NewsBy FilmFocus
Filmomat Announces the Filmomat Neo, a New Automatic Film Processor
This is an AI translation of an article originally published in Japanese. If anything reads oddly, the Japanese original is the authoritative version.
Filmomat, the maker of automatic film processors, has announced a new model, the Filmomat Neo. According to the company, it strips the machine down to the bare essentials while making it easier to use and maintain. Pre-orders are already open.
The newly announced "Filmomat net" Source: filmomat.eu
The biggest change is how the chemistry is handled. The Neo pumps developer and other chemicals straight from their storage bottles and returns them to the same bottles after processing. Filmomat says this removes the hassle of refilling and the long wait for draining, and also cuts down on cleaning.
The drive system is new as well. A new motor delivers precise rotation speeds from 20 to 120 rpm, and the speed can be set individually for each process. The tank cap has also been redesigned to use contactless magnetic drive, so the motor and the processing chemicals are kept separate in a sealed arrangement.
Source: filmomat.eu
For cleaning, there is a new automatic cleaning program. It uses one-tenth the water of the previous version, just 600mL per cycle.
Another point worth noting is temperature control. Instead of an internal heater, the Neo now uses an external sous-vide cooker. The reasoning is that sous-vide cookers are accurate, inexpensive, easy to find and easy to replace, and the developer describes this as "a deliberate choice toward a simpler, more modular, and more repairable machine." This setup is also what allows the Neo to be offered at a significantly lower price than the Filmomat Classic. At the time of writing, the direct-sales site listed it at €3.276,47.
The Filmomat Neo comes in two colors Source: filmomat.eu
There are two finishes, black and white. Both are made of matte acrylic glass with screen printing, aiming for a minimal, timeless look.
For people who develop C-41 or black-and-white at home, the decision to hand temperature control off to a general-purpose sous-vide cooker looks sensible, both for dealing with breakdowns and for long-term parts availability.
One thing that does give pause is the number of process steps. The NEO can handle three steps. Beyond color negative (C-41) and black-and-white, three-bath chemistry for reversal film (E-6) has recently become available too, but opinions are divided on the quality of the results. In contrast to the somewhat larger dev.a series, which follows a similar concept but supports six steps and is pitched at full-fledged E-6 processing, the NEO is probably best thought of simply as a machine for running C-41 and black-and-white easily and reliably.