two rolls as they came in 35mm tins, two rolls in each. You can calculate the postage cost on auspost.com.au Consider one roll as having a weight of 750g. Sending postcode is 3460 Daylesford cheers, richard from nanolab in Australia

Hi Samuel, Well, yes, we did have the option of any length rolls we wanted. We got a mucus of 30 meters and 120 meters, but could have had up to 600 meter rolls. However the special order minimum is about 13.5km plus or minus 10% and you have to take the entire made quantity.

Oh! You are THAT Sebastian! Ha! Tell me, how did the reversal processing of the Foma go?

Hi Sebastian, thanks for doing this comparison! I am really glad that Foma took the opportunity to add this to their official inventory. And I am quite relieved that you got pleasing results. Just prior to Foma releasing this stock, I spent a long time organising a massive order of this film stock from Foma in 16 and standard 8 for the filmlabs.org community of artist run film labs. (The order was really massive, at least for us, but in the end we got enough subscribers to double it! We ordered around 27 kilometers or 88500 feet of this stock in total). I did this partly in the hope that once they (Foma) realised there was a market for it in the absence of ORWO black and white stocks, they might take the opportunity to make it available as a regular item, which they did! (Subsequently, Wittner film has somehow managed to get a supply of UN54 going again. I'm not sure how, but I am very thankful for that continuing to be available). The funny thing is my personal share of this (17.5kg worth!) is waiting for me in the Netherlands. I haven't shot any yet. So I am very pleased and relieved to hear your report! all the best from nanolab (Australia - but currently in Inner Mongolia as I write!) richard

Interesting point Simon! But it is hard to think of a better way to check critical framing. I use these viewers in 'film out' setups (ie video back to film). Any suggestions appreciated!

Hi, I'm keen to get one of the little Bolex gate focusing pisms - often called the critical gate focuser or prismatic focuser. Does anyone happen to have one they don't need or have leads on one? many thanks richard

It is an agitation thing (as others have suggested). Especially for bw negative, developing motion picture in a spiral needs special attention to agitation to get a good result. But you can get a perfect result. Process with the lid off in the dark. Lift the spiral right out of the tank every say 30 seconds and let it drip for about 3 seconds. As you get close to the final time, put the lid back on and you can turn the lights back on. Makes a huge difference.

I reckon you have both a negative (from the first dev) and a partial positive there. Looks to me like the bleach didn't work at all (as Mark says above) but also that the second dev was not good enough. The edges of the film should be black after second developing, whereas they just look pale grey. was it permangenate or dichromate bleach? The dichromate being much easier to use and better. when it comes to second developing, don't worry about the time ... just do it until you have a really good black ... and if in doubt, do it longer. You can't over do it. You know, it is humanly possible to have inadequate re-exposure, but it is kind of hard to do. That wouldn't account for the failure to bleach out the neg, but it COULD possibly account for the thin positive image. In any case, there are at least two chemical problems here: inadequate or no bleaching action and inadequate second dev either because of inactive developer, inadequate time, or possibly inadequate exposure.

Hi, if anyone has one of the critical gate focusers for Bolexes ... that would be great! There are two models. I'm after the later model one without the plastic eyecup. in hope richard

Well just for the record and for those similarly interested in the new rem jet free NC500 from ORWO ... last week I did indeed receive a large order of NC500 from ORWO. I had put in an order for 8000 feet of NC500 in 16mm and 8600 feet of UN54, again in 16mm. This was for several thousand Euros. But I had bought large amounts of film from ORWO (filmotec) over the years, so this wasn't unusual. I had also ordered previously from this new British owned version of the company. When i ordered in January I wasn't aware that they weren't going to be able to fulfil the order. There was a long series of not getting much by way of information on my order and not getting reply emails to enquires ... but I got the occasional response. I had had one message reporting a new make was going to take place at the start of April. But then after a further enquiry where I got a reply I was told 16mm colour wouldn't be available still for some more months. I noted that they still had 35mm NC500 listed on their site, so I changed my order to 35mm. So now I have 4000 feet of 35mm NC500 ... and 3 x 100 foot rolls of 16mm nc500. It wasn't what I wanted of course. There is bugger all market for 35mm of any sort in Australia at the moment. But I am pleased to have something for my investment. I really do hope that this 'new' version of ORWO can continue to make film in the future. A remjet free negative in 16mm could be a boon for the artist run film lab community who mostly hand process in Lomo tanks (I use machines, but I am a big supporter of the artist run labs that work with Lomos). Remjet free stock would be a game changer for DIY colour neg processing. But that would only happen if they are able to make it in any kind of volume. It appears this time that wasn't possible.

Hi all, has anybody received any ORWO NC500 lately at all? My order from late January still ins't filled ... and it was a rather hefty order. Is the business dead? Anyone receiving anything from them? richard

Those little bits of emulsion slithers are called 'skivings'. Yep, they are a problem. Indeed, with normal 'soft touch' rollers the roller underneath the rubber or silicone tyre are actually a little bit shaped, rising to a gentle point in the middle. This causes the film to ever so slightly move towards the centre of the roller away from the edges so as to avoid this rubbing that causes skivings.

Hi Andrew, I think you might be referring to the rubber 'tyres' that make contact with the film. Actually, they aren't rubber but rather silicone (at least mine are). They are called 'soft touch rollers' They are soft, but not like foam. Sounds like what you have 3D printer are more like the rollers called 'emulsion rollers'. These only touch the film on the edges and are what is required when you need to have the film run emulsion side down on a roller. cheers richard

Hey Seth, that would be extremely helpful! Please keep me informed. If you want to email me (though I assume there is a way contact through this forum) you can find me through my business - nanolab all the best richard

Hi Jörg, I think that software might be to do with networking computer printers together! All the best richard