When we announced the Vintage Visual retailer agreement on 26 August, the hardware itself was still on order — anything you bought would have meant waiting for that shipment.
It cleared customs on 11 September. From today these ship from stock in Japan.
What arrived
| Item | Opening stock |
|---|---|
| AGO Film Processor (with Paterson PTP115 tank) | 5 |
| Paterson Super System 4 three-reel tank (AGO-modified funnel) | 3 |
| Vintage Visual REEL 4x5 sheet film reel | 1 |
It is a small first order. Anything outside these three — Super 8 reels, paper reels, the other tank sizes — is still made to order, at roughly two to four weeks.
What buying from domestic stock actually saves you
You can order an AGO directly from Estonia. Three things tend to be where the friction shows up.
Customs and import tax. We paid the import consumption tax on this shipment when it cleared. Buying direct means your parcel stops at customs, the courier advances the tax and contacts you, and you settle it on delivery. Ordering from us is a domestic shipment, so nothing is added to the price on the product page.
Transit. Estonia to Japan is one to two weeks when nothing goes wrong, and the handling risk on a precision instrument is yours. From stock here it is a few days.
Warranty. Vintage Visual warrants these for 24 months. Bought direct, a fault means dealing with the manufacturer yourself and shipping the unit back yourself. Bought here, we are the point of contact.
If you have nowhere to put a temperature bath
Most of what makes colour home development hard is temperature. C-41 wants 38°C, E-6 is stricter still, and you compensate in seconds for every degree of drift — in the dark, with the developer already in the tank. It usually comes down to buying a temperature bath or standing over a water jacket.
AGO turns that around. Rather than holding the chemistry at a fixed temperature, it measures the temperature during processing and adjusts development time to match. You warm the chemistry roughly, choose a program, press start.
Without a heater the machine stays small: four to five hours on a charge, over USB-C. Black and white, C-41, E-6, ECN-2 and RA-4.
There is a fuller account of how it works in our retailer announcement.
Which one to buy
No tank yet — the complete set. The two-reel Paterson PTP115 and reels are included, so the first roll can go in straight away.
Already using a Paterson Super System 4 — the processor on its own. The funnel does need the AGO modification, so pair it with a modified tank or a funnel kit.
Three rolls at a time — the three-reel tank, which ships already modified for AGO.
Sheet film — the 4x5 reel, four sheets at once in a Paterson tank. One in stock.