Kodak Comeback, Quick Read

j-dogg · Mar 22, 2012

brian d said:
Bring back Kodachrome in sheet sizes and it really would be time for pink champagne on ice!!!

Would be a good thing to drink before doing self-portraits using the mirrors on the ceiling.

Jedidiah Smith · Mar 22, 2012

It just makes sense. This has got to be similar to what companies like ADOX are already doing. It's a production volume issue - Kodak either couldn't or wouldn't spool down fast enough...and nearly lost it all by trying to "hang on" to a non-existent market. They have made some great products, and I will support them whenever I can with my purchases. The more competitive they get, the better the future of film will be.
Heck, if they would just advertise Film's GOOD properties a little, I'm sure you'd see at least hundreds of thousands in the U.S. dust off their film cameras and join the new "too cool to shoot a digicam - so I shoot film" trend. It's all in perception and right now the majority of most sample populations, say my patients (for example) think that digital is "better" than film. It's newer, so it must be, right? New patients are shocked - and I mean blown away when they see the 20x30 B&W print I have my wife's 35mm ADOX CMS20 neg in the office reception area. You can literally keep walking right up and put your nose in it, and the detail increases, it doesn't turn to mush when you stick your nose in it....
You can tell the old timers who "know" photography when they walk up to it and ask her if she shoots LF or Hasselblad. They are in disbelief when they find out it was CMS20 in a Minolta XD-11.

Now, if Kodak could get that and other quality information about film out in a way the general population would understand . . . a LOT of people would shoot film again just because it's "cooler" or insert whatever feeling they get here, from the Ads and articles they read on the subject. Nearly every article in every photography magazine, journal, book, online sources, etc claims that digital blows film out of the water. And let's face it, it's good at some things, most of us have used it. But, Kodak needs to do an advertizing blitz about the SOUL of photography and blah, blah about film being awesome...and voila - you will have a run on film, guaranteed. Marketers don't call us all "sheeple" for nothing. They need to get some GOOD PR machines working for them. Believe me, they exist hardcore in this country, I don't know why Kodak is not using them.

I really hope Kodak starts going this way with their production, and we will see film from them for years to come!

Roger Cole · Mar 22, 2012

Ken Nadvornick said:
$500 for a box of 10 8x10 sheets of Kodachrome, processing (GOOD processing!) included, to use in my restored-like-new, glistening black Calumet C1?

I might bite.

:eek:

But only if there were 4x5 sheets available for me to practice on first 'til I was ready to swallow really, really hard...

Ken

Fifty bucks a sheet??? Maybe you would, but how many other people are on cra...er, would?

Right now 8x10 is between $8.49 a sheet (Provia 100) and $13.95 (E100G and all gone, but the price is still listed) at B&H. E-Six lab here in Atlanta charges $6 a sheet for 8x10. That makes it between $14.49 and $18.95 per sheet. If I shot 8x10, and I agree the availability of Kodachrome and good processing might be another spur to do so, I could see maybe $10 more at $25, but not $50.

And those figures don't tell the whole story, because I have a Jobo as a lot of other photographers serious enough to shoot LF color probably have that or better, so I could do my own E6 much cheaper. I don't, because I don't shoot it in sheets and it isn't worth the small savings to me in 35mm and 120, but I certainly could.

Sheet film Kodachrome is a pipe dream. I agree, a fun one, but a pipe dream none the less. If we can keep current emulsions and get E6 ones back, maybe some of the most missed black and white (HIE, maybe Plus-X) we'll have plenty of reason to celebrate.

PKM-25 · Mar 22, 2012

brian d said:
Bring back Kodachrome in sheet sizes and it really would be time for pink champagne on ice!!!

Hell, do an annual Kodachrome ULF run for a new giant Kodak brownie called the "Master's Chambers". You walk in, load a 4x5 foot sheet and then puff-tuff.

Don't forget to paint the door handle something other than black though.....else you'll check out any time you want, but you'll never leave....

Ken Nadvornick · Mar 22, 2012

Roger Cole said:
Fifty bucks a sheet???

Why not?

What if someone offered you a chance to visit the Titanic in person? Or spend a weekend on the ISS? Or even walk on the moon? Or anything else that maybe you'd have given anything to do in the past, but were born too late to have ever had the chance to try or do?

And then - miraculously - you suddenly and unexpectedly got the chance?

Would you do it? Or would you let a piddly $50 - $25 = $25 stop you dead in your tracks? Freeze you up so hard that you'd stand pat while the chance of a lifetime passed you by? Just stand there quietly and do nothing but watch from the sidelines?

If the age of the Earth were represented by the length of a football field, the average human lifespan would be equal to 1/67th the width of the average human hair. If Kodak were to reintroduce Kodachrome on special order status for 8x10 sheets I'd jump on it so fast I'd probably knock you over. And the comparison shopping price of a sheet of 8x10 Provia 100 could not hold less relevance to me.

Once they close the lid and shovel in the dirt it gets awfully cold and quiet. And stays that way for an awfully long time, my friend...

Ken

PKM-25 · Mar 22, 2012

Ken Nadvornick said:
Why not?

What if someone offered you a chance to visit the Titanic in person? Or spend a weekend on the ISS? Or even walk on the moon? Or anything else that maybe you'd have given anything to do in the past, but were born too late to have ever had the chance to try or do?

And then - miraculously - you suddenly and unexpectedly got the chance?

Would you do it? Or would you let a piddly $50 - $25 = $25 stop you dead in your tracks? Freeze you up so hard that you'd stand pat while the chance of a lifetime passed you by? Just stand there quietly and do nothing but watch from the sidelines?

If the age of the Earth were represented by the length of a football field, the average human lifespan would be equal to 1/67th the width of the average human hair. If Kodak were to reintroduce Kodachrome on special order status for 8x10 sheets I'd jump on it so fast I'd probably knock you over. And the comparison shopping price of a sheet of 8x10 Provia 100 could not hold less relevance to me.

Once they close the lid and shovel in the dirt it gets awfully cold and quiet. And stays that way for an awfully long time, my friend...

Ken

Nice.... This kind of embodies the entire idea around The Kodachrome Project...no regrets, no regrets...

I'll take 20 sheets, 2 will be total F-ups and the other 18 absolute masterpieces. I even know exactly what I would shoot, I would need a production budget of around a hundred grand...

Roger Cole · Mar 22, 2012

Oh I might do it, I might shoot that 8x10 Kodachrome, hell it might even spur me to buy an 8x10 camera. But it would likely be one box and DONE. Then the camera would be used for black and white.

Kodak couldn't continue making it like that.

Lionel1972 · Mar 22, 2012

If this turns out to be true in the near future, it would be the best news I've heard from Kodak so far! As long as the prices stay affordable and if they start promoting and adverticing the coolness of film, it could become a huge hit and very profitable for Kodak and benefit the whole analogue market.
I've always said that now that Kodachrome is dead, it's the perfect time for a resurrection of Kodachrome in 120 and sheet film! (35mm comeback would be to follow of course).

thegman · Mar 22, 2012

To see Kodachrome come back would be very cool, but I'm probably more excited in Vision III making it into a still film like they've done with some other movie stocks.

Alexis M · Mar 22, 2012

Lionel1972 said:
If this turns out to be true in the near future, it would be the best news I've heard from Kodak so far! As long as the prices stay affordable and if they start promoting and adverticing the coolness of film, it could become a huge hit and very profitable for Kodak and benefit the whole analogue market.
I've always said that now that Kodachrome is dead, it's the perfect time for a resurrection of Kodachrome in 120 and sheet film! (35mm comeback would be to follow of course).

and why wouldn't they now that they canned digital...

zsas · Mar 22, 2012

Alexis M said:
and why wouldn't they now that they canned digital...

Wow that is a great point Alexis! I am hoping this person from Kodak who said this was correct about all this.

Moopheus · Mar 22, 2012

zsas said:
Wow that is a great point Alexis! I am hoping this person from Kodak who said this was correct about all this.

Well, she may be as far as she knows, in the sense that "this is what we are working on in the lab." Since she works in LA, presumably her priority is the needs of the movie industry. So who knows how that will translate into actual product availability. On the other hand, time is of the essence for Kodak. EK is BK, so they have to show something that suggests long-term viability of their core businesses.

CGW · Mar 22, 2012

Anyone noted the trajectory of demand for film? It doesn't appear to be up, does it?

Still waiting for the OP to post a reference for the speech/address that started all this hyperventilation.

Jean Noire · Mar 22, 2012

Lionel1972 said:
If this turns out to be true in the near future, it would be the best news I've heard from Kodak so far! As long as the prices stay affordable and if they start promoting and adverticing the coolness of film, it could become a huge hit and very profitable for Kodak and benefit the whole analogue market.
I've always said that now that Kodachrome is dead, it's the perfect time for a resurrection of Kodachrome in 120 and sheet film! (35mm comeback would be to follow of course).

...and now all we need is an announcement that someone (Nikon, Pentax, Leica, Contax, etc.....) will start remanufacturing film cameras. Perhaps we will return to the days when One Hour photo shops traded on the high streets, perhaps enlargers could be produced again!!....., then film manufacture could be a viable proposition?
Sorry, just thinking out aloud.....

John

zsas · Mar 22, 2012

CGW said:
Anyone noted the trajectory of demand for film? It doesn't appear to be up, does it?

Still waiting for the OP to post a reference for the speech/address that started all this hyperventilation.

Hey now, I thought you were in? Ostrich and all?! If it works out it does, if it doesnt well this employee should probably learn to not theorize possible bus strategy in a open forum....reguardless it is fun to dream....reguardless if it is reality or not

Lionel1972 · Mar 22, 2012

According to what the business experts keep telling us about the demande for film trajectory, it must have reached negative figures years ago that's why we see all those clients returning loads of film rolls to Kodak everyday, lining up in front of their local photo store asking money for their film rolls. You know film demand is always getting down and always will. ;-)

Brian C. Miller · Mar 22, 2012

So far, a Google search reveals this link to Rankia, posted today.

As for 8x10 Kodachrome for $50 per sheet, yeah, I would go for a 10-sheet box. But not like a maniac. But it would be nice to get E100G again. (I just wonder if we will see Fuji in 8x10 again.)

zsas · Mar 22, 2012

The meeting looks legit
http://www.smpte.org/sections/hollywood/events/hollywood-section-meeting-march-20-2012

georg16nik · Mar 22, 2012

Michael R 1974 said:
+1

I'd love to see Kodak stick around. However two posts in this thread really crushed whatever enthusiasm I might have had:

1) The notion that Kodak could do nice things if it freed itself from obligations to former employees

2) Someone made a comparison with "Adox".

I couldn't support Kodak products if they fkd employees over. As for Kodak learning anything from "Adox", I wouldn't go anywhere near Kodak products any longer if Kodak did anything at all the way those companies do. "Kodak" would end up being nothing more than a resurrected brand name pasted on junk in an effort to capitalize on the legacy of the brand.

nothing more than a resurrected brand name pasted on junk

Michael, please, explain what is junk?

So far, Kodak looks like a bunch of drunk, overdosed teenagers whose spent their dads money and are currently in the big screwup situation, their employees and customers are paying for all mistakes.

georg16nik · Mar 22, 2012

Michael R 1974 said:
They certainly did screw up the company, but the quality of the products and the technology in their films has always been top notch. I would not want to see that compromised in the context of a low volume niche company.

Michael, all photographic materials currently on the market are good enough.
If Your skills are top notch, it doesnt mater if its Kodak, Adox, Ilford, Shanghai, Lucky, Svema, Tasma, ORWO, Rollei, EFKE etc.

PKM-25 · Mar 22, 2012

CGW said:
Anyone noted the trajectory of demand for film? It doesn't appear to be up, does it?

Still waiting for the OP to post a reference for the speech/address that started all this hyperventilation.

Ah, cool, so you saw that cruise missile of 200 rolls of Acros 100 in 120 from Adorama at $2.69 a roll go flying by? The trajectory is my fridge sir, sorry I did not file a flight plan...

Yeah, I am as optimistic as anyone, but this hyperventilation party makes 4:20 at CU Boulder look like a blown out candle....I think some on here have spiked the bong water with vodka, lol!

batwister · Mar 22, 2012

In other news, the Concorde is coming back. "Never mind the destination, look how gorgeous those seats are!"
Kodachrome, shmodachrome. Isn't it more important to keep what little we have left accessible and cheap(ish)? This is no time for nostalgia.

If 'on demand' is a possibility, what about custom made emulsions? That, I would be interested in.

removed account4 · Mar 22, 2012

i think it is very strange that it took them 8-10 years to figure out that with a declined customer and sales base
they need to reduce output ...
i wish them the best of luck in this new phase of their revival.

PKM-25 · Mar 22, 2012

I am cautiously optimistic...

railwayman3 · Mar 22, 2012

Michael R 1974 said:
I strongly disagree with that. In my experience, there is Kodak, Ilford, and Fuji. And then there's everything else.

I'll leave it at that so as not to totally divert the thread.

I don't disagree that those three names represent reliability and quality at the present time. But let's not forget the work done by skilled amateurs and professionals over 150+ years with materials which, by present day standards, would be considered primitive and poor quality.

Any films and papers from the first half of the 20th Century would probably fall within your definition of "everything else", but I wish my own skills were good enough to match the old-time great photographers....even with my access to the finest modern materials.

Kodak Comeback, Quick Read

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