Kodak: The Rise and Fall of an American Tech Giant

[George Mann]

The fact is, as a still-photo film, this is a product specifically for a digital end result.

Not for me. I have yet to ruin a single slide by scanning it.

 

[cmacd123]

Ektachrome re-introduction, while the Eastman Kodak motion picture marketing people were simply supportive.
And who knows what role the remaining labs played in the decision.

"entertainment Imaging" was likely solidly behind Ektachrome. they were seeing a market for Music Videos and YES Skateboard and other extreme sports Productions that wanted the extra Punch that Ektachrome provided and were upset when the old version of Ektachrome was discontinued. (and yes, this is film capture for video or Digital Video playback) Both uses were probably needed to justify bring it back, although they did only release 7294 in super 8 and 16mm while carefully avoid making a 5294 35mm version, no doubt because some would have bulk loaded from the 35mm rolls.

 

[Don_ih]

Projectors, empty slides and carrousels are getting more sought after and expensive. Someone is buying them.
Ektachrome is as said also easy to scan, and very high resolution if you have the scanner and inclination.

I guess I should stockpile them, then. Any day of the week, I can go buy a dozen carousels and 2 or 3 slide projectors.

 

[MattKing]

I guess I should stockpile them, then. Any day of the week, I can go buy a dozen carousels and 2 or 3 slide projectors.

Part of that may be due to the fact that Canadians really did like their processing included Kodachrome!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Ektachrome is not merely about slides. They're now marketing it clear up to 8x10 sheets. Expensive, yes, but a sufficient number of people seem to have the money, especially for 4x5 usage. Old stock photography volumes of E6 films will never occur again; but there might be just enough of a resurrection of Ektachrome sheet film to give it a whole new lifespan. The ability to see exactly what you've got atop a light box is one of the enormous advantages of chrome film, and often a thrill too, in any format size.

If you scan like I do, chromes are easier. Plus you know immediately if you nailed the exposure. With medium format, I always bracketed. So I would know immediately which was exposed the best. Plus it easier to scan and get the colors right unlike negative color film. And yes, it is nice to see chromes on a light table.

I just started shooting some Ektachrome and Provia and I think I like the latter better. It's a little warmer. My favorite still is Velvia 50 for its "pop". I'm a sucker for it.

Provia vs Ektachrome 4x5's)

 

[AgX]

Kodak owned the film market.

They were market leader in the western world, but did not own the market. Agfa-Gevaert for instance were number two behind them at 1/4 of revenue.

 

[cmacd123]

They were market leader in the western world, but did not own the market. Agfa-Gevaert for instance were number two behind them at 1/4 of revenue.

And Fuji came out of the Japan only Market with a goal of taking over in as many counties as they could. (and that was back when the process was still C-22)

 

[AgX]

Fuji, as the japanese camera manufacturers, seemingly went to the USA first. At least their still film start in West-Germany I would call timide.

 

[Europan]

I’d like to be fair. Eastman-Kodak did make the first motion-picture film with a removable soot-gelatine backing in early 1931, did make Kodachrome and Panatomic films and beautiful enlarging papers. Eastman-Kodak made the special films for Technicolor.

Yes, Kodak hasn’t put any effort into convincing their customers of film’s future. They failed especially with teaching the archive world the huge advantages inherent in good photoreproduction. That section of the market got entirely lost to digital. What a shame. I mean you can always scan a film for something binary afterwards but the first measure should be the best possible contact dupe onto fresh modern films. Modern means polyester-based and highest resolving power, in a word: microfilms. It’s so simple to perforate microfilms and offer them for the noblest of all purposes. Alas, no.

 

[Helge]

I guess I should stockpile them, then. Any day of the week, I can go buy a dozen carousels and 2 or 3 slide projectors.

I don't know where you live, but if it's in the Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa part I can't imagine it being very much different from Copenhagen or Berlin.
More equipment total maybe, but that is only going to last until the sellers get "wise".
Sure you can always get lucky. But the big local listings show more activity around projection equipment. As well as more than giveaway prices in thrift shops, and relatively quick "turnover".
For example $75 for an Ektapro 4010. Gone in a day.

 

[Helge]

Robert Shanebrook/Laser also had something to say on the matter on Scotts show.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

It is possible re-introducing Ektachrome was just a side project to go together with the release of their new Super-8 camera.

The camera has since lagged behind, no communication what so ever. Meanwhile the Ektachrome project came along nicely and as was eventually released to the public in the most common film formats.

 

[Helge]

It is possible re-introducing Ektachrome was just a side project to go together with the release of their new Super-8 camera.

The camera has since lagged behind, no communication what so ever. Meanwhile the Ektachrome project came along nicely and as was eventually released to the public in the most common film formats.

That camera was an absolutely insane idea.
The original (Danish) model it was based on was wonderful, and one of the best Super8 cameras ever made.
It was very expensive too.
But trying to do a cutdown version, to lure in the usual token “young” people was very stupid. Especially without checking the budget first.
$120 for 3 minutes, at what to the untrained eye looks barely like iPhone quality, is just never ever going to cut it in today’s world.

It’s imperative to get people to shoot more motion picture film. For small and big projects.
But the strategy will have to be completely different.
Very few people own a movie camera anyway.

 

[Agulliver]

That camera was an absolutely insane idea.

.......

It’s imperative to get people to shoot more motion picture film. For small and big projects.
But the strategy will have to be completely different.
Very few people own a movie camera anyway.

Well I own about 10 working super 8 cameras and three std 8mm cameras...but I do accept that I am far from the average consumer and am probably not entirely sane myself.

But I am not so sure that the Kodak super 8 camera was so insane. Did you see the headlines it generated after the CES announcement? Kodak couldn't buy that amount of advertising. Yes it is expensive to get into shooting motion picture film, but the proposed super 8 camera with it's ability to record sound to SD card, crystal sync, LCD viewfinder with various aspect ratio overlays, video tap and extra wide gate would have provided a cheaper way in than any 16mm setup.

And yes, the reformulated Ektachome was part of that whole project. The demand for a colour reversal small gauge cine film was the motivator as nobody else was making one at the time. The fact that demand for Fuji's slide film was also increasing was a bonus.

The biggest problem the super 8 project faces is price....the projected cost of the camera more than tripled during testing of the prototypes. Heck, at the original suggested price I might well have bought one despite already owning a plethora of super 8 cameras. But the price spiralled out of control and the new Ektachrome film isn't exactly cheap, at roughly three times what the old 100D cost in super 8. Glad it's there, and I am sure they would sell it cheaper if they could....but it's hardly cheap.

 

[Helge]

Well I own about 10 working super 8 cameras and three std 8mm cameras...but I do accept that I am far from the average consumer and am probably not entirely sane myself.

But I am not so sure that the Kodak super 8 camera was so insane. Did you see the headlines it generated after the CES announcement? Kodak couldn't buy that amount of advertising. Yes it is expensive to get into shooting motion picture film, but the proposed super 8 camera with it's ability to record sound to SD card, crystal sync, LCD viewfinder with various aspect ratio overlays, video tap and extra wide gate would have provided a cheaper way in than any 16mm setup.

And yes, the reformulated Ektachome was part of that whole project. The demand for a colour reversal small gauge cine film was the motivator as nobody else was making one at the time. The fact that demand for Fuji's slide film was also increasing was a bonus.

The biggest problem the super 8 project faces is price....the projected cost of the camera more than tripled during testing of the prototypes. Heck, at the original suggested price I might well have bought one despite already owning a plethora of super 8 cameras. But the price spiralled out of control and the new Ektachrome film isn't exactly cheap, at roughly three times what the old 100D cost in super 8. Glad it's there, and I am sure they would sell it cheaper if they could....but it's hardly cheap.

The headlines it generated was due to:
- People always going ga ga over new hardware. Especially exotic.
- Kodak setting expectations for price of everything that was obviously not going to hold.
- It was Kodak. To “everybody” they are still bankrupt and gone.
To this day, nine years after the Chapter 11 I still get the “do they still make film?” line from casual people.
It seemed like an echo from the grave or a Phoenix rebirth to most.

To revive Super8 it would make more sense to make fine B&W reversal film available. And do a kit for home development.
That at least looks like something to people looking into film.

The gotcha was always development that would send the price for three minutes through the stratosphere for E6.
Home projection hardware and cheap scanning is also something that would need to be addressed.

Super8 can look fantastic projected and satisfy 4K displays with use of fine grained film.
But like anything analog it needs a top notch chain from camera to viewing to look respectable.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I had a Super8 camera and I really enjoyed it. I made a number of well edited short movies with it. However when I dropped it on pavement just after I got it back from repair for dropping it on the pavement, I chose not to get it repaired.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

I recently got 3 medium to high end super 8 cameras and ordered some ektachrome and vision3 films, can't wait to shoot them!