Press release from Kodak. Will any Lf Film be available for "us"?

[Mahler_one]

Kodak has announced it will sell its Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging business units, to focus on 'commercial, packaging and functional printing solutions and enterprise services,' ending Kodak's role as a consumer-facing photographic company. The Personalized Imaging business includes print kiosks and consumer film, while the Document Imaging business includes scanners and commercial document management. In the meantime, the company stresses that products and support will be available and both businesses will be sold as going concerns.

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has reported that many of the world's biggest technology companies, including Samsung, Apple and Google, have formed a consortium to bid for Kodak's digital imaging patents. Kodak was hoping the sale of its patents would raise over $2.2bn which would help the remains of the company emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The newspaper reports that the consortium is looking to pay as little as $500m for the patents which cover Kodak's many fundamental inventions in the digital field.

Kodak will continue to make film for the movie industry, along with its 'Specialist Film' division, which makes large-format films for aerial and industrial photography. It will also continue to run its Consumer Inkjet division as one of its last public-facing businesses.

 

[bambolero]

 

[madgardener]

:confused:

 

[jm94]

What will happen to their developers / super 8 films / black and white films etc? :O I know their developers can be mixed from scratch but D76 is cheap cheap cheap as is! What about TMAX, TRI-X, etc etc?

 

[SkipA]

There is a huge thread on this already - please go read it. It will keep you busy for hours.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[jm94]

Cheers will check it out

 

[Ektagraphic]

Do you have a link to this press release? Does this include 4x5 even though it is not a special order item?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Great! I want 4"x5" Tri-X 400 please.

 

[dehk]

I read " It will also continue to run its Consumer Inkjet division as one of its last public-facing businesses."

And I yelled out "why the fu*k will you do that?"

 

[removed account4]

the consumer film division is for sale
and they hope whoever buys it
will keep making their film.
we all hope there will be
LF of whatever sized flm
for us
but only time will tell

so we can only buy their film
shoot what we have and
hope for the best
and if the boat sinks
there are other
manufacturers who
make amazing film
who would gladly
sell you what they have ...

 

[BMbikerider]

I can get by without Kodak film with the possible exception of CN400. I get lovely prints from this on RA4 paper with a minimum of filtration needed. Lovely warm dense blacks and clear high lights. With the Ilford version I have never had the same success.

 

[Felinik]

I read " It will also continue to run its Consumer Inkjet division as one of its last public-facing businesses."

And I yelled out "why the fu*k will you do that?"

Because if they manage to finally once for all do that right, they may be able to build up a new major commodity business. And if, and I do say IF, they become strong enough on doing that also claim a position in the ballpark of Epson and Canon, and maybe one step above, focusing on Photographic printing only...

Though I doubt they will manage to do this....

 

[desertrat]

If they keep making aero and industrial films for awhile, that's better than no film. If medical X-ray film is part of their industrial film division, it will be around for at least a while longer. I've been shooting Kodak green X-ray film in 8X10, and it serves my needs. Some people cut down the aero film and shoot that. I may try it if I can get a partial roll.

 

[John Bragg]

Not so long ago it was Ilford that was in trouble and Rodinal that we were mourning the loss of. I hope the consumer film division of Kodak is bought by someone who knows how to run it. In the meantime I will continue to shoot Tri-X whilst hoping for the best. I may also try HP5 + ( just in case ) so I know what to expect from it as it looks like Ilford may indeed be the last man standing in the long term.

 

[SkipA]

If they keep making aero and industrial films for awhile, that's better than no film. If medical X-ray film is part of their industrial film division, it will be around for at least a while longer. I've been shooting Kodak green X-ray film in 8X10, and it serves my needs. Some people cut down the aero film and shoot that. I may try it if I can get a partial roll.

The Kodak Xray film wouldn't be included in any sale because it's not made by Kodak. It's made by Carestream Health, which is an independent subsidiary of Onex Corporation. Kodak sold it's health care business to Carestream in 2007.

There is a great deal more speculation and commentary, and information pertinent to some of the musings in this thread, to be enjoyed in this other huge thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Be sure to read the few posts by (there was a url link here which no longer exists) in that thread. She is a Kodak PR person.

 

[Todd Foster]

SHOULD I STOCKPILE KODAK FILM NOW?

I was about to order one or two thousand dollars worth of TMX 4 X 5 sheet film when I got some new info:

Kodak has a long standing policy of announcing product discontinuances 180 days, or 3 months in advance, I was told by an insider. Kodak makes these announcements to dealers on the 26th of each month. I was advised to check with my supplier of choice on the first of the month for these notifications. (Vendors such as Freestyle and B&H Photo.) www.kodak.com is another source.

My conclusion: when a 3 month notice appears, THEN I'll stock up. The key point is that the plug will NOT be pulled without notice.

If this is true, and I believe it, it's OK to wait. This is very important for color film users since that material has a much shorter shelf life, even when refrigerated. Hope this helps.

Let's hope that a buyer shows up and continues film production. If not, Kodak at some point will announce that in 3 months all film production will end. This might be if movie film production ceases in 3 years, a possibility mentioned by others, and there's no buyer for still film production. That will be a dark day. Meanwhile, I'm going to store a few hundred sheets of 4 X 5 TMX in the freezer just for psychological security.

Todd F.

 

[SkipA]

I don't know that you can count on past behavior as an indicator when a company is in bankruptcy. Even so, I'm not stocking up on my favorites yet, and I'm not suggesting whether you should or not.

BTW, 180 days is closer to 6 months. 3 months is approximately 90 days.

 

[Felinik]

My conclusion: when a 3 month notice appears, THEN I'll stock up. The key point is that the plug will NOT be pulled without notice.

More information to be found here:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

And here's the full press release
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120823006226/en/Kodak-Takes-Steps-Successful-Emergence

 

[frotog]

I was about to order one or two thousand dollars worth of TMX 4 X 5 sheet film when I got some new info:

Kodak has a long standing policy of announcing product discontinuances 180 days, or 3 months in advance, I was told by an insider. Kodak makes these announcements to dealers on the 26th of each month. I was advised to check with my supplier of choice on the first of the month for these notifications. (Vendors such as Freestyle and B&H Photo.) www.kodak.com is another source.

My conclusion: when a 3 month notice appears, THEN I'll stock up. The key point is that the plug will NOT be pulled without notice.

If this is true, and I believe it, it's OK to wait. This is very important for color film users since that material has a much shorter shelf life, even when refrigerated. Hope this helps.

Let's hope that a buyer shows up and continues film production. If not, Kodak at some point will announce that in 3 months all film production will end. This might be if movie film production ceases in 3 years, a possibility mentioned by others, and there's no buyer for still film production. That will be a dark day. Meanwhile, I'm going to store a few hundred sheets of 4 X 5 TMX in the freezer just for psychological security.

Todd F.

Who told you this? The very opposite is true. They keep the consumer in the dark. This has been shown to be the case with every discontinuance in the past ten years.

 

[desertrat]

The Kodak Xray film wouldn't be included in any sale because it's not made by Kodak. It's made by Carestream Health, which is an independent subsidiary of Onex Corporation. Kodak sold it's health care business to Carestream in 2007.

There is a great deal more speculation and commentary, and information pertinent to some of the musings in this thread, to be enjoyed in this other huge thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Be sure to read the few posts by (there was a url link here which no longer exists) in that thread. She is a Kodak PR person.

I was aware that Kodak sold its X-ray film division to Carestream, but I was under the impression that the film was coated on Kodak machinery operated by Kodak employees, and then turned over to Carestream. Does anyone have any info on this? My box of Kodak X-ray film is marked 'Made in USA' and 'Finished in Mexico'.

 

[nickrapak]

Who told you this? The very opposite is true. They keep the consumer in the dark. This has been shown to be the case with every discontinuance in the past ten years.

No, generally Kodak announces in advance that they're discontinuing the film. Not before they stopped coating it; that may have been months (or in the case of Tech Pan, years) before. They do announce it approximately three months before the stock would run out at current consumption rates. That's a lot better than Fuji, where oftentimes the only discontinuation notice is when all of the suppliers say they can't order the product anymore. For example, try and find an official discontinuation notice for E100G on the Kodak website. Now try and find one for Neopan 400 120 on the Fuji Japan website. If you're really up for the challenge, try and find the E100G notice on Kodak Japan, and Neopan's on Fuji US.

 

[SkipA]

I was aware that Kodak sold its X-ray film division to Carestream, but I was under the impression that the film was coated on Kodak machinery operated by Kodak employees, and then turned over to Carestream. Does anyone have any info on this? My box of Kodak X-ray film is marked 'Made in USA' and 'Finished in Mexico'.

Carestream coats it. Since Onyx acquired the Kodak employees and the Kodak 72" wide coating facility in Colorado, the xray film is probably still coated by the same former Kodak employees on the same equipment they used when Kodak owned it. Actually, Kodak leases the coater in Colorado from Carestream to coat wide rolls of RA4 paper. See (there was a url link here which no longer exists) by PE.

Also, back in 2008, Carestream had a coating facility in Oregon. I don't know if that still exists or it was also acquired from Kodak, but it is mentioned in this article: Dead Link Removed

 

[BradS]

Al this thrashing about is needless. Remember a few years ago when Kodak sold the chemicals part of the business....do you see any shortage of Kodak Chemistry today? no.

Remember when Ilford was on the ropes a couple of years ago? and everybody was freaking out that they were going to vanish? What happened? We have plenty of high quality Ilford film and paper....and now, Kentmere too!

Same thing for Agfa...well, now Adox and a much smaller operations but, we still benefit from the business being run by executives who care about traditional, film based photography.

In all these cases, they sold the business and now, whoever is running it is doing well and we all are the benefactors.

I say, the sooner that Kodak sell the film business, the better! Finally, somebody who care about film and film users will be running the film production business. I am anxious for them to get on with it already.

 

[SkipA]

same here, and I hope it works out that way

 

[John Bragg]

Al this thrashing about is needless. Remember a few years ago when Kodak sold the chemicals part of the business....do you see any shortage of Kodak Chemistry today? no.

Remember when Ilford was on the ropes a couple of years ago? and everybody was freaking out that they were going to vanish? What happened? We have plenty of high quality Ilford film and paper....and now, Kentmere too!

Same thing for Agfa...well, now Adox and a much smaller operations but, we still benefit from the business being run by executives who care about traditional, film based photography.

In all these cases, they sold the business and now, whoever is running it is doing well and we all are the benefactors.

I say, the sooner that Kodak sell the film business, the better! Finally, somebody who care about film and film users will be running the film production business. I am anxious for them to get on with it already.

That is the best we can hope for. Tri-X is the best selling Black and White film in the world and it and the Tmax emulsions are well worth saving.