Running an Analog Photo Company: Interview with the ADOX CEO by SilvergrainConnection
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- Two years ago, I knew nothing about the analog photo industry. As a regular consumer, I was expecting photo companies to put out products which I was missing or wanting, not realizing the true complexity behind. Now, after being married to the ADOX CEO, Mirko Böddecker, for almost a year, I see things a little different :)
Adox is pretty unique: behind a 160-year old brand is a small company, started from zero in the middle of the industry crash. The Adox production got compiled from machines and recipes saved from bankrupt photo factories. It is pretty incredible what can be achieved with just a strong passion for analog!
It's our first interview together, and I am thrilled to have done it with Charys Schuler and Marwan El-Mozayen, who played a big role in us meeting each other!
Special thanks to Erik Schlicksbier from Studiokreativkommune for being a great host and putting this podcast together.
CONTENT
2:00 - How we met
4:07 - First of April Bootcamp
5:17 - Adox updates
6:26 - Making photo products - the difficulties of the process
9:38 - Why Adox doesn’t take investors’ money
12:40 - When is 120 film going to be available?
13:49 - The challenges of building a new photo factory with old/too big machines
16:88 - Super 8 plans
17:07 - My conflict of interest in reviewing Adox/other companies’ products
19:05 - My favorite Adox products
21:00 - Is the market interesting enough for companies to research new products
22:00 - Dream product to make (spoiler: it’s Cibachrome film)
24:00 - How things started in photo business for both of us
24:29 - How Mirko was saving machines from closing photo factories & starting Adox in an abandoned military laundry
25:28 - Getting support at the start
27:30 - Analog crowd changing
28:29 - Adox is looking for mechatronics (and chemical production workers too)
30:16 - Film prices
The podcast was published in March. Some things have changed and advanced, so I guess we should do another one at some point soon:)
Other podcasts from Silvergrain Connection - podcasts.apple...
My instagram - / linabessonova.photography
ADOX instagram - / adoxphoto
SilvergrainClassics magazine - silvergraincla...
Every time I see a video or interview with Mirko, he impresses me even more. Analog photography is very lucky to have him. Edit: as a sidenote, I also love Adox chemistry. For example, I like Neutol Eco as much as Dektol. It's fantastic paper developer.
He impresses me every day! Such an amazing person. And yes, we all are very very lucky.
David Hancock is another real professional in my opinion. There is a great deal to learn from him !! Thank you. Richard Simms. Canada
I am super interested in trying Adox's new colour film. But that aside, I am eternally grateful to Adox for keeping Rodinal alive and available!
I love scala 50 positives and the home developing process is "easy"! Can't wait for stores to get the reversal kit in stock again. Thank you!
I only use the XT3 developer because of its wide range of films and the less harming substances. Love to Adox 👍💪👌❤️
Please make the Cibachrome. I think it would be crazy popular.
Oh I would then even consider shooting color :)
Totally agree :D Even as a direct positive color paper with a very low ISO (like a color version of the harman positive paper) it would be amazing.
I’m not a photography person (I’m a printmaker trained in intaglio, relief, litho and screen printing) with some photo work included in those processes. It is all digital transferred back into my analog process. So I’m now interested in analog photo process and this is so wonderful you guys have got this company going to preserve the analog process. Wishing you all the success! Lots of great videos on your channel! 🌟
Wow, what a great discussion! Thank you for the video, it's inspiring for me as a film photographer!
Great company. I only use ADOX chemicals and photo-paper.
Thank you for the support!
Fantastic video! This is the second time I hear Mirko talk about the film industry, the difficulties and the possibilities, the history of Adox, and so on, and I hope there will be more opportunities in the future. I love his enthusiasm and knowledge, and the fact that he's so good at explaining in ways that are easy to understand. I feel once again that I've learnt a lot! He's also a really engaging speaker.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Lina for many inspiring and helpful videos. I'm quite new to film photography, as I started shooting film and developing black and white film just over a year ago, and I've learnt so much from your videos. I've been scanning the negatives so far, but I've always wanted to go all the way to darkroom paper copies, and that's precisely what my aim for 2022 is. Thus, I've now begun assembling my own tiny darkroom, and I'm so excited about it! So, thank you!
My gosh, not only great analog content, but a wholesome personal story too!
Nothing but the highest respect! I recently ordered CHS 100 II in 4x5 I cannot wait to try it!
This is all very good news to me. Keep up the excellent efforts!
thank you for the support!
When CMS is available in 120 format again it will be like all my birthdays arriving in one go!!!
Trust me, for us it will be same :D
Amazing story! So cool!
thank you!
Looking forward to what you develop and put on the market. I have always been a fan of Agfa film & Agfa Brovira. I used to shoot Kodachrome and Agfachrome, then I would print it out with Cibachrome. I am patiently waiting for that process or something similar to come back out. I like the the wet process and have no desire to scan and print. Thanks for all you two do.
Thank you for your support. I have no desire to scan either! It's too ... uninteresting? Unchallenging?
I used to work in a camera store in the US, and we sold film very cheap because we made money on the processing. I am not sure of all the details, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were selling the film at a loss. $1.99 film probably isn’t possible/reasonable - but obviously we could do much better than the current situation!
After I bought a few cms20 developer, I discovered that 120 cms20 are all out of stock. I've been waiting for their return since then. While it sucks that I still can't use them with my hasselblad, I am glad that I still have access to great films like silvermax for 35mm.
What is the developer you love with ilford Delta 100 film ?
Why we don’t invest in Kickstarter or somehow private ? It’s really hard to get Adox supply to Saudi Arabia 😓😓😓😓
We are lacking people in Germany, not money.
I wish the entire world was analog.
now Cibachrome paper would be a dream. Not sure why are you talking about Cibachrome film? Never heard of it. I know the Marly plant was making paper.
So you say Cibachrome is an easy process? What I heard from the oldies was that it was incredibly difficult to get a good print from a slide.
I am not sure if I heard much new in this video, but it's always nice to hear you and Mirko. If understood well Neutol is Mirko's favourite paper developer? If I read the descriptions on the FI site I thought MCC is the best, which is the first and only bottle I bought :)
If I had a degree in chemical I would be happy to help you, but yeah I am just a mechanical engineer who doesn't like high precision machining 😂 So from my job I do know how hard it is at the moment to get raw materials and supplies. But I also remember from the last PhotoKlassik before Corona that you expected in summer 2020 to have 120. Is it already any close?
Now 120 is close and yes MCC developer is better than Neutol Eco ;-)
Cibachrome can be developed at room temperature just like a b&w film. If your slide film was filtered and exposed corectly the Cibachrome process should be easy. If it was not- then the negative process is easier ;-)
Lina, can we please help Adox get the 120 film running again! I would love to pay! Oh and MCC! 🌹
Send us a really good mechatronic! That's what we truly need!
We are almost there ;-)
@@liberealistic9964 Really? How do you know?
Pete from Kodak here. I have Kodak contacts in Germany near you. Would love to talk.
Hey! Are you on instagram? if you send me a DM, I will get it. I don't know if there is any internal messaging on youtube :)
incredibly sexist hiring based on sex. 2 wrongs don't make a right.
Интересно про фабрику
Да, надо будет историю Адокса как-нибудь на русский перевести - или научить Мирко русскому, чтобы он сам рассказал :D
@@linabessonova наверное, лучше перевести )
@@linabessonova за Скалу им отдельное спасибо