ADOX


The ADOX brand for photographic purposes has been used by three different companies since its original conception over one hundred fifty years ago.
ADOX was originally a brand name used by the German company, Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH of Frankfurt am Main, the world's first photographic materials manufacturer. In 1962 the Schleussner family sold its photographic holdings to DuPont, an American company. DuPont used the brand for its subsidiary, Sterling Diagnostic Imaging for X-ray films. In 1999, Sterling was bought by the German company Agfa. Agfa did not use the brand and allowed its registration to lapse in 2003. Fotoimpex of Berlin, Germany, a company founded in 1992 to import photographic films and papers from former eastern Europe immediately registered the brand and today ADOX is a brand of black and white films, photographic papers and photochemistry produced by ADOX Fotowerke GmbH based in Bad Sarrow near Berlin.

History

Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH (1860 - 1962)

ADOX was originally a brand name used by the German company, Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH of Frankfurt am Main, the world's first photographic materials manufacturer. The company's founder, Dr. Carl Schleussner, did pioneering work on the wet-collodion process during the early years of photography, and formed his manufacturing company in 1860. Working with the physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, discoverer of X-rays, Dr. Schleussner invented the first X-ray plate.
The Indian firm began marketing cameras under the ADOX brand name in the first third of the 20th century and, recognizing the growing importance of the brand, renamed itself "Adox Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH." In 1952 they introduced a line of very sharp black and white 35 mm films under the ADOX brand.

DuPont & Agfa (1962 - 2003)

In 1962, the Schleussner family sold its photographic holdings to DuPont, an American company. DuPont became owners of the trademark, and registered it in the United States.
In the 1970s, Dupont licensed the Adox film technology, but not the trademark, and sold the coating plant with 'dip and dunk' machinery of their film to Fotokemika, Samobor, Croatia in 1972 who continued to produce the traditional black and white films according to the 1950s ADOX formulas under the Efke brand.. The Efke black & white KB and R films in 3 speeds were noted for their wide-latitude, smooth grain, great tonality, incredible sharpness and being capable of high contrast results. In particular the slowest speed film KB 25 was laid down as a single layer emulsion. The films were low cost but due to their soft emulsion were prone to scratching during processing as well as quality issues.
DuPont kept the Adox trademark, transferring it to a subsidiary, Sterling Diagnostic Imaging, for its Adox brand X-ray films. DuPont still applies it to an industrial chemical, sodium chlorite.
In 1999, Sterling was bought by the German company Agfa, and was absorbed into Agfa's Health Sciences unit. In this roundabout way, the Adox photographic trademark once again briefly became German. Agfa did not use the Adox trademark, and the mark was removed from the German Patent Office trademark registry in March, 2003. It was almost immediately revived by companies in Canada, the United States, and Fotoimpex in Germany.

ADOX Fotowerke GmbH (2003 on)

The current rights to the ADOX name were obtained in 2003 by Fotoimpex of Berlin, Germany, a company founded in 1992 to import photographic films and papers from former eastern Europe. In particular they imported the Efke KB films and sold them branded as 'ADOX CHS Art' thus finally re-uniting the ADOX name with the original Schleussner film formula.
Fotoimpex established the ADOX Fotowerke GmbH film factory in Bad Sarrow outside Berlin to convert and package their films, papers and chemicals using machinery acquired from the closed AGFA and Forte Photochemical Industry photographic plants.
ADOX test-produced a slightly improved version of the original AGFA APX 400 as ADOX Pan 400 during 2010.
After Fotokemikas closure in 2012 due to failure of the original film making machinery proving too expensive to repair, Fotoimpex had ADOX CHS II black and white film produced using modern cascade coating. This took priority over proposals to re-introduce Agfa APX 400.
In February 2015 they purchased/obtained a long lease on the former Ilford Imaging, Switzerland machine E, medium scale coating line at Marly, Switzerland to coat photographic film and paper. Trial coating for ADOX CHS was undertaken at Marly prior to its re-introduction in 2018. The plant has also been used for testing the proposed revival of Polywarmtone Paper last produced by Forte in Hungary.
ADOX are also doubling the size of the film factory in Bad Sarrow, Germany to add a small coating line using a former AGFA machine as well as space for small scale chemical production and film materials storage.

Current Products

ADOX Fotowerke GmbH produces a range of black and white films, photographic paper and photochemistry. The company has notably resurrected former ADOX films and AGFA films, paper and chemicals including the entire Agfa B&W chemistry line with the help of its former employees and it now holds the trademark in Europe and USA for the famous Rodinal film developer. It also sells newer more 'eco-friendly products'. Chemistry is currently produced by Calbe Chemicals, formerly a part of Agfa.

Films

Produced by ADOX Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH.

Cameras

135 format
6 x 6 Box
6 x 6 Folding
6 x 9