How Kodak Punches 384,000 HOLES A MINUTE in Film Stock (Kodak Factory 3 of 3)- Smarter Every Day

[mshchem]

PART 3 IS ON YOUTUBE!!!!!

RED ALERT¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡

Moderator's note: Thanks for the heads up - the new thread is yours!

 

[MattKing]

Part 3 of the trilogy:

 

[mshchem]

Pretty obvious why Kodak doesn't discount 100' bulk rolls

 

[mshchem]

Absolutely beautiful, amazing!!! Makes want to cry for joy. Movies everything stems from this place.

 

[mshchem]

So cool.

 

[mshchem]

Making Propacks of Portra 400

 

[Moose22]

Took him a long time. I was wondering if it was going to happen, ever.

Thanks for linking to it.

 

[cmacd123]

We have been waiting a long time for this. Still wondering who the Host is quite so slow on the pickup. for instance the folks showing the slitting and perforating were working with Movie print, the infamous 2383/3383 in ESTAR base. while the folks doing conversion and packing were doing various still films. )I wonder how they track the rolls done while he was filming to keep them out of the production flow....

the slitting machine was making 500ft rolls out of residual stock, and that seemed to be what they were using to show him the Movie perforation process. when they showed him the inside of the perforator, It looked like the first "Heart" he looked at was set up for BH perfs and of course the Movie print would have KS perfs. I understand that our member here @laser was behine the Rotary Perforation method, vs the old 100 ft a minute 4 hole at at time punches..

still it is interesting to see the small space in just one machine where the bulk rolls are edge printed, measured for lenth, (And the maximum size roll seems to be 40 exposures) and taped, spooled and placed into cartridges, with the cartridges having end caps put on. then also placed into cans.

 

[mshchem]

The expiration date on the Portra 400 they were packaging was December 2023, everyone had masks on so this is a while back.

I did notice that Kodak digitally blurred out a machine screen.

30 years ago you wouldn't have gotten within 500 meters of what was shown in this.

Absolutely amazing.

 

[Cholentpot]

We have been waiting a long time for this. Still wondering who the Host is quite so slow on the pickup. for instance the folks showing the slitting and perforating were working with Movie print, the infamous 2383/3383 in ESTAR base. while the folks doing conversion and packing were doing various still films. )I wonder how they track the rolls done while he was filming to keep them out of the production flow....

the slitting machine was making 500ft rolls out of residual stock, and that seemed to be what they were using to show him the Movie perforation process. when they showed him the inside of the perforator, It looked like the first "Heart" he looked at was set up for BH perfs and of course the Movie print would have KS perfs. I understand that our member here @laser was behine the Rotary Perforation method, vs the old 100 ft a minute 4 hole at at time punches..

still it is interesting to see the small space in just one machine where the bulk rolls are edge printed, measured for lenth, (And the maximum size roll seems to be 40 exposures) and taped, spooled and placed into cartridges, with the cartridges having end caps put on. then also placed into cans.

I noticed the 40.

Does this mean that Kodak thinks that 40 exposures + lead is safe and fine in a Kodak can? A few of my cameras show frame counts until 40.

 

[mshchem]

I noticed the 40.

Does this mean that Kodak thinks that 40 exposures + lead is safe and fine in a Kodak can? A few of my cameras show frame counts until 40.

I noticed the 18. Does this mean that we are going back to 1952 when we went from 18 to 20 exposure rolls? I would love to have 20 exposure rolls back, but that's just me. Probably wouldn't be any cheaper

I was hoping to see the 220 line. Top Secret.

 

[cmacd123]

Well, two thoughts. (or maybe three) Kodak did make 5 exp rolls for folks like real estate agents and Police at one time. and while rare I do rember SELLING 12 exp rolls, in 35mm to go with the 12 exp rolls in 126 and 110. (Long time since I was selling stuff) SO if they start at 18 they are missing a few once common sizes. 18 was the original Kodachrome size, so perhaps that was the spec. Technical pan and a few other ESTAR films came as 150 feet in the same space as a regular 100 ft roll. SO those could easaly fill at 40+ exposure roll. Some of the one time cameras do come with 27 or 28 exp rolls, so those could be set up easily. I also recall 27 exposure "Promotional" rolls, "Buy 24 and get 27 exposures" Who knows what some of Kodak's Other customers may have asked for from time to time. (here I am thinking of "Government Business")

 

[mshchem]

I toured Kodak Park in Rochester when I was a kid. My mom made reservations for a great tour, Kodak put us on a bus, took us around the site. I remember seeing the injection molding operation from a observation deck. 126 Kodapak and Super 8 mostly IIRC, holy smokes it was an operation!

Famously, we saw the employee suggestion boxes placed throughout the facility.

Seems like the number given was 16 miles for the railroad tracks within the entire plant.

 

[MattKing]

My understanding was that most of the material here was "filmed" some time ago, but the review and approval for release process took longer than expected.

 

[Cholentpot]

I noticed the 18. Does this mean that we are going back to 1952 when we went from 18 to 20 exposure rolls? I would love to have 20 exposure rolls back, but that's just me. Probably wouldn't be any cheaper

I was hoping to see the 220 line. Top Secret.

Interesting thing I learned from my time when I worked on campus there. I had a position that was unrelated to film in a business that employed former Kodak employees. I was just getting into photography and film back then and would ask questions.

In the video posted the operator mentions that it's not pitch black in the slitting room.

Former employees had mentioned to me that all 120/220 is done by hand. It's not fully automated, and there are dim green lights in the rolling room except on days when they would roll IR sensitive film, then it was fully pitch black. They told me they liked those days because as a compensation for working in the dark they'd get to choose the music playing over the audio system. They also mentioned most people would never stay with one job. They'd rotate between jobs.

 

[Tel]

I toured Kodak Park in Rochester when I was a kid. My mom made reservations for a great tour, Kodak put us on a bus, took us around the site. I remember seeing the injection molding operation from a observation deck. 126 Kodapak and Super 8 mostly IIRC, holy smokes it was an operation!

Famously, we saw the employee suggestion boxes placed throughout the facility.

Seems like the number given was 16 miles for the railroad tracks within the entire plant.

I was on a tour in 2001, part of a conference Kodak hosted. Mind-blowing for sheer scale of the operation, but what I recall was the sense that everyone there was working in a dying industry and their jobs would be going away. The engineers were the most impressive--they seemed focused on keeping the machinery working and even inventing improved versions of it in spite of the doom-and-gloom predictions. What a pleasure it is to see the operation, however diminished it might be, still functioning and to such high standards.

 

[mshchem]

Interesting thing I learned from my time when I worked on campus there. I had a position that was unrelated to film in a business that employed former Kodak employees. I was just getting into photography and film back then and would ask questions.

In the video posted the operator mentions that it's not pitch black in the slitting room.

Former employees had mentioned to me that all 120/220 is done by hand. It's not fully automated, and there are dim green lights in the rolling room except on days when they would roll IR sensitive film, then it was fully pitch black. They told me they liked those days because as a compensation for working in the dark they'd get to choose the music playing over the audio system. They also mentioned most people would never stay with one job. They'd rotate between jobs.

Amazing how sensitive human eyesight is. Given time to adjust, and we have lenses that the film laying about doesn't have. I wish we could see the IR viewing equipment they use.

 

[Cholentpot]

Amazing how sensitive human eyesight is. Given time to adjust, and we have lenses that the film laying about doesn't have. I wish we could see the IR viewing equipment they use.

I read somewhere once at someplace that theoretically a human can stand atop Mt Everest and see a single candle on the bottom given perfect conditions and total dark.

 

[armadsen]

In parts of the video you see them making Kodacolor 400 branded film cassettes. I'm curious where film with this branding is used/sold. I don't think it's available standalone (anymore), right? Is it used in disposable cameras? Is it the same emulsion as Gold 400/UltraMax?

(39:17 in the video)

 

[brbo]

In parts of the video you see them making Kodacolor 400 branded film cassettes. I'm curious where film with this branding is used/sold. I don't think it's available standalone (anymore), right? Is it used in disposable cameras? Is it the same emulsion as Gold 400/UltraMax?

View attachment 338774
(39:17 in the video)

Good catch!

Kodak disposables, at least Kodak FunSaver (are there others available from Kodak?), have cassettes with different design (black and white with text "for use in Kodak single use cameras").

Could it be that Kodak used some left over old material to demo the process of putting film into cassettes for this occasion?

 

[foc]

Thank you for posting part 3 of 3.

The whole series was very interesting and informative. It also shows the huge investment in equipment, knowledge, people, materials etc involved in producing a roll of film.

I have them bookmarked on YouTube.

Next time someone says XYZ is going to make colour film, just show them this.

 

[Kino]

Next time someone says XYZ is going to make colour film, just show them this.

+1

 

[MattKing]

I have some observations from a reliable source:
1) the "filming" was done on premises in late 2021;
2) the filming coincided with much of the machinery being shut down for product-to-product change or scheduled maintenance (in white light), and the materials visible were short ends of movie film saved for purposes like in-maintenance adjustments, tours and recording of this video - those materials are carefully segregated from product dealt with in with normal production;
3) the machine referred to as the "Heart" is called that because of all the tubes going in and out and the one, large, tube in the front that looks like the Aorta artery. Hearts come out and are interchangeable; and
4) with respect to the 40 exposure length, and the formerly common shorter rolls, if you take a 36 exposure roll and actually look at it by the wind spindle end, it has a 37th frame. Kodak has to account for a safe area of threading so as to not fog frame number 1 and they do that with frames 0, 00 and X and XX. So, printer belts are set up with 40 frames of exposing and the amount necessary for the film’s threading tongue and end attachment. No more film can fit inside a 135 cassette so that is why 36 exposures was selected as the amount of good exposures one could expect. As they print the edge information onto the film using a printer belt made with very high density lithography film, their spoolers “like” the longer 36 exposure print belts and changing over to shorter belts requires a lot more work..

 

[Xylo]

I watched it yesterday and it's impressive to say the least.
I loved seeing the perf machine whirring and blasting through the film. That's insane!

I've been bugging him on occasion for over 6 months through the Youtube comments, asking him to edit and release the sequel.
Thing is, Destin (the host) is pretty new to film photography. He's an engineer by trade and has worked for military contractors, which is lightyears away from product manufacturing and photo chemistry. I think that's why he's so puzzled by some of the stuff. Though I must admit that if I saw part of one of those machines on a table at a garage sale, I most likely wouldn't know what it's for.

 

[armadsen]

I don’t think Destin is puzzled. I think he (correctly) sees himself as a proxy for the viewer and asks lots of detailed questions, even basic ones, to ensure that those watching can actually understand what they’re seeing. Experts, unless they’re trained as educators or just naturally talented, are often pretty bad at explaining the things they know well because they subconsciously assume knowledge on the part of the learner that isn’t there. Dustin’s approach to his videos fixes that.