I just read the sad news on Casual Photophile.
FUJIFILM to Discontinue Acros 100 Film in October 2018 — Casual Photophile
And this Time around it’s not some obscure, cheap consumer film. No it’s one of the mainstays of film photography.
Fujifilm Acros 100! In all it’s forms!
35mm, 120 or large format, all will go away.
Another very sad day for film photography! Another ´present’ from Fujifilm!
I don’t know if Fuji still make lab equipment or if it’s just the stuff that’s still out there in the wild. Once they stop support for their lab stuff it’s quits for the good labs still around. That’s scary!
As James said on Casual Photophile, film is just an infinitesimal part of Fuji Industries. And apart from their Instax stuff it’s slowly discontinued.
And even their digital camera operations don’t seem to make a profit.
In short, Fuji IS getting out of the film business. These bad news will surely discourage a lot of people and they might turn away from film or not try it. That will be bad for Kodak Alaris, Ilford and the bunch…..
Of course we know that there’s still a lot of film around but for the unwashed masses who mostly think there’s no more film it’s just some more confirmaton that film is dead. Lots of people who heard about the resurgence of film might be put off. I just hope that Kodak, Ferrania and all the other players with new stuff in the pipeline will deliver soon and give us some good news.
Frank Lehnen Photography 
A not so good start to 2018 from fuji. I wonder if anybody would be so bold as to buy up fuji’s coating equipment etc. And relocate and restart production elsewhere. Another kickstarter or indiegogo project perhaps?
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No way! They did not even want to sell the FP100 instant film production line.
And anyways those equipments are much too big for nowadays film sales… unfortunately.
They should do like Ferrania, set up the old research and development production unit with much less overhead as their real life production unit
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Don’t Fuji also make C41 lab processing equipment? I’m sure the person who makes such decisions is just another corporate executive looking to share prices and to enhance his own prospects before he moves on to “rationalise” some other firm. Maybe they should read “The Revenge of Analog”. Maybe it’s time to start petitioning Frank – get a petition going from your blog.
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Does my small Time blog rally make a difference?
I don’t know if Fuji still make lab equipment or if it’s just the stuff that’s still lut there in the wild. Once they stop support for their lab stuff it’s quits for the good labs still around. That’s scary!
As James said on Casual Photophile, film is just an infinitesimal part of Fuji Industries. And apart from their Instax stuff it’s slowly discontinued.
And even their digital camera operations don’t seem to make a profit.
In short, Fuji IS getting out of the film business. These bad news will surely discourage a lot of people and they might turn away from film or not try it. That will be bad for Kodak Alaris, Ilford and the bunch…..
I’ll add this to my post as I think it’s relevant for the future of film!
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Well, at least you’ve got a blog that you have managed to keep going and that people read and I was thinking that petitions have a habit of getting around, so… it might even get onto Fuji’s social media streams https://www.fujifilm.eu/uk/
The “problem” is that photography has lost its cachet because photography in its digital and digitised form is being given away for free on the internet, to newspapers etc, traded for fake kudos of likes and followers and so on. So the phone in your pocket will do. But only film photography and moving film is reified and that’s why it will survive, and now matter how small that market is, for the entrepreneur there’s profit in servicing niche markets.
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You’re right! Spot on.
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Another shame.
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I’m not sure if I’m more or less surprised they’ve done this after making a film simulation of this very film.
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Yep, they’re on a killing spree…
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I agree with Kevin Allen but it also strikes me that the Fuji are finding it’s not profitable anymore to produce a black & white film with a fair few cheaper monochrome brands now on the market. Looking at their UK website they have already removed the monochrome films from their listings. Another possibility is Fuji are looking to drop consumer film altogether, maybe good for other film manufacturers in the long run?
That’s just hope Kodak Alaris do not follow the same path!
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Acros is definitely not a consumer film. Too expensive, too ‘good’.
Kodak can’t cut films now if they want to keep their credibility. Best we support Kodak, Ilford and the others now and NOT USE EXPIRED FILM!
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unless it was in date when we bought it! Just purchased some lomography films. 100, 400, 800 and lady gray. Looking forward to trying these out.
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Shooting “expired” film still promotes brand awareness and stimulates the film “market” in general, it brings people into the camera shop you bought it from, and encourages them to stock film. Personally I now buy and roll in bulk. Buying a 100ft of film brings my costs down and presumably selling film in that way is more beneficial to the manufacturer, Foma in this case.
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Wanted to try rolling my own film for some time. What’s the best loader and cartridges? Can you reuse them indefinitely?
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Watson bulk film loader if you can find one. AP make a Bulk 35mm Film Loader. Your way its branded under Kaiser but I don’t know what it’s like, they also make reusable plastic film cassettes. If can find one the best reusable film cassette is a Shirley Wellard Metal Reloadable 35mm Film Cassette. Cannot go wrong with a Shirley Wellard, they are pricey.
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Thanks
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Just my experience – I use a Computrol bulk film loader and I found you can’t go wrong with that. I did look at a Watson but having used a Computrol to me the loading mechanism and procedure didn’t look as failsafe, maybe it was the model I was looking at.
Cassette-wise I also have a Shirley Willard, and Nikon reusable cassette – well engineered and intricate but they don’t fit the film chambers on my Olympus OM-1s, OM-10s and are a very tight squeeze in the FE and the door didn’t close on the XA-2. I concluded they’re designed for older cameras as they do fit my Agfa Silette. They might be okay for your Spotty and a pal of mine reckons he used one with on a Leica II. The height of the cassette may make the rewind lever stand out from the body.
So I use Kaiser plastic reusable cassettes and they’re fine and very easy to use. The screw cap can come undone so you just put a bit of tape on it to make sure. Yes, they are reusable and last a while until the felt light-traps eventually start shedding bits of fluff. As they’re cheap off FleaBay I’ve not bothered to try to replace the traps say with velour, but I will try when I get a minute. The plastic spools with the slots in (saved from film rolls) fit the best, and use some decent sticky tape otherwise the winder will pull the film off on the final frame. Another option is to use recycled film cassettes and tape the film to the film leader.
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Thanks, useful information there!!
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I am afraid say, that no film I ever own gets chance to expire… exposed yes!
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I think the writing was on the wall a long time ago and now it’s catching up, but I’m not all doom and gloom yet. If it’s true that they made one last huge batch a while ago and are just running out now then shame on them. It does seem to be their practice to destroy their equipment when no longer needed so they probably have nothing left at this point. Remember JVC direct metal master records? Same thing. Too protective of what they’ve made so their poisoning their own wells. This really is the news I wish had broken today, not a few days ago. But is that really the case?
In a way it kind of makes sense to kill of Acros after the rest of their Neopan line. Why have the chemistry and production line set up for one black & white when they only sell one type of black & white film? Also it’s curious that they’d redesign all their packaging a few years ago and then kill off their film lines one by one.
That said, if Fuji really is done making all film: I’m not sure they’re is in the public consciousness the way that Kodak is, at least not here in the States. And I really don’t think it will discourage people from getting into film because there are plenty of other options. I myself got into shooting film back in 2009 and AGFA’s collapse didn’t really play into my decision in any way.
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Fuji is really out of the film business that’s clear. I guess the next months/years will see the rest of their stuff phased out.
I wonder if they don’t sell the stock of all their film and already mothballed the production lines.
What I don’t get is that they did not even want to sell the machines to produce FP100 instant film….
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Probably don’t want another company to benefit from those machines, even if they could buy them. And the same will go for the rest of their production line. Man I wish they would contract Kodak or someone else to make film to their specs, but that seems farfetched…
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