Kodak Reintroduces Ektachrome.

[cmacd123]

PX (and Verichrome Pan?) may have a slightly greater chance of return, but I doubt Kodak will re-introduce any product that may negatively impact on sales of their current portfolio of films.
Out of all the films you listed, 5231/7231 probably has the best chance of return..

Verichrome pan would actually have an interesting case to be made for it, as it was really am extended exposure range film in its day, I really don't know how much practical advantage it would have compared to Tri-x, but would be ideal for the Holga crowd.

7231/5231 was great. ORWO UN54 is apparently very similar, but I would guess 5231 may have an edge on grain size. ORWO of course only attempts to sell film for Motion Picture use.

 

[Cholentpot]

I think you may have partially answered your own question - FX and TMX seem to have much the same relationship as you suggest exists between current Ektar 100 and early 90s Ektar 25. Furthermore, depending on what developer you choose, & how you want to expose TMX, your effective EI may end up dropping to about 50, which negates the perceived benefits of FX. There are very few films that come close to or exceed the resolution of TMX that can also be processed without specialised developers.

PX (and Verichrome Pan?) may have a slightly greater chance of return, but I doubt Kodak will re-introduce any product that may negatively impact on sales of their current portfolio of films.

Out of all the films you listed, 5231/7231 probably has the best chance of return.

If I had a choice in such matters, I'd like to see a Portra 100T again...

I think we're going to see the re-introduction of film stocks used with Cine. Pan film was pretty popular as a cine film was it not?

 

[Europan]

ORWO of course only attempts to sell film for Motion Picture use.

Not quite correct, you can have all of their products as sheets, given a minimum amount of purchase. They in fact have sold PF 2 in sheets for contact slides and display images. You can also have all of their films unperforated, again from a certain volume on. That’s what Kahl does when he buys 16mm strips and punches a Double-Eight perforation out of them. He has a perforator and is learning slowly about how to use it.

 

[Lachlan Young]

7231/5231 was great. ORWO UN54 is apparently very similar, but I would guess 5231 may have an edge on grain size. ORWO of course only attempts to sell film for Motion Picture use.

UN54 is RMS 12, 5231/7231 is RMS 10, according to the published data. For comparison, 5222/7222 is 14 and N74 is 16.

I recall there were some issues with 16mm ORWO variously getting jammed/ losing the loop in Aaton & Arri cameras a few years ago - not sure if this has been solved - 35mm seems to be fine.

 

[flavio81]

UN54 is RMS 12, 5231/7231 is RMS 10, according to the published data. For comparison, 5222/7222 is 14 and N74 is 16.

Be sure to verify that the development conditions (developer and target contrast or gamma) are the same when comparing the RMS rating of the films. Most likely they were not the same.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Be sure to verify that the development conditions (developer and target contrast or gamma) are the same when comparing the RMS rating of the films. Most likely they were not the same.

All were processed to a gamma/ average gradient of 0.65 in D-96 according to the datasheets. That suggests they are reasonably comparable.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Films are actually designed to meet a given gamma with a given speed.

 

[flavio81]

All were processed to a gamma/ average gradient of 0.65 in D-96 according to the datasheets. That suggests they are reasonably comparable.

Oh, sorry.
I was just posting a warning just in case.

 

[Photo Engineer]

We lost one of the great Ektachrome product engineers and one holder of the early E6 process formulas yesterday. He passed at 86. A great loss to us all.

RIP Dan.

PE

 

[Nzoomed]

We lost one of the great Ektachrome product engineers and one holder of the early E6 process formulas yesterday. He passed at 86. A great loss to us all.

RIP Dan.

PE

Its very sad when we hear news like this.

One reason we all need to do our bit to keep film in use, or else there will be no one left to pass the knowledge onto for future generations.
Very proactive for Kodak to reintroduce Ektachrome, it would have made him proud...

 

[Prof_Pixel]

We lost one of the great Ektachrome product engineers and one holder of the early E6 process formulas yesterday. He passed at 86. A great loss to us all.

RIP Dan.

PE

If you are on FB, here is more information about Dan: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009441170486

 

[ME Super]

Sorry to hear that, PE and Prof_Pixel.

 

[mshchem]

If you are on FB, here is more information about Dan: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009441170486

PhD in Physical chemistry!. I have a vague memory of making it through 2 semesters of P Chem. I hope we don't lose the know how to do these things.
Godspeed.

 

[Photo Engineer]

I just got word that another Ektachrome engineer passed away recently. RIP Norm.

It is going to be a monumental job for EK to restart this line. I hear that none of the former Ektachrome specialists are around.

PE

 

[Nzoomed]

I just got word that another Ektachrome engineer passed away recently. RIP Norm.

It is going to be a monumental job for EK to restart this line. I hear that none of the former Ektachrome specialists are around.

PE

It is sad news indeed, my question is whether or not any of them were actually involved with Ektachrome right up to 2012 when it finished?

I can only hope that the knowledge gets passed down in the company, there will be less people involved today, as the demand for this type of work is almost dried up.

I know the situation with the likes of vacuum tube production and is one reason why the quality control of the modern russian tubes is poor, the workers there only know how to assemble the tubes and test them, but they have no real engineers there that actually run proper QC or R&D.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Making a vacuum tube or even a vinyl record is far far simpler than making a color film. Some were involved until the end, but others retired earlier.

PE

 

[Nzoomed]

Making a vacuum tube or even a vinyl record is far far simpler than making a color film. Some were involved until the end, but others retired earlier.

PE

Well im glad Kodak are doing what they can before its too late.

Im confident they will deliver with the new Ektachrome.

 

[keenmaster486]

Everyone says "oh, it's a monumental effort!"

Of course it is... all it means is that it requires a LOT of money. Which I would hope Kodak has, they're already in the red as it is.

 

[MattKing]

Of course it is... all it means is that it requires a LOT of money. Which I would hope Kodak has, they're already in the red as it is.

You mean they are losing money (in the red)?

 

[keenmaster486]

Well, Wikipedia says their net income was $-211 million in 2015. So I guess that's old data.

 

[MattKing]

They just got out of bankruptcy (Eastman Kodak, that is).

 

[keenmaster486]

Four years ago...

 

[LAG]

... all it means is that it requires a LOT of money ...

... And Time

 

[ME Super]

That there are no Ektachrome experts at EK right now is both bad and good. That there are no experts there now means that it'll take them longer to get the formulation right based on the documentation than it would if there are experts there that already know how to make it. That's the bad part.

The good part is that (theoretically, at least), the people they have making it now are younger than the ones who were making it before (and are no longer with EK), so the knowledge is preserved in the form of human experience rather than documentation, which may mean that it will be easier for the knowledge to be passed on to other, younger, folks as the older ones retire.

 

[AgX]

This neccessitates that the knowledge of the old already has passed to the younger ones...

And when I look at the people at the industry I do not even see the young ones.