Agfacolor

photography

Also known as: Anscocolor, Sovcolor

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June 18, 2026

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Agfacolor was a significant development in the history of color photography. Introduced by the Agfa Company in Germany in 1936, it was a negative-positive process. However, due to World War II, it did not become widely available until 1949.1

This process was a precursor to modern color photography, allowing for the creation of color prints from negatives. While Kodachrome film, introduced in 1935, offered color transparencies suitable for projection and reproduction, Agfacolor provided a negative-positive system that eventually became the basis for popular amateur photography films.1

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motion-picture technology
Introduction of color
In 1936 Germany produced Agfacolor, a single-strip, three-layer negative film and accompanying print stock. After World War II Agfacolor appeared as Sovcolor in the Eastern bloc and as Anscocolor in the United States, where it was initially used for amateur filmmaking. The first serious rival to Technicolor was the…
Read More
In 1936 Germany produced Agfacolor, a single-strip, three-layer negative film and accompanying print stock. After World War II Agfacolor appeared as Sovcolor in the Eastern bloc and as Anscocolor in the United States, where it was initially used for amateur filmmaking. The first serious rival to Technicolor was the…
Read More