Kodak SS-#?

[Stephen Frizza]

Hello

I have an interest in Kodak Special Order films. This interest began when I purchased Kodak SO-339 a slow emulsion designed for black and white film duplication. the film works in such a way that by processing in the same manner as any normal black and white material it yields a positive instead of a negative.

While I have this interest I know of very few Kodak SO film types and am hoping to compile a list of films which have interesting properties.
If anyone has any experience with any unusual Kodak SO film materials I would love to hear from you as to what number it was, when it was made, the format it was made in and what its use and visual characteristics are.

I look forward to your replies.

~Steve

 

[Kino]

Steve,

Good luck on that! Don't mean to be a stick in the mud, but sorting out SO numbers from Kodak should be a bit easier than decoding the Maya Codex!

Your SO-339 Fine Grain Stock as an Example:

When Kodak started putting b&w motion picture film stocks on Estar, all NON acetate orders were prefaced with SO regardless of existing emulsions that were simply coated onto the new base.

5366 Fine Grain Master Positive was first SO-239 in short pitch only and available in 1K and 2K ft rolls, then you could order 3000' foot rolls of the same stuff (for sequential color sep duplication of 1K original negs -- usually cartoons) but for some reason, that became S0-399! Later on, when 16mm cam on board, the S0-399 moniker was, to be totally confusing, moved from the 3K x 35mm rolls to the 1200 ft. 16mm rolls for a short period.

Then Kodak decided to change everything all over again and changed the SO-239 to 2366 for 35mm and 3366 for 16mm. At about that time, Kodak made the standard catalog number a default short pitch item and THEN the old standard long pitch became an... wait for it... SO!

If you want to start tearing your hair out, delve into the pitch and wind variations for 16mm duplication; I am near bald as a result.

Good LUCK!

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

This lists a few;
http://www.taphilo.com/photo/kodakfilmnumxref.shtml

The one film that comes to mind is Autopositive-L film, SO-483.
100ft rolls of film, 35mm in width w/ no perforations. You can handle it in daylight and expose w/ UV. It is duplicating film and makes a negative from a negative in one step. You can develop it in regular dektol, stop and fix. It has no grain and seems more like that 'diazo film' you can find. I always noticed the tone of the film being dark brown as opposed to black.

This stuff was used for reproducing line art, microfiche, blueprints, etc.
I was able to get a few duplicated negatives out of it but was always haunted by Newton's rings.

Also have a roll of Aerographic Duplicating Film 2421 or possibly SP-957.
1A safelight safe and pretty slow. Maybe iso 4-6. Clear base.
Nice for enlarged negatives and still lifes that don't move for hours.