ORWO Net AG is insolvent, but ORWO film production is apparently unaffected.
The ORWO brand has had a tumultuous history, with bankruptcies, company splits, false starts, and numerous failed businesses. And last week, ORWO Net AG became insolvent.
ORWO Net AG owns the name “ORWO” in Germany. It sells printed goods and operates a large photo lab. But it doesn’t make film.
We buy ORWO-branded film from FilmoTec GmbH, which is under shared ownership with InovisCoat — a company which manufactures film components for brands like Polaroid B.V., Adox, Bergger, Lomography (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORWO).
Though FilmoTec has had some troubles in the recent past (orwo.wtf/blog/orwo-managed…), it’s a separate entity and does not seem to be affected by ORWO Net’s financial troubles.
This post was inspired by the recent news of ORWO Net AG’s insolvency (mz.de/lokal/bitterfeld/orw…), which confused me until I’ve done some deeper reading about the company’s history. It’s sad to see another business fail, but I’m glad it’s not the one that makes film.
To be sure, I’ve contacted ORWO directly and will update this article if anything changes.
Film photography is now recognized as a cultural heritage in Germany and is on the path to UNESCO listing.
Silvergrain Classics, a German English-language film photography magazine, has just shared the news on their blog: silvergrainclassics.com/en….
“Analog photography has now been officially registered in the State Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This has made it possible for the state to nominate analog photography for inclusion at the German federal level.”
This nomination and its advancement could mean several things for analogue photography, including greater recognition and perhaps further efforts and investments by German and European governments to preserve and advance this medium.
I think that film is on the same level of importance as books and paintings. Hopefully, the governments agree, as keeping this medium alive on the level we have today costs billions of dollars, and it would be unfortunate to see it dwindle should an economic downturn take place.
Yes, the majority of the app is written in TypeScript. It uses github.com/lovell/sharp. I think there are a lot of great tools in JavaScript land for computer vision, but maybe not as many code examples or theory explainers that go beyond resizing images for web servers. Some features are missing here and there, but the pieces written in other languages to fill the gap are a few and don’t need as much maintenance.
Overall, JavaScript seems like an ideal solution for this project. The worker, server, and client all use the same language, which is very convenient and easy to read. At least for someone so used to writing everything in JavaScript 😅
I am just curious. Was the app written in JavaScript? I was a scientific programmer for over 30 years in genetics research. I have written many image analysis algorithms (Java, C++), so I just wondered what it looks like in other languages. I understand if you do not want to share actual code; however, I wonder what challenges came up language-wise in your experience. Thanks for all you do! Bill
I wrote this guide four years ago after researching ways to personally take over the process that traditional scanning and film inversion apps obfuscate.
I needed to know how exactly the software affects the colours of my film to identify and control the visual differences between film stocks and measure the effects of my lenses, filters, and exposures.
Having learned a great deal about the transformative path of a negative with an orange mask to a digital colour image, I could confidently write film reviews where I measured and compared minute differences between film stocks (whereas others may’ve deferred to internet lore, marketing material, or inconsistent scanning workflows). I could also get more image data out of my scans and gain greater editing flexibility.
This weekend, I rewrote the guide completely and added new illustrations. It’s no longer focused on Photoshop or any particular editing tool, and the new article explains the theory much more diligently (with examples).
film Q is a new web app that batch-inverts film scans right here on Analog.Cafe: analog.cafe/app/filmq
This version adds support for new RAW formats: RAF, NEF, and DNG (in addition to the initial support of ARW).
Additionally, several bugs were fixed, including one that caused issues with unusual characters in file names.
Note: film Q is still in beta, which means that there may be issues and missing features. Please email concerns and feature requests to [email protected]
Invert v1.0-beta
Invert is a computer vision component of film Q. It calculates values for histogram equalization and manages camera RAW interpreter software.
This version is an initial release. It will be developed in parallel to the host film Q app server.
Analog.Cafe v3.28.5
This version of the Analog.Cafe website opens up film Q to all Analog.Cafe GOLD members (in time for the announcement in today’s email: analog.cafe/r/greenscaling…). It also introduces several fixes and enhancements to the film Q web interface.
Lomography has updated its DigitaLIZA Scanning Kits.
The new DigitaLIZA+ and DigitaLIZA Max modular scanning setups allow phone or camera scanning for multiple roll formats: 35mm, 120, 110, and 127. Medium format scans can be as large as 6×7.
The new backlight included in both kits features CRI 97, which means it emits 97% of wavelengths compared to incandescent light bulbs. Keeping this number as high as possible is crucial for getting accurate colours out of your negatives. Plus, you can use your own backlight instead if you’d prefer.
Both kits use magnets to keep the film flat, whereas the Max includes a phone stand as an additional component.
film Q User Guide is now public, while the app is still in private beta.
film Q is a new app that inverts film negatives on the Analog.Cafe website without the need to install any software. It connects to your Dropbox account and processes your files in the cloud.
This app will have several advantages over traditional film inversion apps, such as hands-off batch processing, zero resource usage, and an open and consistent inversion algorithm.
My goal with this app is to show you exactly what the inversion software does so that there are no unanswered questions about your exposure, film development quality, or the impact of your software on the image.
This app is still in active development and is only available for testing upon request. However, you can get a glimpse of how it looks and works through the help docs that are now live:
If you’d like to try this app or have any questions or feedback, please let me know. I want this new product to be as helpful as possible for folks who scan film at home.
It’s the one that got away! They look very nice but seem to be quite rare lately. I will give it a try and review once I get a chance. Thank you for stopping by!
Thank you for taking the time to send me your feedback, Rafael!
I’ll definitely consider making more courses for the tools you mentioned.
I’m assuming that your comment refers to this guide: analog.cafe/r/how-to-edit-…. While it uses Photoshop for all of the examples, I believe the skills are transferrable to any image editing application that would allow you to create layers. Hope that helps.
I’d also like to mention this announcement — analog.cafe/r/how-to-edit-… — where I introduce a new film inversion tool. Most of my energy is currently directed at building that app, but once that’s complete, I’m hoping to produce more courses, and I’ll ask around what everyone wants so they’re better tailored to the community.
I appreciate this course a lot, but I believe that using Photoshop is not the reality of most photographers, as most of us are using tools like Lightroom, NLP, Fiomonat converter, etc. — a course on NLP would be formidable! Thanks!
Cameradactyl is trading art sales for enormous RA-4 paper cartridge, camera back, and direct positive processor blueprints.
Last week, Ethan Moses of Cameradactyl posted a video about his invention, a new “film” format that uses roll RA-4 paper to make about 100 4x5 exposures in a giant daylight canister. The rolls can be used in Ethan’s enormous TLR-like camera or adapted to 4x5 cameras as a back.
Of course, shooting this huge format is just half the job to get an image. The other part is developing a thick roll of paper. This is why Ethan also built a contained conveyor-like machine that pulls the entire roll through the chemicals to produce a direct positive.
But Ethan isn’t planning on selling these devices as he does with the rest of his cameras. Instead, he’s proposing to trade sales of his photography (prints) in exchange for open-sourcing the entire project, which includes the canisters, camera back, and the film processor. Once Ethan sells $300,000 worth of his art, all files will be available for free (he will be releasing them incrementally as the sales progress).
An unusual proposition for a very cool project. I happen to have a roll of RA-4 paper in my closet and I’d love to use it in a 4x5 camera.
Here’s the video where Ethan explains his project and why he’d like to trade his art sales for 3D files: youtube.com/watch?v=PB0GPY…
You can find and purchase Ethan’s prints on his website: cameradactyl.com
Lomography has also published a video that demonstrates how much faster their system of loading film can be than the traditional dark bag way: youtube.com/watch?v=yr-8Nr…
Lomography released a development tank that makes loading film easier.
The fiddliest task of developing film is feeding it onto reels. Reels arrange it so that there’s spacing/no contact across the entire strip. This allows water and chemicals to flow freely across the entire surface, but it has to be done in darkness.
However, loading film onto reels can be difficult. Everything needs to be done by feel. Your hands are confined to a small space that can get warm quickly. As your hands get warm, the sweat makes the job harder. Films with a thin base, like Lomo 800, can be very frustrating to mount in these cases.
Lomography’s solution is a modular film loader and processing box. A core where you place your film roll is inserted into a plastic “doughnut” piece. You then wind the film from your roll into the “doughnut,” which houses the reels, remove the core with your empty canister and pour chems into the “doughnut.”
Lomo Daylight Developing Tank works for single 35mm rolls. The twist agitation looks a little messy in the video (youtube.com/watch?v=XyGh79…), but the inversion lock looks reassuring.
The tank & accessories are $79 at shop.lomography.com/us/day… — all you need is your film chemicals (and tools to mix them) to get started.
Harman, the company that makes the famous black-and-white Ilford emulsions, has just released a redscale version of their Phoenix 200 film.
Redscaling means loading colour film into your camera “upside-down,” which produces strong red tones on a darker exposure.
You can redscale any colour film at home (see below), even Phoenix 200.
Harman’s Red 125 has new packaging with an updated DX code to reflect the film’s lower sensitivity to light. The factory also printed the edge markings on the correct side so that all commercial labs could easily identify, develop, and scan this film.
A technical document about Red 125 (found here: harmanphoto.co.uk/amfile/f…) prints characteristic curves which show about 4 stops of composite dynamic range (3 for the red channel) and a very cool spectral sensitivity graphic.
Whereas the “normal” Harman Phoenix 200 came with special scanning instructions for commercial labs, the Red 125 document suggests standard settings for all scanners.
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