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Kodak makes film but today imploded the building where they made film acetate

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Yes, Kodak does make film! However, today they imploded the building that formerly housed the machines used to make acetate film base. The last time the machines in this building made support was 2013. Since then they have been using their stockpiles and buying support from a long time industry supplier. Kodak continues to make ESTAR support.

Interesting event but not particularly significant from a photographer's point of view. This poses no threat to the availability of film. Cellulose acetate has many other applications including flat-screen TVs so high quality material it is readily available.

Robert Shanebrook

http://makingkodakfilm.com
 

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Kodak can produce film but nobody sell and buy here. I went to kodak express lab and fat dirty cross eyed smelly and sweat covered guy told me that kodak banktrupted and wanted to sell me fuji film.
 
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"He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart."

— Proverbs 11:29, King James
 
 
Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Kodak can produce film but nobody sell and buy here. I went to kodak express lab and fat dirty cross eyed smelly and sweat covered guy told me that kodak banktrupted and wanted to sell me fuji film.
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Did he vomit a little bit, between two slow spoken words?
 
in Robert's photos their is a a building in the background at the right that also does not look to be too long for the world.

I wonder if this is good or bad long term news for the other makers. We know that Ilford buys their base from a commercial firm, and apparently has since the beginning. ("silver by the ton" mentions the panic the British military had when they realized their top film supplier was using film base from Agfa Germany and for a while had ICL set up a film base plant.)

Current info has them buying from a German firm.

Can Kodak really count on being able to procure base of the same quality than that they made themselves, particularly as far as adhesion of the Subbing layer, and also freedom from Vinegar syndrome?
 
cmacd123 said:
in Robert's photos their is a a building in the background at the right that also does not look to be too long for the world.
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That's the end of B-53. The implosion was of the central part of the building with the chimneys. I assume that end part of the building will be leveled with a wrecking ball.
 
"this pre-occupation" with kodak, I find absolutely bizarre! it's like a bad automobile accident on the highway as you slowly pass by.
 
gzinsel said:
"this pre-occupation" with kodak, I find absolutely bizarre! it's like a bad automobile accident on the highway as you slowly pass by.
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from a b+w shooter's point of view, maybe. From a color film user's point of view, not bizarre at all.
 
thats good!! it made me laugh this morning!! ( there was/is very subtle humor in your post)
 
gzinsel said:
"this pre-occupation" with kodak, I find absolutely bizarre! it's like a bad automobile accident on the highway as you slowly pass by.
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No kidding. This is nothing new. Are we going to post every time they implode or demolish a storage shed on the old Kodak properties?
 
As the son of a Kodak retiree, and a lifelong user of Kodak materials, and someone who has in the past worked in the retail and professional lab parts of the industry, as well as print shops and workplace darkrooms using Kodak materials, I am interested.

In many ways, for many people, for a very long time Kodak was a cultural force. I know a large number of people (many of whom are of retirement age) for whom its memory at least remains a cultural force.
 
Surprised no one has posted the video yet...

[video=youtube;n0QjDmWGRWA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0QjDmWGRWA[/video]
 
Ai Print said:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150718_ap_c0ede5a2bd85480fa1587017bb86474e.html
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Honestly didn't see this coming...

If you had told me five years ago that the following was the final endgame destination of Kodak's re-tooling, I would have laughed you out of the room.

"The chemical know-how and machines that spooled out countless miles of film are being eyed for medical marijuana..."​

"Two medical marijuana companies want to put pharmaceutical-grade dispensaries in vacant buildings on the site if New York awards them licenses later this summer."​

Poor George. As it turned out, his work wasn't really done. I wonder if Kodak will be tying two sneakers together and tossing them up over a power line somewhere nearby?



Ken
 
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Yes, but Kodak did not take the shoes off first.
 
Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
No kidding. This is nothing new. Are we going to post every time they implode or demolish a storage shed on the old Kodak properties?
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At least that building had its share of life and production.
There was a major brand new building in photochemical industry torn down brand new with its installations as the factory was declared dead.
 
APUGuser19 said:
Further, if I were a retired Kodak employee on the board reading this stuff, I'm sure I wouldn't appreciate it. Don't dig graves for people and push them in. They'll surprise you with the number of productive years they have left in them.
Click to expand...

Glib comments aside, the commitment Kodak is showing in redeveloping the site is admirable. Being able to share technologies and manufacturing facilities with fledgling start-ups and finding new markets for their expertise helps to keep Kodak in business. As long as they are able to maintain film production, everything else they do must be a good thing.

It may be a bumpy ride, but it looks as if Kodak will be around for quite a few more years.
 
At least in the past Kodak made a feest of such implosion. Thuse views on that differ.
 
Acetate should be easier to get anyway. It's used mainly for thin 120 roll films. Estar is far better substrate for sheet film, 'cause its dimensionally stable and robust. And that they had to deliberately demolish the building tells us something in itself about the evolution of
film base. Olden nitrate film could blow itself up!
 
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