State of Kodak in 2019

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removed account4

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But we all know that’s where companies often spend the least amount of money.

kodak has never been known to shirk their responsibility of quality assurance, but exactly the opposite !

Lol but what do I know, after 30 years of darkroom experience I’m still ignorant and inept.
LOL aren't we all ?!
ive got close to 40 years darkroom experience and admittedly i am ignorant in inept when it comes
to photography the more i think i know the less i realize i know,
... having been in online foto fora for a long time its usual the photographers who exhibit hubris that have no clue ..

As Matt King stated above, the backing paper left artifacts on the film and led to very strange effects during development - not just frame numbers. Some can be corrected in Photoshop, but when you have mottling on the entire frame it becomes a real chore. Just forget about printing the negatives in the darkroom.

i had fuji film years back that gave the # on the film
and the only gripes i read about was the letters/words &c not streaks &c
sounds like my kind of film to be honest! i tried to get people
to sell me their damaged goods so i could use it but no one took me
up on my offer .. much fun to use instant collage film, surprised lomo hasn't bought it all
i think they are selling pre-exposed film to double expose with :smile:
 
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Bill Burk

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I know. And I’m sorry. I also was impacted but quickly switched to 35/4x5 and will get back to 120 with cautious puppy steps. Starting with some Panatomic-X in my freezer I know is not affected. Guaranteed success first, then an experiment with the new, watching for batch numbers people say are good.

Bill
Note, at the time I worked for Kodak but they split my unit off and what I do isn’t related to film anyway. The opinions and positions I take are not necessarily those of EKC.
 

mshchem

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That’s fine for big production companies with unlimited budgets but not so practical for us independant artists. The problem didn’t happen on every single roll, previous rolls from the same production were fine so I had no reason to think the others might be defective. There’s only so much reasonable testing one can do and at some point we have to trust the manufacturer to deliver a well tested product. But we all know that’s where companies often spend the least amount of money.


Lol but what do I know, after 30 years of darkroom experience I’m still ignorant and inept.
Sure test. I've worked in analytical labs, sales guys would take samples in the field. First 10 times they get an answer they didn't like, 11th try they get a "good" result. So they ignore the first 10 and go with the 11th..
If Kodak couldn't qualify the new backing paper, an individual photographer wouldn't stand a chance. You would have to take 1 roll out of each pro pack, run accelerated life testing , freeze, thaw, bake etc. Testing a couple rolls would not give any real confidence that it was good.
 

keenmaster486

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My vision of a rejuvenated Kodak includes the following:

1. Sell off non-photography aspects of business in order to raise cash and focus on primary purpose of company
2. Make consumer still film business more efficient - consolidate film line into 3 or 4 major films at different speeds that encompass all or most of the film market, with a very important "no frills" B&W film that caters to budget and DIY people and is less expensive than anything else on the market (it might even be a loss leader - preferably not - but it would be a very important marketing tool for building an enthusiastic and loyal customer base)
3. Keep doing what they're doing with the motion picture film business - work more on partnerships with key directors, producers, studios, etc. who like using film. Keep in mind that if this market were to grow, Fuji may attempt to undercut it in the future.
4. Initiate aggressive marketing campaign of "make film cool again" or something, targeting young and old alike while not seeming stilted and also NOT simply using nostalgia as a crutch. Nostalgia is a tool, not a business model. If they don't make a good argument for using film in the digital age OTHER than just "feel like you're in the 1970s again", they will not succeed.
5. Innovate in the digital camera industry. This does NOT mean trying to butt your way into an already oversaturated and aggressively competitive market like smartphones. It means creating a whole new market for something new, and not getting pipe dream ideas about your stupid gimmicks being what sells your product ("it shares pictures over WiFi!" "it has all these cool filters that you will never use because everyone just uses Photoshop anyway!").

But they have not been doing any of these things for decades, unfortunately, and if history is any guide they will not start any time soon. They will grow content and complacent with stagnation and probably be knocked out of the ring by an up-and-coming new film company.
 

Sirius Glass

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My vision of a rejuvenated Kodak includes the following:

1. Sell off non-photography aspects of business in order to raise cash and focus on primary purpose of company

Kodak did that with my division which was small but produced a very high rate of return. For about 3% of the business we were producing over 20% of the profit. You might want to thing about your quick fixes again.
 

Lachlan Young

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a very important "no frills" B&W film that caters to budget and DIY people and is less expensive than anything else on the market

Unlikely. Too much competition. Pro Image 100 can carve a niche because of much more limited competition in C-41, but the costs of the canister and packaging are serious limitations.
 

Lachlan Young

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I've seen plenty of splotches & streaks on many different manufacturers films of all sorts & almost always they were process related. Usually from the final rinse & often wrapped up in excuses that tried to blame the manufacturer. Humidity/ dampness and wrapper offset have been a 120 headache pretty much from the start, as have people not realising the care that needs to be taken in preventing condensation forming when taking films from fridge or freezer. Intermittent faults (which the 120 backing paper issue was) can be immensely difficult to trace.

Anyway, if you use enough of any manufacturer's products you will see slight QC issues from time to time. Bet most of you haven't noticed that a few years ago Ilford subtly changed the black bag material they use - wonder if that was related to occasional static discharge-like behaviour that could affect the top sheets of a box... Haven't seen it since the bags changed.
 

Paul Ozzello

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Yeah but not in this case.

I've seen plenty of splotches & streaks on many different manufacturers films of all sorts & almost always they were process related. Usually from the final rinse & often wrapped up in excuses that tried to blame the manufacturer. Humidity/ dampness and wrapper offset have been a 120 headache pretty much from the start, as have people not realising the care that needs to be taken in preventing condensation forming when taking films from fridge or freezer. Intermittent faults (which the 120 backing paper issue was) can be immensely difficult to trace.
 

Photo Engineer

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Historically, Kodak has been more diligent and successful in supplying defect free film to the consumer. This one was a gotcha that took the engineers a long time to figure out. They feel bad. This failing happened on their watch. They did not ignore the problem. It was a long and difficult road to the proper solution.

PE
 

jim10219

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What "stuff?" Film? Underground? Did yesterday's Alaska earthquake have such widespread effects that there was liquifaction in Rochester and Bldg. 38 sunk to subterranean level?
My mistake. I misread the article. Kodak's foundation for Building 38 goes 100 feet underground. And it's connected by a conveyer to building 30.

In any case, there's a lot of specialized equipment in those building that won't do anyone much good if they're not making film with it, and they're not worth near as much if they are junked. Here's a link to a recent article describing some of it:
https://www.popsci.com/inside-kodak-factory-photos#page-9

Besides, if Kodak Alaris is doing well, they may want to buy that division from them. It would make sense for them. Then Eastman Kodak could concentrate on the printing industry, which has long been their bread and butter. They may take advantage of bankruptcy to help streamline their company.

In any case, it's no use speculating what Kodak will do. In my dealings with Kodak I've found one profound truth. Everyone who works at Kodak is either a genius or an idiot. They have no one there that is of average intelligence. So unless you know who is making the decision, it's hard to say what will happen. If the idiots are in command, they'll likely sell the company for bitcoins. If the geniuses are calling the shots, they may stumble across cold fusion. I have no idea what their upper management consist of. I've only dealt with the engineers, sales, and support staff.
 

summicron1

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This thread is for speculation of what could happen in the next year and the business of kodak going forward.

Kodak managed to reintroduce two new films in 2018. But their financial situation is quite poor.

It is public information that Kodak needs a huge sum of cash in January 2019 for stock buyback. They do not have this money or any means of getting it.

Will Kodak enter bankruptcy protection in 2019. How will it be restructured and how will this affect film production and prices? Should we be stocking up on Kodak film in the next 12 months?


so, you never did answer my question, why does kodak need to buy its stock back? I'm not a markets maven, i don't understand -- are they tired of letting stockholders lose value in their shares?

ct
 

warden

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Defective TMax 100 roll film. One month of shooting in Nepal. Another photographing an abandoned ship that has since been destroyed.
Lost images for ever.
F Kodak.
That's certainly a fine reason to wish all those innocent employees who had nothing whatsoever to do with your problem to lose their livelihoods. Charming.
 

warden

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This thread is for speculation of what could happen in the next year and the business of kodak going forward.

Kodak managed to reintroduce two new films in 2018. But their financial situation is quite poor.

It is public information that Kodak needs a huge sum of cash in January 2019 for stock buyback. They do not have this money or any means of getting it.

Will Kodak enter bankruptcy protection in 2019. How will it be restructured and how will this affect film production and prices? Should we be stocking up on Kodak film in the next 12 months?
I don't understand the stock buyback situation and I'm not interested enough to read up on it. Whatever their financial woes are I hope they pull through. I like and use film from many manufacturers but if I had to marry one it would be an easy decision - Kodak.
 

removed account4

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I've seen plenty of splotches & streaks on many different manufacturers films of all sorts & almost always they were process related. Usually from the final rinse & often wrapped up in excuses that tried to blame the manufacturer. Humidity/ dampness and wrapper offset have been a 120 headache pretty much from the start, as have people not realising the care that needs to be taken in preventing condensation forming when taking films from fridge or freezer. Intermittent faults (which the 120 backing paper issue was) can be immensely difficult to trace.

i've seen a lot of problems people have had that are not due to manufacturing defect but because of people's insistance of freezing and refrigerating
film. not only 12o film but i have seen sheet film that was ruined as well. not sure if it is the same sort of problems you have seen but its a mess. and
when i originally read of the problems people started having with the film 3-4 years ago i immediately thought it was realated to storage
... thankfully KODAK was on the case and figured out what it was ...
 

ericdan

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well, isn't that just a balance sheet operation to improve liquidity and solvency ratios?
I don't think it changes anything in the long run. Assets go down, share count outstanding down, back in balance, no?
 

MattKing

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The shares in question are "preferred" shares, meaning they are essentially IOUs, except if the debt isn't paid, the shareholders can take action against the corporation and, potentially, force some sort of liquidation.
 

Ai Print

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The most apparent defects were the watermarks, but it was way worst than that. The film was covered in blotches and streaks and unprintable with an enlarger.

“Oh well” doesn’t cut it.

No it does not cut it, especially considering that the cost of film on a shoot can often be a relatively small line item on the job / project sheet. I also had about 15 rolls ( TMY2 ) shot out of a 150 roll batch come out with number imprinting on it, frustratingly on several things I could not re-shoot.

I think you deserve your due here when it comes to chastising Kodak for this but please realize that saying something like you hope they go under with no qualifying context as your opening line is a fairly adversarial way to get empathy.

Right or wrong, dumb or smart, I am still wanting to rely on Kodak products for my work. It’s ok if you don’t but maybe consider those of us who do?
 
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BrianShaw

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I agree.

Fortunately it seems clear the Kodak and Kodak Alaris has little concern for Photrio or its participants.
 
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