Kodak out of stock in Tokyo

PS in Dan's defense, he shoots a LOT of film, I know him in real life and he's no BS'er when he talks about his consumption of film.

StoneNYC said:

PS in Dan's defense, he shoots a LOT of film, I know him in real life and he's no BS'er when he talks about his consumption of film.

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Of that I have no doubt. But the subplot point there was that he does that because he can. As would we all. But if he couldn't, he wouldn't. As most of us can't. And that the validity of one's opinions regarding the state of the industry is not necessarily proportional to monthly roll counts.

Ken

I went down to Seattle today with my wife, and stopped into Glazer's.

They have shoehorned their operations into two of their three former locations because the block that their former "main" store is being replaced with a big new building. When everything is finished in a couple of years, they will move all their operations into a single, big new location.

As a result of the "squeeze", they have fewer film/colour paper refrigerators, their darkroom supplies and equipment is smaller and their used equipment isn't as extensive.

I looked through the film refrigerators, paying particular attention to "best before" dates on Kodak materials.

They had lots (many pro packs) of Portra and Ektar in 120 and appeared to have a fair amount of 35mm as well. The Portra was in all flavours, 160, 400 and 800. The latest "best before" date was 09/2016. Most were 2016 dates.

There was also good quantities of T-Max 100, T-Max 400 and Tri-X in 120. They had bulk 35mm Kodak film as well - at least a dozen 100 foot rolls of Tri-X.

They had other stock of Black and White 35mm and Kodak film on the shelves (in unopened shipping cartons) as well.

There was a quantity of TX-320 in 4x5 and some Portra 160 in 8x10.

There was good stock on the shelves of a variety of Kodak chemistry as well - most of it with the "Made in Germany" labeling.

There were also a fair number of un-opened shipping cartons on the shelves which indicated that they contained things like Kodak Rapid Fix.

All in all, it appeared to me that they had lots of fresh Kodak stock, and it was turning over nicely.

It made me feel a lot better than reading this thread.

I actually thought I had a real good day out with the cameras. Until I returned and found out I hadn't...

Truth be told, my real goal with the Granite Falls 8x10 image, if it works out as I envision, is to be my submission for the upcoming Blind Print Exchange #21 in a few months. I had to skip BPX #20 due to a death in the family, and my trusteeship duties for the estate afterwards. Right now we're in that magical 6-8 week summer period. If I don't get the big camera out now, realistically it'll be another year.

So I thought I was getting ahead of the game today.

Ken

MattKing said:

I went down to Seattle today with my wife, and stopped into Glazer's.

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Too bad you didn't let me know. I'd have met and bought you guys lunch, just to show you I'm not the ogre you think I am...



Ken

Ken Nadvornick said:

Too bad you didn't let me know. I'd have met and bought you guys lunch, just to show you I'm not the ogre you think I am...



Ken

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No ogre thoughts here Ken.

We visit Seattle regularly. My wife always has an agenda, but phot meetings are enjoyed.

Dropped into Kenmore Cameras' new store as well. Talk about a change!

Two 100 seat classrooms in a camera store!

StoneNYC said:

If you spend as much time [insert anything here] as you did on these forums...

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Sal Santamaura said:

Pot, meet kettle.

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StoneNYC said:

I learned to speak Russian when I wasn't on APUG...

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And, but for your 6,926 APUG posts (not even counting other forums) over the last 23 months, you probably could have become fluent in every known language, thereby single-handedly replacing all those people at the UN whose job is "translator." :wizard:

Ah, yeah baby.....Rock out those keyboards guys.

The only real reason I am on here as much lately is to find a decent Mamiya 6 w/ 75mm which is proving difficult. I don't care if you hire cheap labor to punch keys to up your post count while you sleep, to keep bashing the crap out of any film maker because it is some sick part of your hobby is pathetic.

It's sure as hell not photography or in the spirit of moving film forward...

AgX said:

To the contrary: X-Ray films are far more specialized than current pictorial films.

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Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree. X-Ray films are quite simple in design as I noted above. Low or no heavy metals or curve shape tweakers, and no or few emulsion blends. No hardener if it is still in the process itself. This is a rather simple product.

PE

Does Kodak still manufacture X-Ray products?

That was already discussed here and in several other threads.

Kodak had sold that business including plants some years ago.

PKM-25 said:

Ah, yeah baby.....Rock out those keyboards guys.

[...]

I don't care if you hire cheap labor to punch keys to up your post count while you sleep, to keep bashing the crap out of any film maker because it is some sick part of your hobby is pathetic.

It's sure as hell not photography or in the spirit of moving film forward...

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I could have my photographic projects and itineraries notarized for you. Would that help?



Ken

With my post count, I feel compelled to make a comment. I sense no targeting here, but rather reaction to comments that appear (to me) to be rather innocent urges to get out and use film instead of pound a keyboard. My reaction is that you can do both. In fact, I pounded a keyboard, wrote a book, made 2 dvds, made dozens of emulsions, and took pix all during the same time frame. So, I see nothing here that should be hurtful or nasty. Just a group urging each other to do what comes naturally to them at the moment.

As one of our grandsons would say "Keep on Chiving".

PE

I disagree with Dan, but I don't dislike Dan. If I'm ever driving through Colorado, I'd stop and buy him a beer. And if I'm ever driving through Rochester, I'd do the same for you, Ron.

It's OK to respectfully disagree. Even strongly disagree. But I'd like to think we are not a community of savages...



Ken

And I just don't see any savages here on this thread.

Thanks for the offer. I'll be waiting with great anticipation.

PE

Sal Santamaura said:

And, but for your 6,926 APUG posts (not even counting other forums) over the last 23 months, you probably could have become fluent in every known language, thereby single-handedly replacing all those people at the UN whose job is "translator." :wizard:

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True, but then I wouldn't have met all you lovely people and leaned all this photography knowledge... And then be able to share my own Knowledge from my own experiences... So, I don't mind only learning one language and a whole lot or photo language stuff

Photo Engineer said:

Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree. X-Ray films are quite simple in design as I noted above. Low or no heavy metals or curve shape tweakers, and no or few emulsion blends. No hardener if it is still in the process itself. This is a rather simple product.

PE

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So then, why not produce a SIMPLE and CHEAP emulsion for sheet film that would sell like hotcakes? At $30 for 100 sheets in 11x14 size that they are still able to make a profit, I can't see why kodak doesn't make some kind of in-between for ULF... Something priced like Ektascan is a very reasonable thing given the simplicity of the coating, essentially I guess they could call it EktascanCL for Clear, as in "clear base" instead of blue... And people would probably even drop ilford for that at the price it's going for $80 for single sided emulsion in 8x10 for example... 100 sheets, not 10... Or 25... But 100...

I dunno it's a new paradigm... New times, different measures...

I don't know about everyone else, but I only use Delta100 in 8x10 because I've learned the processing times and exposure info and it costs the same as FP4+ but I mean, if kodak made a cheap EktascanCL like I'm talking about, I would probably drop ilford in the sheet film arena. And if they made a 400 speed version, which most X ray is anyway, that would be even change my HP5+ thoughts for X-ray...

I know change is scary but I would rather change than die...

Photo Engineer said:

And I just don't see any savages here on this thread.

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Agreed...

Ken

But the Ektascan films aren't panchromatic, are they? IIRC they were red sensitized for HeNe lasers or IR sensitized for IR lasers. You could process them under a yellow safelight. But that was 20 years ago that I was involved with those films so things may have changed.

PS don't get excited, the IR bandwidth was quite long waved and very narrow.

StoneNYC said:

So then, why not produce a SIMPLE and CHEAP emulsion for sheet film that would sell like hotcakes?...

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Because, notwithstanding APUG fantasies, it wouldn't sell like hotcakes.

The XRay family of films makes some pretty bad pictures but good XRay images. This is the key here. The latent images would not keep well, nor would the product at room temp or higher. What do I have to say to convince you that a commercial film or a pro film is a long cry from an XRay product. You guys (Stone for example) have no idea what these films represent in terms of internal structure.

So, go take the best pic you can on some pro film and develop it to perfection and do the same with an XRay film. Then come back here and compare the two! You will learn a lesson that you sorely need.

PE

Photo Engineer said:

With my post count, I feel compelled to make a comment. I sense no targeting here, but rather reaction to comments that appear (to me) to be rather innocent urges to get out and use film instead of pound a keyboard. My reaction is that you can do both. In fact, I pounded a keyboard, wrote a book, made 2 dvds, made dozens of emulsions, and took pix all during the same time frame. So, I see nothing here that should be hurtful or nasty. Just a group urging each other to do what comes naturally to them at the moment.

As one of our grandsons would say "Keep on Chiving".

PE

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Lol, I just only now noticed your post count..... Day-um!

Just shot an ad at 11,000 feet, found a Mamiya 6, see you all in a few weeks....I'm sure there will be a "freshie" industry topic posing as a massive dart board.

I need to write Ken's name on the 16x20 speed easel he sold me, to remind me he is human...;-)

PKM-25 said:

I need to write Ken's name on the 16x20 speed easel he sold me, to remind me he is human...;-)

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Hey! I initially gave it to you because you're a nice guy and I needed some good photo karma!

Remember?



Ken

Photo Engineer said:

The XRay family of films makes some pretty bad pictures but good XRay images. This is the key here. The latent images would not keep well, nor would the product at room temp or higher. What do I have to say to convince you that a commercial film or a pro film is a long cry from an XRay product. You guys (Stone for example) have no idea what these films represent in terms of internal structure.

So, go take the best pic you can on some pro film and develop it to perfection and do the same with an XRay film. Then come back here and compare the two! You will learn a lesson that you sorely need.

PE

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Sandy King as a great example I believe uses X-Ray film to produce some carbon prints (I think?) and many other very financially successful photographers. And his images are amazing!

Almost all of the x-ray images shot on the LF forum in the X-Ray thread are incredible. You really should just make an account just to see PE even if you choose not to participate there, I told Ken he should just sign up also, just to take a glimpse.

I think you'd be surprised.

Or just wait a week or two and you'll see some of my X-ray images... Sadly, right now I only have pinhole x-ray to show, which are of course not very good being pinhole... (And shot by me some might say...)


11x14 X-Ray when I finally got a holder, but caught the sun in the upper portion so it fogged it up

Before I had a real holder I made my own, hence the corners.


Both were about 2.5 minute exposures.

With a crisp lens, the tones of the first image with a holder are certainly acceptable to me in terms of at least getting an image.

Can't wait to do some portraits with some 8x10 Ektascan!