The ADOX Dr. Schleussner Fotowerke were the first photochemical factory in the world.
Founded in 1860 they industrialised the manufacturing of dry plates for photographic use and Xray making it unnecessary for photographers to coat their own wet plates every time just prior to exposure.
Later the production of photopapers and the world famous films KB 14, KB 17 and KB 21 were introduced.
ADOX was the first manufacturer to invent thin layer films which led to increased image sharpness.
ADOX also was the first manufacturer to use double anti halation increasing the sharpness of films and their resolving power even further.
It wasn't until the 1960s that AGFA and KODAK managed
to catch up with ADOX´s technology, partially only
because new base materials were introduced to the
market making it much easier to achieve a very
effective anti halation layer.
ADOX films vanished from the consumer markets during
that time and the original factory in Frankfurt,
Germany was closed.
But the ADOX patents and films stayed alive when parts
of the machinery and technology was sold to
Fotokemika/Zagreb.
Since 1972 the ADOX films were now called efke and were
first imported back to Germany in 1992 by FOTOIMPEX.
FOTOIMPEX renamed into ADOX Berlin and purchased back
the original name in 2002.
This way the films got back their original name after
almost 40 years.
The reborn name ADOX stands for the largest variety of
alternative black and white materials present on the
current market.
ADOX, dedicated to black and white
ADOX plans to decrease the manufacturing depth in
diverse facilities now producing for ADOX and to unify
quality standards, final inspection and confectioning
in their new facilities close to Berlin.
It is ADOX´s goal to ensure the availability of fine
black and white products for many years to come in this
quickly changing market facing the challenges of
digital photography.
First steps were undertaken recently to build a small
scale film producing facility, creating own emulsions,
running a small scale coating line and having its own
small confectioning departement.
