I tried many including the Kodak processing facilities. The film processors could not be bothered to work with me.
My local mom and pop lab has no issues with returning reloadable cassettes. Perhaps you could find a better place to do business?
Does Kodak Alaris distribute directly to the retailers or is there another layer of distribution companies between the two?
Kodak could have had a website that sold their film and sold it nowhere else and would've stayed in business. Almost all their film is bought online. And they gave up trying to promote the stuff decades ago. But the fact is, Kodak - Eastman - Alaris whatever is not mainly a film company. Look at what you find on the Alaris webpage:
View attachment 328273
My request is simple, I want to make RA-4 printing more accessible. I don't think it would be a huge moneymaker, but having a community of folks like Ribsy, who make beautiful analog RA-4 prints would feed back into film sales and help support them.
What do they need? Howabout cut sheets of Endura, not exorbitantly priced? And some system to easily process those cut sheets. Maybe chemicals tweaked for room temp processing.
That isn't part of Eastman Kodak's business any more - it went with the bankruptcy settlement.
You would have to ask that of Sino Promise Holdings.
At some point if you have to let people wish for things in a wishlist thread.
In that case, I want to be 30 lbs [~14 Kg] lighter and 50 years younger will all the physical and mental ramifications as long as we have a wishlist for the impossible.
At some point if you have to let people wish for things in a wishlist thread.
Kodak Alaris sell to local distributors.
Those distributors are the ones that tend to specialize in supplying particular market segments - drugstores, grocery stores, big box stores, tourism businesses and yes, some who specialize in the photography markets.
The distributors often have different minimum order and other terms, and they compete against each other, so a retailer can decide to buy some film from one source, and other film from another source, based on whatever terms matter to them most - price, minimum order quantities, availability, speed and cost of shipping, etc.
That is in contrast to Ilford products, which are available only from one exclusive distributor, at a single price, and with one set of terms regarding minimum order quantities, availability, speed and cost of shipping, etc.
Ilford sells into a much, much smaller market than Eastman Kodak. While Ilford makes and sells more black and white film than Kodak does, the volume of colour film that Kodak makes and sells dwarfs Ilford volumes. Ilford is small enough and their market is focused enough that they can manage their core marketing and distribution using people in house, although that department has to generate profit. Even then, they need a bunch of specialized distributors - one in each target market.
Eastman Kodak has a much larger and far more diverse market. It contracts out its core marketing and distribution to Kodak Alaris, who also have to generate profit. Due to the much larger and diverse market that Kodak films are sold into, there is another level of specialized distributor, who add value, but also make a profit.
Well despite the generally higher prices, Kodak is hiring 300 more employees because their market is growing. So they must be doing something right.
They are, and they need someone to do what the other participants in the distribution chain do.
Their Film business is at this website: https://imaging.kodakalaris.com/photographers/film
You get to both sites from the same page. They are the same company. Or are you going to say they aren't? Different divisions are divisions of something.
What do you mean?
That isn't part of Eastman Kodak's business any more - it went with the bankruptcy settlement.
You would have to ask that of Sino Promise Holdings.
I suspect that the only reason any company increases prices is because they think they can. It increases their profits. More money for executives and shareholders, might even trickle down to the workers. If it gets to that point, they will start talking about new price increases that are needed in the future.
1kgcoffee - I haven't even seen a condenser enlarger in decades. I remember my bother's old beehive 4x5 Beseler one he used 60 years ago. But I have seen dozens and dozens or colorhead ones. I've been offered at least 30 of those for free over the years, all pro quality. Accepted just one, since I already had four working enlargers, one with a cold light, all the others with colorheads.
Fuji has all kinds of excellent RA4 papers. The supply chain was rocky during the pandemic, but is rapidly improving. Most are available in roll version only, a minor inconvenience; but there is at least one CA product line sold in cut sheets up to 20X24 inch size. Hard to say if Kodak label papers will ever come out of their China situation nose dive or not.
There are several brands of standardized RA4 chem options already available; and a controlled temp water bath is easy to rig up. Yeah, there is room temp chem version too; but I found that too be way less reliable than the real deal.
Just the chemistry, or paper and confectioning as well? Seems like it would be in everyone interest (Alaris/Sino/Eastman) to work together for their mutual benefit. Heck, even for Fuji to cooperate. The pie is growing there's no reason they can't work like a cartel.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?