Elitechrome 100 - Discontinued

[LunoLuno]

Kodak is ceasing production of KODAK PROFESSIONAL ELITE Chrome 100 Film by year end 2011.

Very sad.....

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Methinks sometime soon Kodak will be ceasing production of pretty much everything. Agreed, very sad...

Ken

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

The Amatuer film probably sells very little, since the people who bought it are all digital now. The professional E100G and E100VS are probably better sellers since serious hobbyists probably bought the pro stuff, and a few pros like me still shoot it.

 

[CGW]

Be realistic. Accessible, quality E6 labs are scarce and pricey. That Kodak is still making Ektachrome at all is good news. This stuff wasn't selling.

 

[dreamingartemis]

Just like the song "Another bites the dust!"

 

[ooze]

That sucks. I very rarely use slide film, but this was my film of choice, primarily because it's cheap here.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Hate to hear that also.

Jeff

 

[deleonjayson]

That's too bad ~ i hope someone in the industry consider the viability of film as a medium.

 

[Roger Cole]

I hope E100G isn't next in line.

 

[hpulley]

I hope E100G isn't next in line.

It is inevitable, isn't it? Same film, just a different package and stock number effectively.

Sent from my K080 using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Roberts]

I'd suggest that this is perhaps the most significant 'loss' for some time. For me it was a replacement for Fuji Sensia 100 and I've liked using it for the past year or so. The alternative Kodak E100 films are considerably more expensive (twice the price from where I normally buy) and if Kodak can't make a go of something cheap and cheerful, then I don't see the more expensive alternatives being long for this world, especially in 35mm. I'd guess that the 35mm slide medium is probably almost exclusively amateur territory. Chris Crawford (above) mentions his use of the pro material, but is that in 35mm or MF, Chris? (P.S. - Hope I'm wrong!)
best wishes,
Steve

 

[Roger Cole]

It is inevitable, isn't it? Same film, just a different package and stock number effectively.

Sent from my K080 using Tapatalk

Not necessarily. E100G is more expensive and made in multiple formats (well, at least in 120, it's supposedly in sheets but I can't find anyone who has it.)

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Chris Crawford (above) mentions his use of the pro material, but is that in 35mm or MF, Chris? (P.S. - Hope I'm wrong!)
best wishes,
Steve

Both, but I shoot far more black and white film in both formats than I do color. My most recent color project was done in medium format, with a Hasselblad, using Fuji Provia 100F.

Along US-285 south of Roswell, New Mexico.

Roswell Landing store in Roswell, New Mexico.

 

[CGW]

Despite the handwringing, how many people shot any sizeable quantities of Elitechrome 100 in the past 2 years? There's your answer.

 

[Roger Cole]

Despite the handwringing, how many people shot any sizeable quantities of Elitechrome 100 in the past 2 years? There's your answer.

I shot a fair amount of E100G. The fact Elitechrome is pretty much the same film and was slightly cheaper (not half price, at least not anywhere I saw) and yet I used E100G is more an oversight on my part than anything.

 

[Steve Roberts]

The fact Elitechrome is pretty much the same film and was slightly cheaper (not half price, at least not anywhere I saw) .

In the UK, Discount Films Direct, where I normally buy slide film, are offering packs of 10 x 36 exp Elitechrome (the way I normally buy) for £36.00 and 10 x 36 E100G for £72.00. E100VS is £75 for 10.
Ag Photographic are slightly cheaper for both, but I haven't done the sums for the p & p recently.

Steve

 

[lxdude]

It is inevitable, isn't it? Same film, just a different package and stock number effectively.

I don't think so. I find it to be warmer. Maybe it's E100GX. I will miss it. Its warmer tone and its lower price made it my film of choice in 35mm since Kodachrome died, except for night shots which were on Astia.
The higher price of E100G might scare off some people, but if it helps keep it afloat I don't mind paying it.

It is upsetting to lose a film. I hated to lose Astia; the other Fuji films don't impress me except Provia 400X.
But when I started in the mid 70's there were no differentiated pro and amateur films from Kodak, nor different versions of the same speed within a line, like the Velvias, Astia and Provia or E100G, GX and VS.
From Kodak in daylight balanced slide films there were K-25 and K-64, Ektachrome 64 and High Speed Ektachrome (ASA 160), both blue and grainy. Fuji had its 100ASA film (I don't recall any others), Agfa had its 64 ASA Agfachrome, and then there were the others like GAF and 3M I never bothered with. Somebody had a really grainy high speed film other than Kodak but I don't remember who.

So even if we end up with only a small selection we are still not much worse off than back then, and the films today are much better.

 

[benjiboy]

All you can do these days is to stock up on your favourite films and deep freeze them.

 

[CGW]

All you can do these days is to stock up on your favourite films and deep freeze them.

Assuming there will still be accessible E6 processing options, whether commercial or DIY. This is becoming the crucial bottleneck. Here in Toronto with a population of around 6 million, there's really only one pro E6 lab left standing--Ed Burtynsky's Toronto Image Works.

 

[benjiboy]

Assuming there will still be accessible E6 processing options, whether commercial or DIY. This is becoming the crucial bottleneck. Here in Toronto with a population of around 6 million, there's really only one pro E6 lab left standing--Ed Burtynsky's Toronto Image Works.

There must be loads of places you can use mail order in Canada and the U.S, I have mine processed at a pro lab about 150 miles away from where I live.

 

[Chan Tran]

It's sad news because Kodak will eventually stops making any film at all. However, if they could keep a few of their professional films available I would be happy. Just keep their Ektachrome, Portra and Ektar that would be fine but I am afraid they are going to go too.

 

[CGW]

There must be loads of places you can use mail order in Canada and the U.S, I have mine processed at a pro lab about 150 miles away from where I live.

Let me try this again: the labs aren't there, at least for Canada. TIW is 40 min. away and has a sweet "in by 11 out by 3" service. Demand for E6 service died when pros stopped shooting 120 and 4x5--that's what kept the labs open, not amateurs with a couple rolls a month. Labs couldn't afford to keep large E6 processors repaired, refreshed and running for what became a trickle of work. Perhaps the US is better serviced but mail order processing would sorely test my loyalty to any film if it were the only processing option.

 

[nickrapak]

Despite the handwringing, how many people shot any sizeable quantities of Elitechrome 100 in the past 2 years? There's your answer.

I shot about 15 rolls since 1/1/11, before that I was splitting time between that and Kodachrome. I'm not a high volume shooter, but I really dislike the fact that I'm now going to have to pay double for the same amount of film (or shoot less, which is very likely given the fact that I'm a college student). Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and I'll just have to get a few bricks for the deep freeze.

 

[Roger Cole]

Let me try this again: the labs aren't there, at least for Canada. TIW is 40 min. away and has a sweet "in by 11 out by 3" service. Demand for E6 service died when pros stopped shooting 120 and 4x5--that's what kept the labs open, not amateurs with a couple rolls a month. Labs couldn't afford to keep large E6 processors repaired, refreshed and running for what became a trickle of work. Perhaps the US is better serviced but mail order processing would sorely test my loyalty to any film if it were the only processing option.

That's weird to me. ANYTHING I don't do at home, I mail order. What's the big problem? This currently includes ALL my color though I am getting back into C41 and RA4 soon - maybe E6 too but haven't decided about that and it became less likely with news of the cancellation of Ilfochrome.

I also online order ALL my film, ALL my paper, ALL my chemicals etc. If there's a place locally to buy anything other than a few rolls of Fuji consumer C41, I don't know where it is. Nor do I really care as it's easier and cheaper, if not faster, to just get it off the 'net delivered conveniently to my door.

 

[swhiser]

I think Kodak's & Fuji's production lines are too big to downsize to what would be, at best, a lunging guess at the new long-term demand -- which is too small to justify the capital investment.

Personally, I'm assuming everything from Kodak and Fuji will eventually go. I expect -- with little relish -- that Rochester will capitulate sooner than we think and in a dramatic, surprise asset liquidation.

It hardly matters. The films I depend on come from small facilities in Leverkusen, Enschede, Samobor, Hradec Králové, Cheshire & Shanghai (most of these brands are APUG advertisers). These factories are experiencing growing demand off of a small but enthusiastic base. US!

Take encouragement from a little aside on the Versalab website:
http://www.versalab.com/server/photo/photo1.htm

"A note from Versalab July 2010 - We are pleased to see a considerably improved market for darkroom equipment. This has been on the rise for a year and should be an exciting thought for those reading our web pages. Both new and old experienced photographers are beginning to again enjoy the delights of film, chemistry and paper."

The demise of Big Yellow's film businesses will be interpreted incorrectly in the mainstream to read that film will no longer be used, nuance having been eliminated from the average diet.