When TETENAL filed for bankruptcy in the fall of 2018, the photography industry was shocked. Analog photographers, in particular, faced uncertain times. After all, despite all its efforts in the field of digital photography, TETENAL was ultimately THE manufacturer of photographic chemicals for processing film and photo paper.
While other manufacturers also offer developer, stop, and fixer baths for black-and-white films, as well as fixed-gradation and gradation-conversion papers, the discontinuation of such legendary products as Ultrafin, Eukobrom, Superfix, and others would certainly have left a huge gap.
Furthermore, this isn’t just about black-and-white chemicals, but also about professional photographic chemicals for processing color film and photo paper using the C-41, E-6, and RA-4 processes. While there is another manufacturer, FUJIFILM / FUJI HUNT, that covers this area, its products are reserved for minilabs and large-scale users due to their packaging. The discontinuation of TETENAL’s Colortec series processing kits would have posed massive problems—if not brought an end to their operations—for the countless amateur photographers, semi-professional users, and smaller specialty processors.
It’s a good thing that not only an army of photographers and lab technicians, but also some dedicated TETENAL employees realized that this couldn’t and shouldn’t be the end—and without further ado, launched the employee-led initiative “New Tetenal.” Thanks to this initiative, the lights at TETENAL didn’t simply go out after the old company ceased production at the end of March this year—they came back on April 1 at the newly founded “Tetenal 1847.” Since then, the company has been producing the tried-and-true photographic chemicals as before, with a small core team of long-standing and experienced TETENAL employees.
Unfortunately, due to these changes, delivery times have been—and continue to be—very long. The ordering process is also difficult for many customers. NORDFOTO Shipping has therefore further expanded its already extensive inventory and can now deliver all TETENAL photographic chemicals with the usual speed. And in the rare event that we run out of an item, we benefit from our proximity. After all, TETENAL 1847 is just a few minutes away from NORDFOTO Versand 🙂