And I just stocked up on 4x5 sheets of Portra, though my reasons are mostly selfish!
This fundamentally misunderstands the value of distributors and the complexity of B2B commerce in the real world.
Manufacturers and vendors use distributors to avoid things that are not their core business. It's infinitely easier for Kodak in Rochester to focus on making film and stuffing it into containers than it is to make film AND manage a global sales and distribution network servicing 30,000+ retailers across 50+ countries, each with incredibly heterogeneous regulatory requirements, payment terms, and cultural norms.
Unfortunately it's not as simple as "just take orders and ship it out" when you're talking about getting product into every major city globally.
If direct ecommerce were truly superior to distributors, Coca-Cola would have done it decades ago with their near infinite resources and market domination.
I confess, I have become rather conservative over the past years. Yesterday I brought a parcel to the post office, in it an Arriflex 16 St that I’ve just serviced. Thinking that the owner might put the camera in a vitrine would make me sick. Each film camera or projector I revive gives me hope that somebody is going to make a worthy movie. From a tripod.
It’s the little things I miss, all 16-mm. film available perforated on both sides for the many cameras that deserve it. Think of a Victor 3/4/5 or a Mitchell 16 Professional. The one is lightweight and well portable, the other is still the Queen of the 16-mm. cameras—on sticks (weight). Then the 50-foot spools and fresh Kodak loaded 25-foot Double-Eight magazines. 35-mm. camera stocks P perforated for all the old machines with a crank on them.
Yeah, behind that all must be the will to propagate cellulose triacetate and PETP with a light sensitive slurry on it. It’s to talk to the young (I am 63) so that they hear it from the epicentre of film manufacturing (it began with Reichenbach and Eastman in 1889 [unlawfully]), that they’re worth more than only pressing buttons. Heaven, young strong people idling trough life with electronics around them is so sad. Kodak, make and let them do what’s film. Cut that digital trinkets out. A Kodak Reflex Special, open but loaded with white leader, for the world to see what you’re about, Ciné-Kodak Specials on fluid heads, the mirror reflex finder explained. Twelve perfectly restored Kodak Electric 8 cameras in a line at the CES would certainly make an impression. And projection! No Kodak booth without a popcorn-free (not smelling) pretty little cinema. Why not new, improved Kodak film splicers? Substantial things!
don't know there, but here those deals were on really bad films and processing. The 14-15y.o. me in the 90s was super happy about that, but looking at those prints now makes phoenix I look like velvia.
So yeah, we're comparing price of portra and gold, two very high standard films, with some third party obscure products...
Oh well, my birthday is in 4 days anyway so I just bought $500 worth of Kodak E-100 in MF & LF to help them out..
So like 4 sheets?
3m and Ferannia was the most likely culprit. Not awful stuff, Fuji also had loads of film repackaged. I don't know how much Kodak did of that. I never even heard of Porta back in the day. The vast vast majority shot whatever was on the shelf. Film speed was an afterthought. If there wasn't enough light you used the flash. You shot either Fuji or Kodak and that was it. You could also shoot the grocery brand but like my bubblegum chewing hairsprayed older teenage cousin would say 'That fuji stuff is yuck SNAP I'm gonna stick with Kodak SNAP POP it just looks delish'
I remember my mother (the family photographer) just picking up Kodak or Fuji whatever and firing away in the SLR. When BW400CN came out it was a huge deal. Special trip to the park for photos!
Not sure about the USA because I never used any "buy D&P, get a free film" apart from Seattle Filmworks who were rather different to the mainstream....but in the UK and Europe, certainly a lot of those "free" films were Ferrania under another name. That's how Ferrania became the world's most popular film. And it wasn't bad at all, but equally was not up to the products offered by Kodak, Agfa and Fuji. Ferrania were churning out so much film the unit cost was tiny. Which is how it ended up rebadged by chain stores, camera shops, labs and so on. Towards the end, Poundland in England were selling Ferrania Solaris 200 for £1 a pop. Truprint also used Ferrania as their "free film". when I lived in the USA, Wal-Mart certainly offered super cheap Polaroid branded film which was "Made in Germany" and looked a LOT like Agfa.
Fuji certainly also offered Superia 200 and 400 for rebranding, and Agfa offered Vista (before Afga Photo Vista which was rebadged Fuji). But these were priced a bit higher than Ferrania.
But yes, there was a lot that was artificial about those super low prices...labs offering a super cheap film free with D&P to keep your custom. Buying a roll of actual branded film wasn't so much cheaper than today...the difference is that today we don't have those crazy deals.
Kodak are now the only people manufacturing mainstream colour negative film....be it for cinema, ameteur or pro use. Harman and others might well get there, but for the moment if you want a good quality CN film that's dependable, it was manufactured by Kodak...whatever it says on the box (because it might well say FujiFilm or Lomography!).
My hope is that Kodak getting past this hurdle in 2026 will allow them to press "reset" and start offering some new products.
At the top of my list would be: 1) the Kodak-branded E6 chemistry that they claimed was going to be released in 2024...
Honestly, that would be a huge risk.
Yes, it's reported elsewhere on Photrio as well. Note that the chemistry is made by PhotoSys and distributed by CineStill. Kodak licenses the name. It's possible they supplied a recipe and maybe (very maybe) did one or two tests (but I really doubt that).And lo and behold, I just checked Cinestill's website to look at sheet film offerings and saw this: https://cinestillfilm.com/collectio...cts/color-reversal-e6-slide-processing-kit-5l.
Yes, it's reported elsewhere on Photrio as well. Note that the chemistry is made by PhotoSys and distributed by CineStill. Kodak licenses the name. It's possible they supplied a recipe and maybe (very maybe) did one or two tests (but I really doubt that).
Yes, it's reported elsewhere on Photrio as well. Note that the chemistry is made by PhotoSys and distributed by CineStill. Kodak licenses the name. It's possible they supplied a recipe and maybe (very maybe) did one or two tests (but I really doubt that).
That's true, but I think we have several examples of equipment and, well, 'stuff' out there on the market bearing the Kodak name, but not necessarily the Kodak quality level.Eastman Kodak are, after all, receiving licensing revenue, and the quality of the end user result is highly dependent on the quality of the processing.
Definitely, and especially in the US. I also remarked on the price point in the other thread on this. I think lots of people will be absolutely thrilled by this, and understandably so.The price point for the 5-liter kits is, to the best of my knowledge, the best there currently is for E6 chemistry (effectively half the price of the Jobo kits).
"The big scare of 2025" was another option, but didn't quite make it. I think as a team we're satisfied by the final compromise.We were tempted to use "The Sky is Falling" instead, but resisted the temptation.
3m and Ferannia was the most likely culprit. Not awful stuff, Fuji also had loads of film repackaged. I don't know how much Kodak did of that. I never even heard of Porta back in the day. The vast vast majority shot whatever was on the shelf.
I remember my mother (the family photographer) just picking up Kodak or Fuji whatever and firing away in the SLR. When BW400CN came out it was a huge deal. Special trip to the park for photos!
One of the anti-trust restrictions on Kodak, like not selling Kodachrome with processing included in the states, was for many years they could not sell private label film.
This fundamentally misunderstands the value of distributors and the complexity of B2B commerce in the real world.
Manufacturers and vendors use distributors to avoid things that are not their core business. It's infinitely easier for Kodak in Rochester to focus on making film and stuffing it into containers than it is to make film AND manage a global sales and distribution network servicing 30,000+ retailers across 50+ countries, each with incredibly heterogeneous regulatory requirements, payment terms, and cultural norms.
Unfortunately it's not as simple as "just take orders and ship it out" when you're talking about getting product into every major city globally.
Thread title updated to reflect later clarifications.
We were tempted to use "The Sky is Falling" instead, but resisted the temptation.
Transitioning to a direct web sales model would probably be a nightmare for Kodak, and involve far more staff than they currently need for office support and shipping. And even in high volume mode, there could be nightmares in how the product gets handled beyond their control. That kind of scenario is really what killed off Cibachrome in the US. It's not so simple. But as it is, they seem legally committed to Alaris, which is really the party which needs to be leveraged into modernizing the distribution.
But they don't have to go to direct sales. They can use existing eCommerce middlemen to be their 1st tier distribution system and they will sell direct or via last mile retailer.
The only reason to maintain a direct distribution and sales force is if your product is so specific it needs high touch in the sales process.
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