Cibachrome Update 

In 2012 Ilford announced they were discontinuing Cibachrome, but they would take orders for their last production run. After much thought, I placed an order for 50,000 square feet of Cibachrome (Ilfochrome Classic Deluxe CPS1.K).

Aside from the huge financial investment to purchase this material, it was unknown how and if I could process all of it. I was able to purchase chemistry for only one-third of my order because it has a shelf life of three years. Cibachrome chemistry requires highly specialized ingredients, some of which were specially invented just for this process. The recipe of how to formulate those ingredients and how to mix them was a closely guarded secret. Ilford was not willing to share that information with me nor would they guarantee an ongoing supply of processing chemistry.

I had been making Cibachromes since 1981, was in love with the material and didn’t want to print on anything else. I knew that once it was discontinued it would never be made again because the manufacturing process requires highly specialized equipment, skilled technicians with years of experience and the process has the tightest production tolerances of any photographic printing material. Both Agfa and Fuji tried to make the material, but without success. If I wanted to continue making Cibachromes it was now or never. I took the plunge, hoping I could find a way to obtain more processing chemistry.

Shortly after the last production run of Cibachrome was delivered, Ilford Switzerland declared bankruptcy, the employees were dispersed, the property sold, the equipment scraped. After almost 50 years, it was over. Hard to accept, but Cibachrome will never be made again.

In 2014 I was contacted by Dr. Damien Moigno, a chemical scientist who had worked for Ilford. He was starting a small boutique chemical manufacturing company, had leased Ilford’s chemical production facility, and offered to make P3 processing chemistry. I was able to purchase processing chemistry in premixed Parts A, B and C, just as Ilford had offered. Eureka!

Damien didn’t want to produce P3 chemistry for an extended period of time, as his business was expanding and he needed to move forward with other projects. So, in 2015 I purchased all the raw materials to compound the chemistry myself, as well as the Ilford factory recipe. Making the chemistry is not a simple task. The developer has 14 ingredients, the bleach nine. Precise measuring, mixing and pH measurements and corrections need to be made.

It's been 10 years since I started to mix my own chemistry and it’s now 2025. I now have an extensive inventory of Cibachromes in stock so I’m currently not printing in the darkroom. There are quite a few images in certain sizes that I have few or none of but it’s uncertain if I will be able print any more in the future. Hard to believe but there it is.