Open post to "Kodak's" APUG members

[SuzanneR]

Kodak makes superb films and chemistry, and I will keep buying and using their products as long as they are readily available. Along with Ilford, Adox, Formulary, etc.

Just spreading the analog love, I'd hate to see us with too few choices, but it would be good for Kodak to have a presence here, or at least a liaison.

Whatever did happen with that rumor that they might make a short run (20,000 rolls) of Trix 400 in 220 format. If they do that... sign me up for a hundred rolls!!

 

[terri]

I'm certainly a devoted user of HIE. Love the stuff, find it incomparable.

Other routinely used products:

TriX, TMax - 2 formats, various speeds
TMax developer
D76
Dektol
hypoclear
selenium toner
various chromes

I try to spread the love around with Ilford and Fuji, but as long as those yellow boxes/packets are out there, they will have a place in my darkroom - and my refrigerator!

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Excellent post, George. Very well worth reading. I am glad to have this new knowledge.

In my freezer:
80 rolls of Tri-X (400) 120
150 sheets of Tri-X (320) 4x5
125 sheets of TMY 4x5
And, in my dreams:
Panatomic-X

- Thomas

 

[Nicole]

TriX 120mm (would love 220 format) mostly & 35mm and Xtol developer
I'd love better availability in Perth, Western Australia.
I agree Kodak presence/liaison on APUG could be mutually beneficial.

 

[Scandium]

Kodak ...

I'm using very few Kodak products any more. Most of that is chemistry: HC-110, Rapid Fixer, Photo Flo, and Stop. The only film of theirs that I use is HIE because there is nothing else like it.

Kodak seemed to lose its focus while producing a forest of products over the course of the 90s. I began to feel like a Kodak product tester when I'd find one of their new products, begin using it extensively, only to have it discontinued or 'improved' after a year or two. For my color work I started using a lot of Ektapress Multispeed and 400 only to have Multispeed discontinued and 400 'improved' into a product that didn't suit my needs. I tried Fuji's color films and haven't used any Kodak color since.

I had similar experiences with B&W. Tri-X and Plus-X were reformulated for the new coating lines a few years ago. I tried Neopan 400 and 1600 on a lark and have standardized with them. I used Tech pan for some special jobs and now it is gone as well. Now, the only Kodak film I still buy is HIE.

Fuji seems to have a tighter market focus. They make fewer products, but each one is aimed at a specific market segment. Their product lines don't seem to deviate as much.

My two cents worth.

 

[Toffle]

$12.95--same price online or in the store at my local shop on the corner of 34th St. and 9th Ave.

Quaint shop at that. Nice quiet ambiance. But I prefer my local digs, though they can't always match the price. Use it or lose it. The last time I called Skylab (a truly world-class imaging company in Windsor) the guy explained to me that they had thrown in the towel and become a carpet cleaning business! Ouch!

My Kodak products:
HIE, T-Max, Tri-X
120 Portra NC/VC
HC-110
Indicator Stop

I don't use a lot of roll film as Fuji is more prominent in my little community. I have to travel to the city for most stuff.
I used to shoot BW400CN before I started doing my own BW darkroom stuff.
Cheers,

 

[Iskra 2]

What more could I ask for from Kodak? Continued development of 35mm C41, 120 Portra and 4x5 E6/C41 to name a few. ...... and ...... my favorite, Kodachrome is still available. Keep up the good work. Regards.

 

[DBP]

I still use Kodak fixer, Photo-flo, Stop, and occasionally HC110. Also use lots of Tri-X and Kodachrome, and I am still working through the supply of paper I bought when they shut that line down. For C-41 I'm about half and half Fuji and Kodak, though I do really like the Portra films, and am looking forward to using the new version (already have it sitting in the fridge). E-6 is mostly Fuji. But if they kill K64 I will be very upset and start buying more Fujichrome and HP5.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

I love my:
Tri-X in LF and 35mm,
T-Max100 in LF and 35mm,
and I'm learning to love my 35mm Tri-X in D-76.

but

because of Ilford's commitment to film and paper I'd rather support them and am leaning towards their Delta 100 in LF.

 

[jd callow]

I love kodak's colour materials and chems. I also like HC110, Xtol, dektol and D-76. I shoot TXP and at one time shot a ton of PXP. I love epp, nc, ept e200, all the old and new e100's and 100T was the best T balanced neg film.

Their color papers RC, metallic and Flex are IMHO as good or better than CA. When I'm shooting and printing which I'm not doing much of at the moment I'll go through 200 4x5 sheets as many rolls of 120 and 4-275' rolls of RA4 a month.

What do I want from Kodak? Nothing, but to keep producing quality product.

 

[MikeSeb]

Please. This thread is so silly. If you want to "support Kodak", buy its products. Plain and simple. There is nothing else to "do". The magic of the market will "do" it all for us.

Kodak owes nothing to anyone but its shareholders. It owes to them the maximum return on their invested capital. It achieves this by manufacturing products customers want to buy, as best it can discern this market, in a way that comports with the laws and customs where it operates. If it fails to do so, it will fail, and its employees will be un-employees and its customers deprived of its one-of-a-kind products.

If Kodak treats its employees badly, which mistreatment they are presumably in the position, as adults, to judge for themselves, they will seek other employ, Kodak will be unable to hire suitable employees, its business mission will suffer, and it will fail. Kodak, and other (present, or formerly) large companies, are profit-seeking entities, not perpetual job banks. (q.v. General Motors for further information.)

Kodak owes to "society" obedience to the laws of the locations in which it does business. The taxes "it" pays as a corporation--a convenient fig leaf, since they are actually paid by Kodak's customers--I imagine support a lot of government in those places. More, larger, and more "active" government is a real good thing, isn't it? It can't care for all of us in its warm snuggly embrace without someone generating profits it can confiscate for "better" use, so place your order for HIE or TMax 400 or Xtol, and smartly.

So if you like the company's products, and wish to have more of the same, buy them. If not, or if you are worried about some aspect of the company's behavior, don't buy them. If enough people share your concerns, you will all thereby collectively punish Kodak for its corporate misdeeds. You can then feel noble for having claimed the moral high ground, from which you can behold the liberated ranks of its workers freed from their involuntary servitude; and rejoice that its customers can no longer be subjected to all those useful products. That'll teach 'em.

How appropriate a thread for the 50th anniversary year of the publication of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." q.v.

 

[jd callow]

Its anything up to £12.00 a roll here (over US$24.00). If Kodak want me to buy more of their product they should study exchange rates more carefully. If I could buy HIE for £6.50 a roll I'd use a hell of a lot more of it.

Andy you arenot paying too much more than most others in the USA. Outside of David's local shop, HIE will run from $16-24.00 a roll at most everyone else's local photo shop in the USA.

 

[fschifano]

To be honest, I feel less inclined purchase their products as I believe they are definitely transitioning out of analog process.

How can you honestly think that when just last year Portra color print films were reformulated, and are better that the already excellent products they replaced? More recently, within the past week or so, Kodak released an announcement about an improved TMY. To think that a company would spend all that money on R&D to improve an analog product just to abandon it in short order is foolish.

 

[trip_wt]

Its anything up to £12.00 a roll here (over US$24.00). If Kodak want me to buy more of their product they should study exchange rates more carefully. If I could buy HIE for £6.50 a roll I'd use a hell of a lot more of it.

Well you can get HIE for £7.45 at 7dayshop.com, which is only 15% more than your desired price!
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=8360

 

[George Collier]

I use Tri-x in all formats up to (and including) 4x5, HC110, Rapid Selenium toner, P-flo. If they all dropped off the map, it wouldn't kill me (well, maybe the Tri-x) but, as they say here in the South, I would find something else and keep on gitt'n up.

 

[Neanderman]

T-Max 100, sheets, up to 8 x 10
Plus-X, 35mm, 120
XTol
HC-110
Kodafix
RST
Photo-Flo
Hypo Clear
Various Ektachromes, 35mm, some sheet

 

[braxus]

Pretty much the majority of my film purchases are Kodak. I'm loyal. I don't shoot as often as I used to, but I still buy more film then I use and store the rest. Just because I wanted to continue using Kodak, of which Plus X and Tri-X are no longer available locally, I had my lab bring in two 100' rolls for me which will last me a long time. I didn't need that much film, but I wanted to support Kodak. Working in a lab, Kodak gets calls from me often and know me well. I would hope I matter to such a company.

My Pro lab uses Xtol which I like.

I use Gold 100, the Porta films especially 160VC, 100 and 400UC, E100G, Plus X and Tri-X, and on occassion Kodachrome 64 and 400CN B&W.

 

[Eric Rose]

I've spent the better part of 30+ years avoiding Kodak so I guess I'm not the best person to ask. ABK

 

[aldevo]

You're right. It's slower than the alternative, less sharp, and tonally inferior, though it is finer grained.

It's still a good film -- but if it were in the class of Delta 3200 it would be even better.

Kodak makes many superb products, and I'm very much looking forward to trying the new TMY; some that are outclassed, or at least matched by other films offering a different balance of characteristics (like TMZ); and a few that are downright awful, such a Ektachrome 64, which last time I checked was inexplicably still in production.

Don't get me wrong: I have no wish to knock the great majority of Kodak products, some of which (such as HIE) are indeed in a class of their own, and others of which (such as Tri-X) go head-to-head with the finest alternatives, including Ilford HP5. But TMZ? The only reason I'd go back to it (and I used to use it, gladly) is if Delta 3200 were discontinued.

Somewhat off-topic, but I find TMZ sharper than Delta3200. In fact, in XTOl 1:1 it isn't particularly close.

I'd agree with all your other observations regarding the films, though.

 

[aldevo]

How can you honestly think that when just last year Portra color print films were reformulated, and are better that the already excellent products they replaced? More recently, within the past week or so, Kodak released an announcement about an improved TMY. To think that a company would spend all that money on R&D to improve an analog product just to abandon it in short order is foolish.

Yeah, but it's been done before.

Konica-Minolta released some new 800 ISO C-41 films mere weeks before they announced they were exiting consumer imaging (film and digital) entirely.

Do I think that's what will happen with TMY and Kodak? No. Will I change my buying habits at the prospect? Again, no.

But no development, however extreme, should be taking us completely by surprise at this stage.

For the record I use lots (75+ rolls/year) of Kodak Tri-X (35mm and 120) and a bit of TMY along with Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner. I don't shoot much color, but I do use some Portra 160 and a small amount of E100G/GX.

 

[dpurdy]

thanks for the 4 free rolls of 120 color last year. I use it.

 

[braxus]

thanks for the 4 free rolls of 120 color last year. I use it.

So have I. It's good film. It's too bad I had to buy those same free rolls off Ebay at that time when the new stuff wasn't here in stores yet. I don't worry now because pretty much everyone has stock now. I did get 4 free rolls however which Im greatful for.

 

[John Kasaian]

Tri-X in sheets and rolls
Tmax400 in sheets and rolls
PlusXPan in MF
D-76
Indicator Stop Bath
Photo-flo
Fixer

FWIW I think it is interesting that Kodak is introducing an improved Tmax 400---the first improvement in B&W film in quite awhile---lets give 'em some credit for that!

What I really really miss--
AZO
7" wide aerial roll film
Verichrome Pan in MF,
and
Every graded fiber base paper they made.

 

[Curt]

Panatomic X, Azo paper, Kodachrome 25, Super XX, Panatomic X in all sheet film sizes. Panatomic X in 120 and 220 roll film size and in 35 of course. All of the chemical that have made a century of photography possible.

Thanks Kodak, it been a fantastic half century on my part. I can still see my long passed father with a Kodak camera taking pictures of my sister and I in front of our home in the '50's. I still remember that yellow and black paper on the rolls...

 

[photo8x10]

I usually use these product from Kodak:

AZO PAPER (8x10)
T-max 400 T-max 100(35mm, 120mm, 8x10,5x7)
Tri-X (8x10)
Kodak Selenium
Kodak Hypo Cleaner
D-76 or HC-110
Dektol
Photo-Flo


Best

Stefano