Looking for info on Kodaline Rapid Film

[Zackyist]

After 2 years of lurking I finally managed to register here when I came upon a film I couldn't find pretty much any information about with Google. I'm into experimental analog photography and like to try out films that weren't really designed for pictorial work, like sound recording film etc. They often yield weird results like super high contrast and such which I like.

I've come upon something called Kodaline Rapid Film 2586, a special 35 mm film once manufactured by Kodak on an ESTAR base. And that's pretty all the info I could find on any of the Kodaline Rapid (or RPD) films. They seem to be a type of rapid access film meant for graphics printing (I have to confess I have no idea what all of this actually means or how it's used) and this particular batch has expired in 1997. I haven't purchased it yet and now I'm mostly wondering if it's worth a try or more likely to be a complete waste of money even for experimental purposes.

So any info on this film would be much appreciated. Particularly:
1) I assume it's a black and white film, is that correct?
2) Can it be developed with normal chemicals like Rodinal or ID-11? Or would I need special rapid access chemicals?
3) Is it likely to be sprocketed?
4) What kind of sensitivity are we talking about here? Closer to ISO 3 or ISO 800? And how much is lost due to the 20+ years of expiration?

 

[MattKing]

Welcome to Photrio.
It looks like this is a high contrast black and white film used in aerial applications. There is also a patent filing which uses it to create high contrast x-rays for medical work.
I haven't found any reference to a 35mm version. The one catalogue listing I've found is one related to aerial application, and it specifies a product size of a roll 18" x 200 feet!
From that listing, it seems to be orthochromatic.
Those films were designed for high activity developers - quite different from standard developers.

 

[Zackyist]

Thanks! I also just found some aerial photography references in part catalogues and they seem to indicate it's originally a duplicating film. The 35mm version, or at least this one, comes in big 500 ft / 152 m bulk rolls. According to an old eBay listing another reproduction film from the Kodaline series, number 2566, is:
"Thin Estar base
ASA 1-3
Very high contrast
Orthochromatic"
so it might be very similar. The listing says that "Dektol 1:10 under red safelight a good starting point", not sure if this is based on testing or just speculation.

Can you give an example of high activity developers in this context? Are they the ones that develop a film in seconds, not minutes?

 

[MattKing]

X-Ray film developers and the developers that are/were used for graphic arts applications are/were high activity developers. They are designed to give high contrast images, not images with fine tonal gradation.
Kodalith developer would be one example.
HC-110 dil A was used for some graphic arts applications. I don't know whether the modern version would still perform that way, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Print developers like Dektol are also higher in activity, and would be worth experimenting with.

 

[Zackyist]

I see, thank you for the information! Dektol and HC-110 are certainly easily available so I guess I need to think about whether I'm ready to take the plunge.

 

[Brads585]

I know this thread is a couple years old and probably you already played with the film and discarded it by now but I thought I’d throw my two cents in. I was a photo technician for Eastman Kodak and used 35 mm Kodaline type 2586 and its predecessor, 2566 extensively for years. We used it as a masking material for slides used in multi image slide presentations that Kodak used for both marketing and entertainment purposes. Multiage consisted of banks of slide projectors, controlled by a computer, all aligned to the same screen. We would use Kodaline film in pin register animation stands to create masks to place images within specific spots on the screen. With the estar base, it was much more stable than Kodalith film which had an acetate base and would shrink or swell as the heat of the lamps warmed it up. Although we would used it to create soft edge drop shadows when superimposing one image over another, it was really only intended to be a completely black or clear film and not designed to reproduce a gray scale although you could when developed in Dektol. It could also be used for posterizing, but again, it was not intended to be a film that was used in a camera to capture images.

 

[LeoCherne]

I am following this thread - I am currently updating my slide making book, Optical Slide Printing. In the effort to fill in some gaps and for preservation, I have been adding the Kodak Technical Notes for the main films that were used in the typical 1980s slide production process. One place where I have hit a dead end is with finding a copy of the tech notes for Kodak Reproduction Film 2566 and Kodaline. Brad, I completely appreciate what you have to say about 2566, it was a great film and to this day I'm not sure I ever explored the full capabilities of the film.
Sadly, with all of the film that I shot, I threw away the Tech Notes, too busy with production, perhaps.

Than said I really am looking to get a copy - a PDF would be fine - of the 2566 Tech Notes. If anyone has one I would appreciate a copy, if anyone knows who might have one, that information will be helpful, too.