Svema () was a major Soviet-era state-owned manufacturer of photographic film,

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

s and cassettes, based in

Shostka Shostka (, ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. Shostka serves as the administrative center of Shostka Raion. Population: The city lies on the Shostka River, a tributary of the Desna (river), Desna, from which it gets its name. Sho ...

, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. The manufacturing was started in 1931, at the time, in

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, USSR. Svema had a registered trade mark and formerly was referred as "NPO Svema" of the Shostka Chemical Plant. They made black-and-white

photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...

photographic paper Photographic paper is a coated paper, paper coated with a light-sensitive chemical, used for making photographic prints. When photographic paper is exposed to light, it captures a latent image that is then Photographic developer, developed to form ...

, B&W motion picture film until 2010s, colour photographic and motion picture film until 1995 and magnetic tapes until 2014.Kronke, Claus: "'Finished!' The Decline of the Svema Film Works", "Smallformat", 01 2007 Svema products were known among enthusiasts as an easy and study product for beginners in home film development and printing. The use of Svema color film was common for Soviet and post-Soviet cinema from the late 1960s until the late 1990s with some student works being shot on Svema up until 2010s. Svema lost its market share in former Soviet Union countries to imported products during late 1990s when magnetic tapes were superseded by

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

s. The enterprise went bankrupt in 2015 and its main buildings were demolished in 2019.

History

The manufacturing plant was founded in 1928 as a joint venture between Soviet government and French company Lumière that signed a contract to start production of celluloid

in the Soviet Union.

Color photographic films

* Svema DS-4 Color Negative Film ISO/ASA 50 * Svema CO-32D Color Reversal film ISO/ASA 32 * Svema CO-50d Color Reversal film ISO/ASA 50 * Svema CND 64 Color Negative Film ISO/ASA 64 * Svema TsNL 65 Color Negative Film ISO/ASA 80 * Svema LN-9 Color Negative Film, 35mm motion picture film stock * Svema DS-5M Color Negative Film, 35mm motion picture film stock

Tape

Reel to reel tapes

Black-and-white photographic films

Before 1987
(old

GOST GOST () refers to a set of international technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC), a regional standards organization operating under the auspices of the Commonwealth of I ...

speed scale) Svema-film-65

* Svema Foto 32; 32 GOST, ISO 40/17° * Svema Foto 65; 65 GOST, ISO 80/20°;

sheet film Sheet film is large format and Medium format (film), medium format photographic film supplied on individual sheets of acetate or polyester film base rather than rolls. Sheet film was initially supplied as an alternative to Photographic_plate, glas ...

s 6.5×9 cm - 30×40 cm, KB, 6×9", bulk * Svema Foto 130; 130 GOST, ISO 160/23°; KB, bulk * Svema Foto 250; 250 GOST, ISO 320/26° (Daylight); 350 GOST, ISO 400/27° (Tungsten); KB, bulk 1987-1990
(new

speed scale, same as ASA) * Svema Foto 32; ISO 32/16° * Svema Foto 64; ISO 64/19° * Svema Foto 125; ISO 125/22° * Svema Foto 250; ISO 250/25° (Daylight); ISO 320/26° (Tungsten) * Svema Reporter; 200 GOST, ISO 200/24° (actually cinematographic filmstock); KB, bulk After 1990
(

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

speed scale) * Svema Foto 50; ISO 50/18° * Svema Foto 100; ISO 100/21°; KB, 6×9", bulk * Svema Foto 200; ISO 200/24°; KB, bulk * Svema Foto 400; ISO 400/27°; KB, bulk

References

{{reflist 1931 establishments in Ukraine Photography companies of Ukraine Ukrainian brands Chemical companies of the Soviet Union Soviet brands History of Sumy Oblast Photographic film makers Chemical companies established in 1931 Defunct photography companies

History

Color photographic films

Tape

Black-and-white photographic films

See also

References