Re: [Leica] Ilford film reliability

["Douglas Landrum" <dflandrum@earthlink.net>]

A few years ago, I used lots of Kodak film, almost exclusively.  Then I
started to get light leaks on 35mm film with my R6, the only body that I had
at the time.  On a lark, I had used some Fuji film with no light leaks.
Alternating I found Kodak=leaks; Fuji no leaks (even with translucent film
cans).  Ergo poor manufacture of 35mm film cassettes by Kodak.  (I am always
careful about changing film in the darkest area on hand.) At the same time,
I found that no Kodak spin off lab, or third party lab could process
Kodachrome consistently, so I switched to Fuji E6 and C41 films and Ilford
B&W with no regrets.  So much for Kodak quality control.
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <ShadCat11@aol.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 11:34 AM
Subject: [Leica] Ilford film reliability


> I go through a cycles, periodically, in which I am seduced by reports of
> superior performance by one Ilford product or another, so I try some, find
> it's all true, and take up with the Brit until the weirdness begins.
After a
> hiatus of some years, I got into Ilford again, only to get bit in the ass
> once more.
>
> Lately I have been using lots of Delta 400 in 35mm and 120.  Great film,
all
> it's reported to be.  Just as I started to get happy, my Ilford Thing came
> back.  Several 120 rolls are showing clear "ridges" down the length of
them,
> appearing on some rolls and not others.  One 35 mm roll has a thin stripe
of
> what appears to be exposure down the top edge, just into the frame.  Other
> film developed in the same batch did not show this.
>
> When processing, I hang films to dry with out touching the front or back,
so
> I don't think handling is responsible..  The rolls, 120 and 35  have gone
> through several cameras with no apparent correlation, and no previous or
> subsequent films of Kodak or Fuji have shown these flaws, so I am pretty
sure
> it's not a problem in my equipment.  The 120 stripe doesn't show in a
print,
> but the 35 mm does.  All the film was purchased fresh-dated from B&H, from
> whom I buy Fuji and Kodak films, also.
>
> Every single time I have gone to Ilford I have been sooner or later stung
by
> what seem to be quality control problems.  This dates from and includes
HP3,
> FP3, FP4, HP5, XP1, XP1 processing kit, Multigrade III and Multigrade IV,
all
> of which I got bad batches.  OTOH, in 46 years of photography in using
Kodak
> for 95% of my film and darkroom supplies, I haven't got a bad anything.
BTW,
> likewise Fuji.
>
> Every time this strangeness happens, I swear off Ilford, return to and
> appreciate Kodak quality control all the more, and wonder if I have been
> unusually unlucky or if others have had the same kind of experience.
>
> Allen Zak.