- HoloFX1_02.JPG (379.06 KiB) Viewed 390 times
Holo FX doesn’t have what it takes to record reflection holograms in the blue like Ultimate and the BB series from Colour Holographics/Tru-Life, but those plates are well over $200 for a 30 by 40 cm (12” X 16”)! But many holographers get their blues from shooting in the red and triethanolaming, so the “true color” reflection holographer is the only type left out. (The plates are OK at 488 nm for transmission.) But who knows, if Harman sees enough of a demand they might just put research into reaching that 10nm grain size, or into buying someone’s recipe.
Plus air freight shipping adds even more to the bottom line! Harman gets around that by sending shipping containers over the seas for their photo and other products to the US. And since they are in the UK, the European market is easily served.
Bearing in mind that Slavich is currently unobtainable and the insane expense of the English and French plates, and whatever new old stock is around that may or may not have the capability to record any longer, there is a very serious need to have a new source of factory produced holographic recording materials. Harman Technology bought the grand old Ilford Company name, (the Kodak of England!), and is committed to being the last man standing in the B&W photo film and paper market. Recently they have come out with a wacky color film where the dye layers are mixed up, see Switch Azure film https://www.harmantechnology.com/harman ... azure-125/on their website. But you won’t find Holo FX on the site!
So it just might be to our advantage for as many readers on this site to tell Harman that there is indeed a market for holographic plates. Please go to their Contact Us page on their site https://www.harmantechnology.com/contact-us/and send a note to General, Technical, and Sales like I have been doing and urge them to come to ISDH 2026 to meet those who are committed to continuing the fine art of wavefront reconstruction. They may have been unhappy about the sales numbers previously, but if there is enough interest they might restart making plates, especially if the sizes are 30 by 40 cm or larger, sold directly to the holographer, and let someone else package the smaller sizes for the school market.
There are many holographers on this forum who have 100’s of milliWatts of power to record 4” X 5” or so holograms in DCG or photopolymers, and there is nothing wrong with that; but silver halide materials are 2 orders of magnitude (100X!) more sensitive! With all that power the holographer can shoot 30 by 40 cm with exposures of a few seconds! Plus all other kinds of things can be easily done, like H1>H2 transfers on a large scale! Or make contact copy masters for photopolymer exposures via scanning. There may be a whole new world dawning for the medium! But it depends on having a reliable source of materials.
So if you have a minute, let Harman Technology know that holography is alive and will thrive even more if there is an affordable source of plates! Maybe you will be the lucky one who gets their attention!