Ilford not doing well?

kossi008 · 08-15-2008

I'm not sure this is the right forum, but I could not find anything more appropriate.

I read today on a German analog forum that Ilford anounced they were not going to be present at this year's Photokina.

Has anyone heard about this, and if yes, what do you think? Do we have to worry?

Chriscrawfordphoto · 08-15-2008

They may be skipping it just because they haven't intro'd any new products. Participation in those shows is very, very expensive and probably not worth it if you aren't showing something new.

tomasis · 08-15-2008

it costs a lot of money to hire a place there

40oz · 08-15-2008

I'm not worried. Besides, why borrow problems? Until someone from the company comes out and says they are having problems financially, why assume they are?

Ray Nalley · 08-15-2008

Ilford introduced some great new and updated inkjet papers, but that was last year. I see no new digital imaging stuff announced by them this year, so I agree they probably just don't have anything new to promote.

kossi008 · 08-15-2008

Hey, OK, OK! I'm not usually given to overly worrying about things... it's just that I'm really falling in love again with Pan F (after discovering Xtol). And since films I like have a bad habit of dying out I found myself wondering about that note...

lmd91343 · 08-15-2008

There are two ilfords. The original ilford was having financial trouble three (?) years ago. The b&w film stuff was dragging it down. The company split in two with all the color film and ink jet stuff remaining with ilford (the profitable half). The b&w film materials division (money losing) was spun off into IlfordPhoto which became a subsidy of Harman.

I believe as part of the breakup rules, IlfordPhoto cannot market inkjet papers or materials, however Harman (IlfordPhoto's owner) can (I don't know the time restriction). Both companies (Ilford & IlfordPhoto) products are marked "Ilford". B&W film, paper, and chemistry marked "Ilford" would be from IlfordPhoto. Any inkjet papers marked "Ilford" would be from Ilford (color and inkjet company). The marketing of new Ilford inkjet papers is no indication of the health of IlfordPhoto.

I don't know or follow the financial health of IlfordPhoto or Harman. This this info is from my increasing older memory.

venchka · 08-15-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by kossi008

Hey, OK, OK! I'm not usually given to overly worrying about things... it's just that I'm really falling in love again with Pan F (after discovering Xtol). And since films I like have a bad habit of dying out I found myself wondering about that note...

If you are really concerned, throw a few bricks of Pan F and several bags of Xtol in the freezer. You'll be good to go for at least 10 years.

benlees · 08-15-2008

Well the inkjet part of the company is probably doing well as their products will be available at Best Buy soon.

David Goldfarb · 08-15-2008

Looking on a box of Harman Photo Gloss FB AI, the only mention of Ilford is the address-- Ilford Way, Mobberley, Knutsford, Cheshire, England.

A recent box of FP4+, from the Harman plant as well, says "Ilford."

Bnack · 08-15-2008

I recently was reading some photokina predictions from adorama and they we're guessing that Ilford might be coming to the rescue of polaroid film. I have no idea if this is pure speculation or if they have some inside info.
http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?o...e_num=080608-1

David Goldfarb · 08-15-2008

Simon Galley from Harman posted a notice on APUG.org stating that they had been in serious negotiations with Polaroid, but that the manufacturing process would have involved getting into various new territories and transporting heavy equipment to the UK and locating it there, and all in all, it didn't seem like they could recoup such an investment.

Fuji, though, may still be in negotiations with Polaroid. It would be great if Fuji instant materials could be made in 4x5" and 8x10" sheets compatible with the Polaroid 545-type holders and the Polaroid 8x10" system.

It was recently announced that Polaroid 20x24" will be saved, since the assembly process is completed by hand and can be done by a small shop. It's unclear whether they will just be finishing the remaining material from an existing master roll, or whether they'll be using new materials from Fuji or some other source.