Re: Agfa APX200S (was: PhotoKina '96, the day after....(long)

[Howard Wells <sandwell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Willem-Jan Markerink wrote:
> 
> On 25 Sep 96 at 8:06, Hannu Jarventaus wrote:
> 
> > I am maybe not the person that you mention above, but I think
> > this is not a secret! Have you not read the Agfa web-pages?=20
> > (http://www.agfaphoto.com/products/bwspecialfilms.html),
> > there it has been a while.
> 
> Yep, I believe you are the one who told me....but I still consider
> this a secret, at least when you look at the hype around the Ilford
> SFX200, and the fact that only 2 of the 160.000 people on the Kina
> asked about this Agfa film. I am pretty sure the number of people
> inquiring about the Ilford were 1000x as much!
> Perhaps not a technical secret, but for sure a marketing secret!
> 
> Nevertheless thanks for the hint!

Hannu is right, it's an open secret.  I found it in the same place on
the AGFA homepage, and then mentioned it when I subscribed to this list.

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Howard Wells and I live in
Cincinnati, Ohio USA, where I am a partner in a small communications and
marketing firm.  My background is in book publishing and editing--an
area in which I still do quite a bit of consulting.

I have been taking photos for 30 years, shooting HIE for 10 or more.  I
do some commercial and advertising work as well as portraits and have
been published here and there.  I feel as though I bring myself and my
aesthetic to all my clients but my most personal work is in my own
environment--still-life found and otherwise, my family and friends, my
cats and garden. 

I use a wide range of materials in many formats, though I haven't been
in a darkroom since the late '60s.  I use all formats from 4x5 down to
reamed out, re-loaded Konica single-use Panoramic cameras and SX-70s.  I
often use RF cameras for IR, including a screwmount Leica with a
Stroobant pinhole device and years ago stuck an opaque gel at the back
of the lens assembly of a Minox GT with gluestick glue.  Worked great
because of the design of that folding camera which took the gel away
from the face of the film, though there is the problem, easily solved,
of the pressure plate dimples showing up on the film. If this list had
been in existence back then I would have been able to solve the problem
with much less fuss and running around.

Two relevant items.  I have shot almost a dozen rolls of SFX 200 mostly
with a red filter, mostly outdoors in an urban setting early in the
morning.  I like it very much.  It will not replace HIE but it is very
controllable and easy to load.  I was shooting for a music video that
will use only stills (along the lines of Chris Marker's La Jete) and the
female lead had pale skin to begin with.  Lovely results.  I can't wait
to use it for nudes. I'm going to look into the less expensive 50-roll
packs of the Traffic film as mentioned by WJ.

APS.  I put one roll through Kodak's top-of-the-line camera.  My Uncle
designs test equipment for the photographic industry and both Kodak and
Fuji sent him sample cameras.  I was as pleased with the results as I am
with our normal AF snapshot camera--an Olympus Stylus Zoom.  I think APS
will be a boon to those who can't load a camera or keep track of
negatives for reprints--and there are a great number of those folks out
there. I'm all for anything that allows people to take satisfying
photographs.  The more the merrier.

Thanks for the time and for the useful and interesting information.  

Howard Wells, sandwell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Topic No. 6