Bad news for some, GOOD news for others. . .

Ian Grant · Jun 15, 2005

Companies like Ilford, Agfa, Kentmere, EFKE, Forte etc must be quietly happier to see Kodak leaving the B&W paper market. After all it leaves them all a larger potential share of the diminuishing market.

Lets hope Kodak keep their B&W films in production in the longer term, Tmax films, since their introduction, have always been world beaters.

So Kodak's decision will hopefully be to our benefit in the long term helping to boost the financial viabilty of other key manufacturers

Ian

noseoil · Jun 15, 2005

The niche players will be adding to their production runs as the big boys go digital or belly-up. Competition in the market place, it's a beautiful thing. tim

mark · Jun 15, 2005

Amen. Long live the little guy.

Jose A Martinez · Jun 15, 2005

Bad news for Mexico, unless I'm wrong, what I hope, Kodak is the only one company in this country that has a production and distribution of analog photographic products. The rest, or are focus in mass consumer products, or work through third party distributors. The case of Ilford, after the "financial corrections", there is no distribuitor here.

noseoil · Jun 15, 2005

Jose, there is a golden opportunity for you to clean up. Luck occurs when opportunity meets planning. tim

John McCallum · Jun 15, 2005

Haven't seen any of Kodaks papers selling in NZ for a long time...

I do agree with you Ian about their films, and I think they must have a very dedicated following now.

Ian Grant · Jun 15, 2005

Kodak's production of B&W papers was proportionaly very low in comparison to their colour papers. As has been said elsewhere they weren't at the cutting edge of these materials and had lost market share very heavily since the 1960's.

OK so Ilford's Mexican agency has gone, but perhaps another wholesaler or dealer can import it, and you can also buy it direct from the UK.

One thing that is happening is the growth of specialist distributors here in Europe and also in America, and they will specialise predominantly in Mail order and sales via the Internet.

Ian

Jose A Martinez said:
Bad news for Mexico, unless I'm wrong, what I hope, Kodak is the only one company in this country that has a production and distribution of analog photographic products. The rest, or are focus in mass consumer products, or work through third party distributors. The case of Ilford, after the "financial corrections", there is no distribuitor here.

Jose A Martinez · Jun 15, 2005

Thanks noseoil and Ian for the comfort!.

Could be the trigger to learn on alternative processes.

noseoil · Jun 15, 2005

Not an alternative process, a business opportunity! tim

Nicole · Jun 15, 2005

Jose, this is an opportunity for you to become the sole distributor for a variety of analogue products for Mexico. I'm sure you are not the only in the whole of Mexico one searching for these materials. I believe in diversifying (to a degree) and this may prove to be a little niech market for you and ensure you get cheaper materials for yourself. A win-win situation. I'd start by researching the target market and contacting some of the suppliers which in turn may give them a little boost in confidence and get the wheel turning, to increase production, securing us 'dinosaurs'. Make sure you are always speaking to the right people when dealing with suppliers! It's easy to get disheartened and pushed aside. That's what happens when you deal with people that are either having a bad day, have preconceived ideas without prior knowledge that can be of great influence (unfortunately), or ...
So, instead of getting upset about no suppliers, grab the window of opportunity - if you are interested in the survival of the dinosaur.
ramble ramble ramble
Have a great day!

Jose A Martinez said:
Bad news for Mexico, unless I'm wrong, what I hope, Kodak is the only one company in this country that has a production and distribution of analog photographic products. The rest, or are focus in mass consumer products, or work through third party distributors. The case of Ilford, after the "financial corrections", there is no distribuitor here.

mark · Jun 15, 2005

Jose,

If JandC can do it here and be as successful as hey are why can't it happen in mexico?

Jose A Martinez · Jun 16, 2005

Nicole Boenig-McGrade said:
Jose, this is an opportunity for you to become the sole distributor for a variety of analogue products for Mexico.

you are right Nicole, it's a business opportunity

Mark, what is JandC?

Paul Sorensen · Jun 16, 2005

I don't know what proportion of papers are sold via traditional channels and what are sold via mail order/internet, but I am having a bit of a hard time imagining my local shops picking up Kentmere, Foma, Forte, etc. I suspect that most of our local shops will be left selling only Ilford, meaning that for that segment they will be the only winners.

I know that Freestyle is wholesaling Kentmere and I think they may also be handling wholesale Foma, so I will mention this to my favorite local stores in the hopes that they will try to get something in to replace Kodak on their shelves.

mark · Jun 16, 2005

Jose A Martinez said:
Mark, what is JandC?

http://www.jandcphoto.com/

They are a great group of folks and Spnsors of this site.

Jose A Martinez · Jun 16, 2005

Thanks, Mark. as we say in Mexico, if it has been a dog, it bites to me!

Carol · Jun 18, 2005

Ian Grant said:
Lets hope Kodak keep their B&W films in production in the longer term, Tmax films, since their introduction, have always been world beaters.
Ian

I hope you're right Ian. Tmax is the only film I've used and I'm afraid I'm too old to start learning to use another. I have too much else left to learn about photography without starting over with a new film.

jjstafford · Jun 18, 2005

Carol said:
I hope you're right Ian. Tmax is the only film I've used and I'm afraid I'm too old to start learning to use another. I have too much else left to learn about photography without starting over with a new film.

TMax is a studio film. You have been using the least flexible film in the world. You might try some new emulsions and begin to enjoy new potential through greater control. Break out. Enjoy.

Carol · Jun 18, 2005

jjstafford said:
TMax is a studio film. You have been using the least flexible film in the world. You might try some new emulsions and begin to enjoy new potential through greater control. Break out. Enjoy.

I know you're right and if I have to change films I will. I'm just not a patient learner, sheer stubborness has got me this far.
BTW What is a "studio film", please excuse ignorance.

jjstafford · Jun 18, 2005

By studio film, I mean it is unfriendly to most daylight conditions in terms of contrast control and color response. TMax is wonderful when you can make the light match the film, for example in a studio with controlled light. Note that the published characteristics are derived from tungsten lighting (as most B&W film is). Look at TMax figures compared to some of the non tabular-grain films.

Ian Grant · Jun 18, 2005

Tmax is an excellent alround film. If you care to only use in the studio thats your choice.

However there are a vast number of photographers using Tmax films for a wide variety of uses in wildly differing lighting conditions and contrasts.

I would suggest you read John Sexton's excellent article about using Tmax films that was published in Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques. circa 1987.

As someone who uses Tmax100 5"x4" & Tmax400 120 I know from long experience (since their release) that it is as easy to use as any other modern film.

Ian

jjstafford · Jun 18, 2005

Ian Grant said:
As someone who uses Tmax100 5"x4" & Tmax400 120 I know from long experience (since their release) that it is as easy to use as any other modern film.
Ian

Judging by your prints, you clearly enjoy the short tonal range of TMax. It merely affirms my point.

Helen B · Jun 18, 2005

jjstafford wrote: "By studio film, I mean it is unfriendly to most daylight conditions in terms of contrast control and color response. TMax is wonderful when you can make the light match the film, for example in a studio with controlled light. Note that the published characteristics are derived from tungsten lighting (as most B&W film is)."

I must say that I've never thought of TMX or TMY as being only for studio use. TMX is one of my favourite films for high brightness range landscapes. (there was a url link here which no longer exists) is an example of a fairly contrasty scene (11 to 12 stops, if memory serves) that TMX recorded detail in everywhere. As for the spectral sensitivity, Kodak's published sensitivity curves are adjusted to give the response to an equal-energy spectrum for two different resulting densities, unlike other manufacturers.

Best,
Helen

jjstafford · Jun 18, 2005

Helen: It is impossible to be sure via the 'net, but are there not a lot of blown highlights in that image?

Ian Grant · Jun 18, 2005

Making statements like this shows your own weakness. How I choose to print is my own preferance. So why are you making a personal attack?

Judging from low resolution scans is meaningless, as we don't have standarized computer monitor outputs etc. You have not seen ANY of my prints which I can assure you have very wide tonal ranges.

Get out in the big wide world plenty of photographers are using Tmax, and have no problems at all using these excellent films, the differance is they know how to use them, which you admit (by default) you don't. So go learn a new lesson or two.

Ian

jjstafford said:
Judging by your prints, you clearly enjoy the short tonal range of TMax. It merely affirms my point.

Jorge · Jun 18, 2005

jjstafford said:
Helen: It is impossible to be sure via the 'net, but are there not a lot of blown highlights in that image?

Not at all, the wall on the bottom half on the right hand side seems to be the brightest area and I can see detail on it all of it.

I use exclusevely TMX 400 with my 8x10 and IMO there is no better film for landscape photography. Here is one pic for you, so you can see it is not necessarily a studio only film

Bad news for some, GOOD news for others. . .

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