Kodak will no longer produce any colour reversal still films

[kerne]

The demand is there, just in a niche market, like all of film now. And Kodak in their infinitely short foresight is incapable of scaling down appropriately.

 

[LJSLATER]

I've been shooting E-6 film exclusively since '07, but I never tried the Ektachromes until a year ago. I love them (both the VS and G)! The only thing I don't like about the Kodak color pallette is the way it depicts blue skies as an almost cyan color. Kodak's greens also aren't as lovely as Fuji's. But the browns! The yellows and reds!

Neither gritty, industrial urban landscapes nor ruin porn will ever be the same.

yeknom02: I don't see that you have many options. Other than the also discontinued Astia, I think you're pretty much stuck with Provia I have yet to try Rollei's lone offering. I'm checking various vendors for pricing on the two Ektachromes to see if I can afford a small brick of each to go in my freezer with my stock of Fuji T64, which was also recently discontinued.

 

[ME Super]

If Fuji/Agfa/Rollei quit making E-6 materials, what's left for the lomo photographers to Xpro? I don't particularly care for the Xpro look but if all E-6 goes away the only Xpro left will be to soup C-41 in B&W chemistry, cause you can't Xpro B&W in C-41 chemistry unless you like blank film!

As for me, I still like projecting slides, and digital projection can't hold a candle to analog projection. It's silly to take a photo with an 8MP or higher digicam, then throw 3/4 of the resolution away to project. 1.75MP (the res. of a 2:3 photo on an HDTV)? Bah! Humbug.

ME Super

 

[CGW]

This news won't be encouragement to the remaining labs with E6 lines. Shoot it while you can.

 

[kerne]

So much for my plans for a big Super 8 Ektachrome project.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Kodak pretty much ceded transparency film dominance to Fuji some time ago, and Fuji ceded color neg products
to Kodak. Rather than losing profit in endless price wars, this is no surprise. Each will now what it does best.
The logistcal problem this leaves behind for some of us is that the only polyester-base sheet film left in production is now Velvia 100F, which isn't especially versatile. Astia has been discontinued and now E100G.
Provia is made on an inferior triacetate base which isn't dimensionally stable, so is a pain in the neck with
traditional darkroom processes requiring masking, accurate registrations, etc. I'm not worried because I already
have so many shots on hand that there's no way I can live long enough to print even the best of them.
I've got a few boxes of 8x10 100G left in the freezer, one more batch of Cibachrome, and enough dye transfer
film for several years of printing once I retire. For more routine work I've already switched over to printing
from color negs. But for you youngster's wanting an alternative to inkjet and Fauxtoshop, the options are
thinning. Someone needs to invent a modernized tricolor camera utlizing black and white film, instead of just
refurbishing ancient ones. It would be a fun project for someone with serious machine shop and optics skills
and a bit of money to throw around.

 

[keithwms]

Capitalizes on what? If barely measurable demand for E6 materials prompted Kodak's decision, what's left for Fuji?

That's the same lame and simplistic argument that you pushed in two others threads: Kodak= everything. Wanna get on my ignore list for another week? Just say the word.

 

[j-dogg]

Well, time to grab a brick of E100VS.

 

[CGW]

That's the same lame and simplistic argument that you pushed in two others threads: Kodak= everything. Wanna get on my ignore list for another week? Just say the word.

Look, no one's gloating about this, OK? You're welcome to bury your head in your own private bucket of sand. If factual=lame and simplistic, then put me on the list. Demand for E6 materials brought this on and just may prompt Fuji to do the same sooner rather than later.

 

[mark]

Poop.

 

[John Shriver]

Kind of hard to justify an entire product line (Ektachrome) that only represents 1-5% of Kodak's film business. So it's no surprise that they are punting it -- the writing has been on the wall for a while, as Ektachrome product after Ektachrome product was discontinued.

Kodak wasn't kidding when they portrayed Ektar 100 as their replacement for Ektachrome when they announced it. That time has come.

As for the cross-processors, they don't really like fresh Ektachrome anyway. My daughter's favorite is Ektachrome 200 (EPD). Very nice coarse noisy grain. Obviously the only source is old stock on eBay -- but it's cheaper than fresh E100G.

 

[kb3lms]

Demand for E6 materials brought this on and just may prompt Fuji to do the same sooner rather than later.

Here's one where I have to agree with you and why I think Fuji's holding the bag on this one. Hopefuly, Fuji can captialize on Kodak leaving this segment and keep their E6 materials around for a good while longer, but if they can't... Other than their E6 products and Superia, what have they got?

Digital ate the reversal market some time ago. I'm not arguing the pros and cons of reversal materials vs. digital. Digital projection probably does $uck relative to analog slides. There's lot's of people who like E6 and this news stinks for them.

Personally, I have a few rolls of E-100G left and an unopened E6 single use kit. Trying to decide if I should offer it it all up for sale to somebody that really enjoys E6? IDK, if I want to sell it or "smoke it while I got it." Thoughts?

 

[Plate Voltage]

Despite all their bull, I no longer trust Kodak....they were trumpeting the wonders of E100G as being the ideal Kodachrome substitute and the best thing since sliced bread, only a few months ago.

Trust has been an issue for me with Kodak for a number of years now because of they way they'll promote and flatly deny discontinuing products only to announce discontinuation long after manufacture's ceased. Most recently with Plus-X - it was what, a couple of weeks between Kodak announced that it would only be available in five packs only and announcing that it was totally discontinued period (all formats, whether in five packs or individual boxes)?

At this point, the product lineup isn't what is at issue before, the bigger issue is trust: How long can a company that's lost the trust of its customers continue in business? Kodak's burned film customers enough times and they've burned digital customers on a good number of occasions too. At some point customers are going to stop gambling on Kodak altogether if they lose the trust of the marketplace (all products, not just film and related materials).

 

[CGW]

Here's one where I have to agree with you and why I think Fuji's holding the bag on this one. Hopefuly, Fuji can captialize on Kodak leaving this segment and keep their E6 materials around for a good while longer, but if they can't... Other than their E6 products and Superia, what have they got?

Digital ate the reversal market some time ago. I'm not arguing the pros and cons of reversal materials vs. digital. Digital projection probably does $uck relative to analog slides. There's lot's of people who like E6 and this news stinks for them.

Personally, I have a few rolls of E-100G left and an unopened E6 single use kit. Trying to decide if I should offer it it all up for sale to somebody that really enjoys E6? IDK, if I want to sell it or "smoke it while I got it." Thoughts?

I'm planning on some binge shooting since it's arguably pointless to stockpile what will become a PITA to get processed. Have a pile of the last 120 E100GX(fave), Velvia, and an embarrassment of expired Fuji and Kodak 120+135.

My fear is that Kodak's announcement will spook labs already watching their E6 lines coasting to a stop. Looking forward to spring/summer and hope things hold on, lab-wise, till the fall.

 

[Chan Tran]

I guess I will have to stock up some. I think E6 processing is still available for much longer.

 

[tjaded]

I love E100G & VS for stereo photography but will be fine with Fuji stuff. I wonder if they will continue to make Ektachrome 100D movie film. I sell a lot of that in Super 8.

 

[Lionel1972]

The lack of demand for color slide film reflects the lack of promotion and general appreciation. It maddens me that some companies are able to promote and sell tons of crappy and completely unuseful products, yet one of the most breathtaking acheivement of more than 150 years of photography development ends up being looked down and ignored to the point of extinction. Only when we will lose color slide altogether more and more people are going to realize what has been lost. But then it will alas be too late. When I look at a 50+ years old Kodachrome, my heart aches. I don't want to feel the same about E6.

 

[Aristophanes]

Trust has been an issue for me with Kodak for a number of years now because of they way they'll promote and flatly deny discontinuing products only to announce discontinuation long after manufacture's ceased. Most recently with Plus-X - it was what, a couple of weeks between Kodak announced that it would only be available in five packs only and announcing that it was totally discontinued period (all formats, whether in five packs or individual boxes)?

At this point, the product lineup isn't what is at issue before, the bigger issue is trust: How long can a company that's lost the trust of its customers continue in business? Kodak's burned film customers enough times and they've burned digital customers on a good number of occasions too. At some point customers are going to stop gambling on Kodak altogether if they lose the trust of the marketplace (all products, not just film and related materials).

Trust is no longer a business consideration for Kodak. It makes no difference to the bottom line anymore. Kodak invested billions of $$$'s in their films and the brand, and their customers walked away. The currency of trust in private contract makes no sense when your customer is flirting with everything else in sight.

Most of Kodak's revenues are now made on their digital press systems where they rank in the top 2. These are B2B sales and growing. The B2C personal printer side is only treading water.

Frankly, this decision was likely made at the insistence of the Court-appointed administrator overseeing the C. 11 proceedings. Kodak announces the end of a product, but, in reality they could have banged off some master rolls and cut to demand for quite some time without a public market exit announcement. (For all we know this is what Fuji is doing right now). The rationale is the cost of production vs. demand. Same for Plus-x. Same for Fuji's Neopan 400 and 1600. Too few customers even to scale down.

 

[kb3lms]

...their digital press systems where they rank in the top 2.

Kodak's doing well at something? Really?

 

[kq6up]

Kodak E6 Gone!

So sad:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/colorReversalIndex.jhtml?pq-path=13319/1229

Chris Maness

 

[keithwms]

There is already another thread....

 

[kq6up]

Ok, I will look for it. If a moderator reads this just delete this thread. I would make the original thread a sticky.

Thanks,
Chris Maness

 

[Aristophanes]

Kodak's doing well at something? Really?

Kodak bought Creo 7 years ago which was a really smart move. It married Kodak's colour management and distribution network with Creo's print control systems, especially Prinergy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creo

One can make a compelling argument that Kodak has actually done pretty well managing the decline of analog demand, especially on the motion picture side. There are forces beyond Kodak's control here, and the losses to digital were baked in more than a decade ago.

What they have done is mismanaged IP licensing and their play into personal printers is really a decade late. They also botched their early lead in sensor tech, which was sold pre-Ch.11.

 

[CGW]

Ok, I will look for it. If a moderator reads this just delete this thread. I would make the original thread a sticky.

Thanks,
Chris Maness

Thanks. It's tough to attend two wakes at once.

 

[Jerevan]

I have to say I am sad to see the E100G go away. The look of slides on a light table is something to behold... Even in small format.