AGFA - R.I.P.

[Greg B]

The German parent company of AGFA filed for bankruptcy on Friday. The Australian operation is in strife.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/ ... 03872.html

I guess it is a further reflection of the incredible take up of digital. It is not dissimiliar to the move from vinyl records to CDs.

I was a huge fan of Agfapan 100, thought it was better than Plus X.

[Glen]

It is sad to see these names go

[genji]

It is sad to see these names go

i'm going to play devil's advocate, why is it sad to see agfa go? i always thought they were a third rate film and print company.

my digital prints from agfa machines were always dull, but yet with fuji very close to my monitor, without calibration.

isnt lieca almost going extinct aswell?

[Glen]

Genji,
Godd point, why is it sad to see them go? For me it is because I shot a lot of memories when travelling on Agfa film and also my mother had an Agfa camera for a long time. I thought their film was alright.

I would also be sad to see Leica go, even though never having owned one I admired there quality from afar. Today they are not as relevant as in the past, but I still admire their quality, much as I would admire a fine manual tool or slightly outdated machinery such as a Nakamichi cassete deck.

[Greg B]

Genji, I agree that some agfa stuff was not top line, but as I said above, I really liked the Agfapan 100. This was my favourite BW film. Their transparency film wasn't great IMO, but their paper wasn't bad.

[redline]

thats great, start stocking up on agfa film into the freezer it goes!

[gstark]

It is sad to see these names go

i'm going to play devil's advocate, why is it sad to see agfa go? i always thought they were a third rate film and print company.

Genj, have you ever spent time in a B&W darkroom?

Like Greg, I've always thought that AP100 was a far superior quality film to FP4 and whatever the Kojak equivalent was. Much smoother tonal gradation, and just a delight to shoot with and use.

And the B&W papers were at least the equivalent of Ilford.

In terms of colour, no not as good as Fuji, but real photographers don't shoot colour, right?

As to labs that produce prints using Agfa stuff, all I can say is that there are labs, and there are labs, and not all labs are created equal.

[redline]

iam happy with using delta 100-400 and ilford paper, but i still would like to try out the agfa range of films, shame it shutting up shop.

[Nnnnsic]

Shit. I will definetly have to build up some stock of Agfapan 100 in my fridge...

I preferred the Agfa paper over the Ilford, honestly. I went for it over the Ilford every chance I got because I loved the contrast it gave me as well as the slightly off-white the paper was... (and the fiber paper smelled good... I don't know what it was, but it did...)

They're not "dead" yet... they might survive this... but because the analog market is dying more heavily now and they haven't seem to have adapted in the same way that Ilford have, I don't really see Agfa escaping this.

It's a real shame because those AgfaNet competitions were quite interesting and a great way to introduce people to photography.

[kipper]

It's interesting what you say Redline, I'm sure the B&W side of AGFA are great. However Ted's use AGFA printing systems and I was commenting the other day that my bird pictures have turned greys into blues, yellows into orange.




Does anybody here think the tail on that bird looks blue? I've viewed it on a few monitors, and it all appears grey to me. However it comes out blue when printed at an AGFA lab.

[joolz]

Looks grey to me Kipper. BTW - good shot. Looks painterly at this size.

[kipper]

Joolz, yeah it looks grey on my monitor aswell. However Ted's print it as a blue-grey.

[PiroStitch]

have you tried printing it elsewhere? It might not be the paper itself but the printer/lab equipment....

[kipper]

Nah only at Ted's Chadstone, first time I've really payed attention to color discrepancies. Most of the shots I've had done have been 6x4s and of people. This was my first big photo that I've had done that hasn't been a person.

Piro, it's AGFA paper, AGFA lab/equip


Kind of interesting, what will Ted's do now. Replace all of their equipment to Fuji? Hope so

Genji I'm with you dude, everytime I've had stuff printed at a Fuji lab it has come up quite good. I used to always get prints done at Michaels, but after they spoke rudely to me when I was buying my D70 I have decided to boycott them.

[PiroStitch]

Too bad you can't try a kodak printer or some other brand with Agfa paper


I've had stuff printed by Teds as well on Agfa paper with the colour coming out incorrectly, which has prompted me to never ever use Teds. It sounds contradictory, but I try not to jump to conclusions If they could try using other types of paper instead of Agfa, and the colours still turned out the same, then I'd say it was the printer not the paper...however if it was a different printer (ie. Kodak, Fuji, etc) on Agfa paper and the results were the same, then it's the paper. I know it's highly unlikely that you will get diff. printer and paper brands inter-mixing, but there's always hope

I've used Agfa film before and the colours turned out great

[joolz]

I'm not a fan of Teds' AGFA colour calibration either.
Then again, the Fuji frontier system isn't perfect either, but is the better of the two.
I find the Fujis tend to blow the highlights rather abruptly rather than a gradual transition to white.
At least prices are coming down. Last I checked, 6x4s are 29c at most of the Elizabeth st. stores in Melbourne.
I think Hardly Normal are charging 33c.
If you are on Elizabeth, I can recommend the Fuji lab in the Galleria (owned by a friend).

[Matt. K]

Agfa made some some great papers. Contrasty grainy and tons of impact. For a period there in the 70's nearly every B&W darkroom would have a stock of this stuff. Great for action shots. Oh well...guess I'll have to settle for an AGFA Photoshop plug-in.

[genji]

...
Genj, have you ever spent time in a B&W darkroom?

...

yes, i have spent time in a dark room, back in uni. it was cheap to buy -T-max? (i cant remember) from the photography club.

all my gear was cheap and batterd PJ equipment.

was t-max good? i didnt care, it was simply photography.

IMHO, i dont lament the death of any commercial company.

and as MAtt K said...a AGFA plug-in will be available soon....