FilmNeverDie Unveils the CP800: A $2,750 Auto Rotary Drum Film Processor

agosto 23, 2021

FilmNeverDie Unveils the CP800: A $2,750 Auto Rotary Drum Film Processor

Melbourne, Australia-based professional photo lab & retail store FilmNeverDie has announced the new Compact Processor 800 (CP800) through a Kickstarter campaign. The new automated rotary drum film processor is capable of handling black & white, color, slide, and motion picture film.

The company says CP800 was designed to address the shortcomings of outdated and overused film processors by increasing reliability and reducing the cost associated with film processing. The large capacity processing drum of the CP800 can efficiently process 8×135 or 4×120 rolls at a time.

The drum has a two-piece semicylinder configuration that locks together to form a complete seal, preventing any light from leaking in or chemistry from leaking out. This includes PVC/3D printed reel blanks to help minimize chemistry consumption when processing smaller batches.

The system features a five to one chemistry to water channel(s) to allow for flexible chemistry usage, leveraging twelve indexed hoses (six inlet and six outlet) with the option to salvage or dump any exhausted or “one-shot” chemistry and removable two-liter and five-liter chemistry storage receptacles.

The company says the CP800 is completely modular (available as a benchtop processor or complete system with mobile frame), can handle any stock, any ISO, and has a wide variety of customizable presets accessible through the dimmable backlit LCD display.

The display system uses a D-pad control as “touch screens will not work well with wet gloves on”. Additionally, the system has a programmable temperature control system to automatically manage the bathwater and chemistry solutions.

“Not only do we want to look after our customers better by having our own machinery, but we want to give labs around the world the right tools & infrastructure to support film photography as a whole,” says FilmNeverDie co-founder Gary Wong. “By committing to a future in both film lab hardware & software we are ensuring film photography remains accessible. There are so many new film labs opening it’s difficult to keep up, we love to watch the community grow.”

The CP800 Compact Processor 800 is available to back on Kickstarter for as low as $2,525 (AU$3,500) just to support the project, or as high as $2,750 (AU$3,800) for a “retail” CP800 Processor Module and chemistry storage system. FilmNeverDie estimates shipping of the first batch of finished units to begin in May of 2022 with the last units shipping in September 2022. This is of course provided the project meets its funding goal of $257,799 by September 18th, 2021.

Disclaimer: Make sure you do your own research into any crowdfunding project you’re considering backing. While we aim to only share legitimate and trustworthy campaigns, there’s always a real chance that you can lose your money when backing any crowdfunded project.