Bulk film and 220. Not enough of a market. Customer drives the ship, the demand is for as many finished cassettes as possible.
Movie film doesn't have the frame numbers. And that would not be good for the educational market, which historically was the major target of 100 ft rolls.
To make it work, you need enough volume to be able to afford to mechanize it, in order to get the price low enough, in order to get enough volume.
You see the problem.
If Eastman Kodak had excess finishing capacity, instead of excess capacity in the other areas, you might see bulk film again.
Why not send your film to the hotel you'll be staying at? I do this when I travel domestically. That way, there's no worring about x-rays, hand-inspections, or carrying it around.
Here in Australia, we call this Dreamtime. Sadly, as much as we would like it to be so, it's gone. Done and over with. Not that it's about shooters not knowing how to use bulk film loaders, which is basic photo 101 - it's about costs, profits, and supplies.If they lowered the price of the bulk film, they'd be able to sell more. Foma and Ilford don't seem to have a problem finding buyers for their bulk film. There is currently no bulk still colour film available - none that I know of. They'd have no problem selling bulk rolls of Portra or Ektar. But they probably assume no one shooting those films is savvy enough to use a bulk loader.
Here in Australia, we call this Dreamtime. Sadly, as much as we would like it to be so, it's gone. Done and over with. Not that it's about shooters not knowing how to use bulk film loaders, which is basic photo 101 - it's about costs, profits, and supplies.
2022 is not 2002. We all wish it was, but.
There is always the possibility that some Chinese film line is restarted or repurposed.
Kodak just announced that they have stopped ColorPlus production, so that frees up a Chinese line and some expertise (might even have already happened).
China will be hungry to get anything started, to ramp up exports after their self-inflicted drawn out Covid 19 struggles.
When I spoke with Andy Church of Kodak-Alaris a few weeks ago, he said .... they are "pretty much the only people in the world" making colour camera film.
A interesting statement.
Where did Kodak announce that they have stopped Color Plus production?
When I spoke with Andy Church of Kodak-Alaris a few weeks ago, he said that (...) they are "pretty much the only people in the world" making colour camera film.
They package bulk film, Matt. They sell 100' rolls of TriX., Tmax 100, Tmax 400. They could easily put 100 feet of whatever film they have in a can - it's completely absurd to think that they couldn't.
If they lowered the price of the bulk film, they'd be able to sell more. Foma and Ilford don't seem to have a problem finding buyers for their bulk film. There is currently no bulk still colour film available - none that I know of. They'd have no problem selling bulk rolls of Portra or Ektar. But they probably assume no one shooting those films is savvy enough to use a bulk loader.
Bulk film and 220. Not enough of a market. Customer drives the ship, the demand is for as many finished cassettes as possible.
Over the years, every time I consider 220 I fined that
- There is not enough selection of film types
- It cost more than double the same film in 120
- It cost more than double to process compared to 120
also you are getting more frames in the same development spool.
Well, unless you routinely load two 120 rolls into a single reel (Paterson type).
Which I do when useful. My tank takes up to four 120 rolls so if I am only developing two 120 rolls there is no need to double up.
I still double up -- I have three sizes of Paterson tank; I can load up 6 120 rolls at a time, four in the "three-reel" tank and two in the "two reel", plus one roll of 135 in my "one reel" tank. If I've only got two rolls of the same 120 film, I don't need a whole liter of developer...
Because I replenish by adding replenisher to the working solution bottle before pouring the recently used developer back in to top it up, I've standardized things by always using a litre of developer, no matter how many rolls of film I have in my 1 litre tank.
Mathematically, at least, that makes the replenishment rate slightly more consistent when I am developing different amounts of film at different times.
If he happens to be lurking, this post will probably make a certain ex-Photrio member quite happy
Handling 400 feet of film on a standard core (recently learned is a Kodak U core) is an adventure. I bought a 400' roll of Eastman Double X, I have a Nikor machine for loading movie film spirals for processing. I was able to adapt this for breaking down this 400'
There is no support on the sides of the 400 foot spooling, once you remove the small piece of tape holding the end of the film to the roll, you need to hold the film, to keep it from falling off the core.
Not intended to scare but one needs to be prepared.
So I have a large freezer with film that I have kept from the hoarders.
I use this thing inside a dark bag. 2 screws (wrapped in masking tape) through several layers of glued cardboard. Big roll on the left, little roll on the right. Quit when the little roll reaches the tape.
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