page_title: Ansco
section_title: Merger with Agfa
hierarchical_section_title: Ansco / History / Merger with Agfa
caption_attribution_description: English: Agfa Ansco 35mm Film (Expired: April 1945)
context_page_description: Ansco was the brand name of a photographic company based in Binghamton, New York, which produced photographic films, papers and cameras from the mid-19th century until the 1980s. In the Late 1880s ANSCO's predecessor, Anthony and Scovill, bought the Goodwin Camera & Film Company. Hannibal Goodwin invented the flexible photographic film, which should have made Anthony Scovill the leader in the amateur photography business. But George Eastman copied the patented process and immediately set out to compete against Anthony Scovill. The ruthless behavior of Eastman nearly drove the now named ANSCO out of business, but a settlement in 1905 saved the company from bankruptcy. Eastman Kodak got away cheaply on this legal proceeding. In 1928 AGFA merged with ANSCO to allow it to compete in the worldwide photographic market like its competitors, Kodak and Zeiss. This joint company added many AGFA cameras and accessories to its sales in the USA as a result. In the months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the US Government seized AGFA-ANSCO. This now government-run business continued to survive as a hostile alien property. During this period, the organization was renamed GAF.
context_section_description: In 1928 Ansco merged with the German photo company Agfa to form a corporation named Agfa-Ansco. Later that year that firm and other German-owned chemical firms were merged into a Swiss holding company, Internationale Gesellschaft für Chemische Unternehmungen AG or IG Chemie, that was controlled by Germany's chemical industry conglomerate, IG Farben.  In 1929 the parent corporation's name was changed to American IG Chemical Corporation or American IG, later renamed General Aniline & Film, which continued to produce cameras under the Agfa-Ansco name.
  During the period before the U. S. entrance into World War II, the Agfa-Ansco business grew enormously, with added manufacturing capacity in paper, film and camera manufacturing.  The Agfa-Ansco interests in the U. S. and Binghamton factory were taken over by the U. S. government in 1941 due to its ties with Germany.  The Ansco company was merged with General Aniline as General Aniline & Film in 1939.
caption: Agfa Ansco 35mm Film (Expired: April 1945)
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone SE", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "10.0.2", "Image DateTime": "2016:12:25 11:45:44", "Image ExifOffset": "182", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[34, 5, 1254/25]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[118, 21, 5361/100]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "10197/85", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[19, 45, 44]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "0", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "14177/40", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "14177/40", "GPS GPSDate": "2016:12:25", "GPS Tag 0x001F": "10", "Image GPSInfo": "1608", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "25", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:12:25 11:45:44", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:12:25 11:45:44", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7439/1516", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7892/3469", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "9371/2064", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "83/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1631, 2089, 752, 755]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "390", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "390", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2706", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "756/515", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "57", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[83/20, 83/20, 11/5, 11/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone SE back camera 4.15mm f/2.2"}