Silberra: Missive #19 to Backers

The Silberra Project on IndieGoGo.com has just released an update as of posting today.  Konstantin Shabanov has listed off several points, first and foremost is that rewards will start shipping in January, 2019.  The Silberra PAN100 and PAN160 rewards and the Fast Shooters Kits will be first up.  ORTO 50 will ship in January with a bonus of 4x5 sheets of this film becoming available on the Silberra web store.

BIG Shooters Kits rewards will include a new film called Cinema in place of PAN100.  This film is already listed in the web store.  Apparently, Silberra will be working on more films, but not ORTO 100.

Silberra plans to release a new reversible paper, for prints directly from large format cameras.  While not a direct printing out paper, reversal processing kits can be used to make a positive image.  A baryta paper will also be introduced for alternative processes.

Check the full update out on IndieGoGo.

Seasons Greetings to One and All!

Kodak Apps for Film

Kodak has a couple of useful apps for your phone.  On iOS, one can find Kodak Professional Film App.  This app lists the Kodak films available today, the technical data for each film, a locator for processing labs and a sunrise/sunset calculator, to catch those golden hour shots.

The Kodak Cinema Tools app gives useful info for cinematographers, plus embedded in it are tools such as a depth of field calculator for multiple film formats.  As the description for the app says:

"...this app will calculate your near limit, far limit, hyperfocal distance and circle of confusion. Simply enter the values you know in the KODAK Depth of Field Calculator app and instantly have the answers you need to capture the image you envision."

Web Comic: It Fogs Photographic Film

Nerdy web comic, xkcd, featured a strip on Monday that mentioned photographic film.

The comic describes itself as "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language."  One of the features of the graphic is that hovering a mouse cursor over the image produces a witty quip.  On phones and tablets, tapping the comic may reveal the follow-up message.

Find the piece here:

xkcd: Laptop Issues

 

Kickstarter: Save Pack Film

On December 5th, at 5pm CET, Save Pack Film will launch a Kickstarter in an attempt to resurrect the peel apart Polaroid film of the past.  It looks like they may be looking at the colour pack film, called FP-100C when produced by Fujifilm.

Hopefully, we will not see a repeat of Film Ferrania and Silberra film, which have gone under the radar for some time now with no communications.  Film Ferrania is allegedly producing film now, but Silberra has not let anyone know what is going on publicly.

This blogger wishes Save Pack Film well, and hopes that they get an overwhelming support from pack film afficianados and a successful project launch with product for supporters.

Obit: Michael A. Smith, Founder of Lodima Press

A valuable member of the photography community, Michael Smith of Lodima Press passed away.

A short obituary page lists some of his contributions to the photography community.

One of his contributions to silver halide photography was the revival of a silver-chloride printing paper.  Lodima Fine Art Silver Chloride paper is marketed as a replacement for the discontinued Kodak Azo  paper.  This type of paper was used by master photographers such as Edward Weston and others.  The paper is ideal for large format contact printing. 

The Lodima name is Amidol, a venerable developer from the 19th century, spelled backwards.