Ilford Photo

Infobox Company
company_name = Ilford Photo
company_
company_type = Limited
foundation = 1879
location = Knutsford, Cheshire
industry = Photography
products = film, paper, chemicals
homepage = [http://www.ilfordphoto.com/ www.ilfordphoto.com]

Ilford Photo is a maker of photographic films, paper, and chemicals. Ilford is known worldwide for its black-and-white films and papers, as well as its range of Ilfochrome and Ilfocolor colour printing materials. Ilfochrome was formerly called Cibachrome, developed in partnership with Swiss company CIBA-Geigy. Formerly, it published the Ilford Manual Of Photography, a comprehensive manual of everything photographic, including the optics, physics and chemistry of photography, along with recipes for many developers.

History

The company was founded in 1879 by Alfred Hugh Harman as "Britannia Works". Initially making photographic plates, it grew to occupy a large site in the centre of Ilford. In 1902 it took the name of the town to become "Ilford Limited", despite the objections of the local council. [cite web | url=http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Chronology.html#anchorTimeLine | title=Ilford timeline | work=Ilford History and Chronology | accessdate=2008-07-27]

In 1983, their UK headquarters was moved to Mobberley, Cheshire. In 1989, Ilford was acquired by the USA-based International Paper company, also owners of graphic arts materials manufacturer Anitec. The two companies were merged in 1990 to become "Ilford Anitec". In 1996, the sales and admin offices were also moved from London to Mobberley.

In 2004 the company went into receivership. The UK site was subject to a management buyout, which resulted in the formation of Harman technology Ltd in February 2005. The company, now traded as Ilford Photo, produces high quality monochrome photographic products. The Swiss part of the company was bought by the Oji Paper Company of Japan in July 2005. It produces inkjet products under the name Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH.

Cameras

Ilford produced a number of cameras, starting with a 'box' camera in 1902, but most were made in the 1940s and 50s. The Ilford "Witness" was a rangefinder with interchangeable lenses announced in 1947, but not released until 1953 because of manufacturing difficulties. In the mean time, the simpler "Advocate" series 1 was released in 1949 and series 2 in 1952. A pre-release "Advocate" series 1 camera was given to Princess Elizabeth in 1948. It was stolen but later recovered when it was sent to be repaired. Also released in 1949 was the "Craftsman", a twin-lens reflex (TLR) which took 120 or 620 film. Then 1951 saw the "Prentice" folding camera which also took 120 film.

In 1957 Ilford released the "Sportsman", a simple and cheap 35 mm camera to compete with the Kodak Retina. The "Sportsman" became a series of camera models produced over the following 10 years. Finally, in 1958 Ilford released the "Monobar", a monorail camera manufactured by "Kennedy Instruments" with a 35 mm back that resembled the earlier "Advocate" camera (which KI had also manufactured). The "Monobar" allowed the front (lens) and rear (film plane) of the camera to be moved and rotated, bringing the scheimpflug principle to the 35mm world.

Products

Film

* Pan F plus 50
* FP4 plus 125
* HP5 plus 400
* Delta 100, 400, and "3200"
* XP2 Super 400
* SFX 200
* Ilford PAN 100 and 400 (consumer grade, on selected markets)

Film developers

* Ilford ID-11
* Ilfosol 3
* Ilfotec DD, DD-X, HC, LC 29, and RT Rapid
* Microphen
* Perceptol
* Phenisol

Specialist products

* Surveillance film
* Traffic surveillance film
* Nuclear emulsions
* Ortho copy plus
* Q plates
* Process control

Paper

Graded
* Ilfospeed RC Deluxe
* Ilfobrom Galerie FB

Variable contrast
* Multigrade IV RC Deluxe
* Multigrade IV RC Portfolio
* Multigrade RC Cooltone
* Multigrade RC Warmtone
* Multigrade RC Express
* Multigrade IV FB
* Multigrade FB Warmtone

Digital Panchromatic
* Ilfospeed RC Digital
* Galerie FB Digital

Paper developers

* Bromophen
* Harman Cooltone developer
* Harman Warmtone Developer
* Ilford 2150 XL and 2000 RT
* Multigrade developer
* PQ Universal

Fixers, Toners and other chemicals

* Hypam fixer
* Ilford 2000 RT Fixer and Rapid Fixer
* Ilfostop
* Ilfotol wetting agent
* Ilford Washaid
* Harman Selenium Toner

See also

* Photographic film and List of photographic films
* Photographic paper
* Darkroom

References

External links

* [http://www.ilfordphoto.com/ ILFORD photo]
* [http://www.ilford.com/ ILFORD Imaging Switzerland GmbH]
* [http://www.harmantechnology.com/ HARMAN Technology]