Kodak Reintroduces Ektachrome.

[Chris Livsey]

The reformulation is indeed related to the availability of chemicals. Most probably it is due to the older couplers used in the Ektachrome line of products which required formalin in the process. It may also be that they intend to use couplers with better image stability. IDK.
PE

Your input appreciated here.

 

[iandvaag]

If they were bringing back XXXX in some bizarre sheet format I've never used, I would still applaud the rebirth of a discontinued product

Ooh, while I enjoy Eastman Double-X and Tri-X, I really have an insatiable nostalgia for Quattro-X. I can't wait for Kodak to bring it back in 9.5mm motion picture, 616 autographic still film and 6x13 dry plate. (Sorry I couldn't help myself).

Well I can't print it in the darkroom so this is about as exciting to me as a digital version of an analog photography magazine. Meh.

Sorry for the shameless proselytization, but I urge you to look at some stereo (3D) slides in a backlit handheld viewer. I love printing in the darkroom, but it's equivalently a tonne of fun to shoot stereo slides.

Most probably it is due to the older couplers used in the Ektachrome line of products which required formalin in the process. It may also be that they intend to use couplers with better image stability.

The idea that there is still work for photo engineers makes me positively giddy!

 

[faberryman]

What will people do with their new Ektachome slides? I think my projector is somewhere in the attic, but I doubt I'll be shooting any for new slide shows? And I really wasn't all that happy with Cibachrome prints.

 

[MattKing]

Projected slides for me.
But I am not adverse to hybrid processes resulting in "C" prints when a print is appropriate.

 

[thuggins]

I still have several dozen rolls of VS in the fridge, sitting right next to the Provia 400. I can live with G if I have too, but if we all close our eyes very, very tight and pray to the invisible pixie in the yellow box, maybe we will see VS again.

These are the days of miracle and wonder!

 

[flavio81]

Ooh, while I enjoy Eastman Double-X and Tri-X, I really have an insatiable nostalgia for Quattro-X. I can't wait for Kodak to bring it back in 9.5mm motion picture, 616 autographic still film and 6x13 dry plate. (Sorry I couldn't help myself).

Quattro-X was not as good as Kodak Imperial-X Pan, which was the faster version of Kodak Royal-X Pan...
Also i can't wait for Kodak to re-release Ektar 6400T, finally a fast enough film for handholding a Pentax 6x7 at night!

 

[Heinz]

This is such fine news! It might be that also the Ferrania kickstarter project has helped to show that there is still a need for color positive film. I will buy both, Kodak and Ferrania (after receiving my kickstarter reward films) and Fuji too, if they keep producing it. And now I will shoot my storage in the fridge of Kodak and Fuji films without the fear that it ends before I end...

 

[thuggins]

6 last time I counted...

Not nearly enough! How many threads do think would be appropriate for such earth shattering news?

BTW, this is the only thread on the topic that I've run across. I will be more than happy to seek out and read them all. That would be a much better use of time than nit picking and criticizing the enthusiasm of folks.

 

[fstop]

What will people do with their new Ektachome slides? I think my projector is somewhere in the attic, but I doubt I'll be shooting any for new slide shows? And I really wasn't all that happy with Cibachrome prints.

They will put them in scanners to digitize them so they can use the image.

 

[fstop]

Not nearly enough! How many threads do think would be appropriate for such earth shattering news?

BTW, this is the only thread on the topic that I've run across. I will be more than happy to seek out and read them all. That would be a much better use of time than nit picking and criticizing the enthusiasm of folks.

You aren't the only one who is not happy with how this is being handled.It should be in every forum effected by it,not just where a couple of backseat moderators think it should be.

 

[fstop]

Super-8 has survived despite, yes, video and digital video cameras having been available for decades.

Kodak is not targeting "ordinary" users when trying to promote Super-8. They are targeting to the enthusiasts, as explained above.

BTW, If Kodak scales down their whole still camera film production, and starts (finally) targeting we the enthusiasts, this could make all Kodak film products sustainable for the years to come.

Someone needs to tell Kodunk that the porn industry stopped using super 8 a long time ago. but seriously I doubt their move has anything to do with enthusiasts, it has to do with money.Go count up all the members in the photo forums ,figure there are many dupes and add for those who don't participate. You come up with a very small number. They are targeting the consumer just like always.

 

[unityofsaints]

I detect a little too much negativity in this thread...

Let's speculate, will the big retailers run pre-order campaigns? APUG should make a big statement and buy them out of all they've got! I'm in for 50 rolls.

 

[faberryman]

Buy 100 rolls, stick them in the closet until they stop making it again, and then make a killing on eBay. Now that's a retirement plan.

 

[faberryman]

Someone needs to tell Kodunk that the porn industry stopped using super 8 a long time ago. but seriously I doubt their move has anything to do with enthusiasts, it has to do with money.Go count up all the members in the photo forums ,figure there are many dupes and add for those who don't participate. You come up with a very small number. They are targeting the consumer just like always.

Super8 cameras poised to skyrocket on eBay.

 

[Born2Late]

What will people do with their new Ektachome slides? I think my projector is somewhere in the attic, but I doubt I'll be shooting any for new slide shows? And I really wasn't all that happy with Cibachrome prints.

Put them in a projector, invite the kids and grand kids over, pop some popcorn and bore the crap out of them for a couple of hours like I used to do. It was fun 25 years ago, it will be even more fun now.

 

[Prest_400]

The reformulation is indeed related to the availability of chemicals. Most probably it is due to the older couplers used in the Ektachrome line of products which required formalin in the process. It may also be that they intend to use couplers with better image stability. IDK.

PE

It'll be interesting what they will come up with, perhaps applying some newer tech that Ektar and Portra incorporated in the last revision. There is the minimum 9-10 month time frame for R&D:

Well that is still TBD (to be discussed) which is part of the reason why the availability is set for later this year, in the fourth quarter. Bringing back a film is not as simple as you might think. There's a very significant R&D (Research & Development) that is necessary to re-formulate the product based on component availability and any equipment changes that have been made or any changes to environmental health and safety regulations. So the intent here is to bring back a daylight 100 speed Ektachrome film. Saturation levels and performance characteristics are still TBD at this point but in terms of the old Ektachrome it will certainly be along those same lines and we'll know more as we go along.

Source: http://filmsnotdead.com/

I participate in many internet forum and this is one of the most civilized forums out there in the web. I don't understand such claims of negativity, and if there is any negativity here, it is on your assesment of we forumers as "old" and "negative". I'm on my thirties, by the way. And I find APUG to be filled with people with great "vibes".

About the negativity, I think it was more rampant around the post-Perez wreck era, peaking around Kodachrome's discontinuation and aftershocks, and toning down around '13 with Kodak Alaris.

Look for the biblical-class long thread of "Kodachrome has been disconinued" (if it was not deleted of course) because there was interesting film insights; Which relate to volume of production relevant to the niche of E6.
In those ancient scriptures you will find the existance of the two letter troll that denied the existence of Magenta and the plan of making Kodachrome in a barn against PE's will, which may or may not be the predecessor of benevolent Film Ferrania.

(That was fun to write)

 

[faberryman]

I bored the kids enough with my lith prints at Christmas. I hope they come back to visit.

 

[Chan Tran]

What will people do with their new Ektachome slides? I think my projector is somewhere in the attic, but I doubt I'll be shooting any for new slide shows? And I really wasn't all that happy with Cibachrome prints.

Since I don't print color negative any more due to difficulty of getting both paper and especially paper. I think I will use slide film and view them with my slide projector. It's not much different from what I am doing with digital, viewing them on my monitor. I don't show my photograph to others so I don't invite people to slide show nor I post my digital photograph on social media.

 

[Photo Engineer]

The problem is twofold. First, negative film design does not easily project into reversal film design and Second, there are no experience Photo Engineers to develop the dispersions and test the pilot coatings for a reversal film. There may not be anyone to do R&D on the couplers or dispersions needed.

PE

 

[Born2Late]

I bored the kids enough with my lith prints at Christmas. I hope they come back to visit.

That is why you must make sure that your will is written properly .

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

What will people do with their new Ektachome slides? I think my projector is somewhere in the attic, but I doubt I'll be shooting any for new slide shows? And I really wasn't all that happy with Cibachrome prints.

Ilfochrome Classic was superb if it was done by professionally-qualified and experienced printers — rarely were the results up to scratch done by amateurs! $440 for a 11x14" print may sound extreme, but it was at the low end for many frequent print clients.

With the end of Ilfochrome photographers are still printing from the same transparency film as they did in the IC era, through the hybridised C-type process, chiefly from Fujichrome emulsions, over all formats. The results are also a long way above the tedium and scruffiness of Ilfochrome. And it's cheaper, faster and archival.

Projection was never at any time in history the sole and only preserve of slides. It is one use, but the technology to print from slides has been around and successfully used for many decades and continues to be so in the post-Ilfochrome era.

 

[Ai Print]

Xmas, Ken Nadvornick...where are they now that Kodak has shocked the world with the re-introduction of E100?

 

[Wayne]

Since I don't print color negative any more due to difficulty of getting both paper and especially paper. I think I will use slide film and view them with my slide projector. It's not much different from what I am doing with digital, viewing them on my monitor. I don't show my photograph to others so I don't invite people to slide show nor I post my digital photograph on social media.

You can't get RA-4 paper in Illinois? Or did you mean you can't get Ilfochrome, because its gone?

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I detect a little too much negativity in this thread...

Let's speculate, will the big retailers run pre-order campaigns? APUG should make a big statement and buy them out of all they've got! I'm in for 50 rolls.

No need to speculate; retailers are organised. I keep in touch with 3 and the ongoing problem is shifting existing film stock, with the competition from eBay shifting more. It would be very, very surprising if any of them took the plunge and advance-ordered heaps of Ektachrome on the premise of a stampede through the door. We already have an excellent selection of films, but we do not have a uniform spread of experience to use those films effectively to get the best results, either B&W or colour.

And 50 rolls for you? What would you do with them (NB: stashing them in the freezer for 24 months is not a valid answer).

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Xmas, Ken Nadvornick...where are they now that Kodak has shocked the world with the re-introduction of E100?

I would say surprised the world, rather than shocked.