Very positive news from Kodak: Strong increasing demand - new investment

Henning Serger · Nov 19, 2019

Dear forum members and film enthusiasts,

I have very positive and encouraging news from Kodak (Eastman Kodak and Kodak Alaris) for you.
Very important:
This is official information from Kodak Alaris! It is one of the results of an important conference call of EK / KA in Rochester, KA in UK and KA in Germany.
I've got it directly from them. And I have asked for permission to publish it and they have given me the permission to publish it.

The news:
1. The global film orders (demand) for Kodak films are surpassing the current production capacity (converting / finishing) by far.
2. This is caused mainly by the general demand and market increase (film revival), but Kodak is also benefitting from film discontinuations / package option reductions and price increases by competitors.
3. There is a special problem with Kodak ColorPlus film: The demand is huge, and there are very big backorders. Currently it is impossible to get enough of the needed raw materials on the market to produce enough to get all backorders fulfilled. This situation cannot be changed in the short term. This supply bottleneck will probably last at least until summer 2020.

What is Kodak's reaction to this strong increasing demand:
1. Kodak is investing extensively / extraordinarily in new production infrastructure, which will increase production capacity significantly.
2. This huge investment is absolutely needed to get the results all customers want, but it will take time. It cannot be done "over night".
3. In the meantime Kodak is working very hard and doing all what needed to produce as much film as possible.

Some additional info from me:
- already some months ago Kodak told me that they have to run 35mm film converting in 3-shifts per day to keep up with demand
- to get the film as fast as possible into the market often air transport is used instead of shipping by ship (despite the much higher costs)
- Kodak alone has global film backorders in the two-digit million unit range
- Fujifilm has also significant global backoders, but not as high as Kodak
- both Kodak and Fujifilm already have had significant backorders last year at Photokina, and since then demand and backorders have further increased
- there are some hints from very reliable sources that Fujifilm is reintroducing a color film globally next year (but this is not officially confirmed yet).

The film revival is getting stronger.

Best regards,
Henning

BainDarret · Nov 19, 2019

Great news!
Thanks for posting this.

Anon Ymous · Nov 19, 2019

Interesting information, thanks for posting. The huge demand for ColorPlus 200 film is IMHO a clear indication that people need reasonably priced film. Ektar and the Portra films are fine, but they get expensive if you shoot a fair amount of film, E6 films even more so.

cmacd123 · Nov 19, 2019

Anon Ymous said:
Interesting information, thanks for posting. The huge demand for ColorPlus 200 film is IMHO a clear indication that people need reasonably priced film. Ektar and the Portra films are fine, but they get expensive if you shoot a fair amount of film, E6 films even more so.

Colour Plus is the major "amateur" film in the Kodak line so I wonder if it may be sold to a different set of Customers.

Agulliver · Nov 19, 2019

Color Plus is available in many retail outlets as well as photographic specialist shops both online and brick/mortar. It's also cheap and a fine film in it's own right. Personally the two colour films I like most are Color Plus 200 and Ektar....both for different reasons but they're my favourites and "go to" films in 135. I am not very surprised that it's this film that has caused the biggest problems for Kodak.

My local camera shop has had trouble getting Color Plus since August, they have 160 rolls on back order and have only been able to get hold of 20. They tell me that demand is from all types of customers....professionals, keen amateurs with SLRs, newbies, people who got an old camera out of the loft or at a charity shop and want to try it....and a lot wanting to give film as Christmas presents this time of year. That shop doesn't sell Ektar but they do sell Fuji 400H and Superia 400 and cannot get hold of the former either. They report no issues obtaining Ilford B&W film which they sell a fair range of.

Many thanks to Henning for this update. Let us all hope that the "film revival" continues. It has seemed that the B&W film market stabilised a few years ago and has shown small but consistent growth since....now the colour negative market is clearly showing a significant increase.

perkeleellinen · Nov 19, 2019

Henning Serger said:
- there are some hints from very reliable sources that Fujifilm is reintroducing a color film globally next year (but this is not officially confirmed yet).

I pray this is Reala.

Anon Ymous · Nov 19, 2019

perkeleellinen said:
I pray this is Reala.

That would certainly be nice.

Alan Edward Klein · Nov 19, 2019

Is color plus the film being used in their throwaway one time use cameras? That maybe the reason for the large demand then from people who have regular film cameras.

Tom Kershaw · Nov 19, 2019

perkeleellinen said:
I pray this is Reala.

I think Reala would be the big one for Fuji to reintroduce, such a good product. Hopefully in sheet film as well...

cmacd123 · Nov 19, 2019

Alan Edward Klein said:
Is color plus the film being used in their throwaway one time use cameras? That maybe the reason for the large demand then from people who have regular film cameras.

most of the Kodak one time cameras I have seen are loaded with Max 800, which they only seem to sell in one time cameras.

Tom Kershaw · Nov 19, 2019

There is the Lomography 800 film which I guess is coming from Kodak. I tempted to try some in what would be the amusing combination of Lomo brand film and my Mamiya 7ii.

mshchem · Nov 19, 2019

Fuji is getting 15 bucks a roll for 135-36, 10 bucks a roll for 120 Fujichrome. If I'm Kodak, I would be making all forms of Ektachrome ASAP. I ordered 25 rolls of Velvia 100 in 120, 9 dollars a roll. That's damn good money for Fuji. If Fuji is getting 10 dollars for Acros (the sequel ) in 120, Kodak can sell TMX-II at 7 -8 and get rich.
Kodak is benefiting from Fuji price hikes, people will shift to another supplier.
I will take Ektachrome in 120 in a second at 7-8 dollars a roll.
Increases in volume will reduce the cost of products and drive profits. I think film is a miracle, certainly more so than a SD card. Pay to play!

farmersteve · Nov 19, 2019

This is great news! But it begs the question, how long before one of these ailing camera companies (Olympus comes to mind) decide that producing a new film camera is in their best interest? Clearly the demand is there...

pentaxuser · Nov 19, 2019

farmersteve said:
This is great news! But it begs the question, how long before one of these ailing camera companies (Olympus comes to mind) decide that producing a new film camera is in their best interest? Clearly the demand is there...

Interesting thought. I wonder what the evidence is for the economically viable demand for a new film camera or even for a resurrection of an old film camera, assuming of course that this would be cheaper and easier which may not be the case? Over to you Henning. What is the evidence and what have you heard from any camera manufacturer, if anything?

pentaxuser

Alan Edward Klein · Nov 19, 2019

Pricey but the Nikon F6 is still available.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/352116-USA/Nikon_1799_F6_35mm_SLR_Autofocus.html

foc · Nov 19, 2019

perkeleellinen said:
I pray this is Reala.

Yes, yes, yes.

I normally don't get excited about a film but the Reala was no ordinary film.
It was the elixir of film emulsions.
It was the film equivalent to nectar of the gods.
I even did a redesigned of the Reala box.
Did I say I like Reala.

abruzzi · Nov 19, 2019

I'm curious--I haven't seen any official statements regarding Ektachrome--did sales meet their expectations, and assuming that there was a drop from the peak at release time, do they see that post release level as something that can justify continued manufacture or even expansion?

(I assume that the project to make E100 for 120 is a tacit admission that demand justifies continued development, I'd just love to hear anything specific.)

Tom Kershaw · Nov 19, 2019

I'm thinking about doing some optical colour 5x4 work so Reala would be good for that.

Tom Kershaw · Nov 19, 2019

pentaxuser said:
Interesting thought. I wonder what the evidence is for the economically viable demand for a new film camera or even for a resurrection of an old film camera, assuming of course that this would be cheaper and easier which may not be the case? Over to you Henning. What is the evidence and what have you heard from any camera manufacturer, if anything?

pentaxuser

I'm not sure a new camera would be "cheap" but an OM mount system would seem to make sense, and also diversify Olympus as their micro 4/3 digital systems are facing competition. Plenty of good OM mount lenses available on the used market as well.

MattKing · Nov 19, 2019

abruzzi said:
I'm curious--I haven't seen any official statements regarding Ektachrome--did sales meet their expectations, and assuming that there was a drop from the peak at release time, do they see that post release level as something that can justify continued manufacture or even expansion?

(I assume that the project to make E100 for 120 is a tacit admission that demand justifies continued development, I'd just love to hear anything specific.)

The information that I have is to the effect that they have been so busy with the 35mm/Super 8/16mm film demand that it actually slowed the development work on the 120 and sheet film product.

Prest_400 · Nov 19, 2019

Could Mamiya restart the M7 line? I see it has appreciated a lot in prices and medium format is where a lot is at.

Good news to hear. Kodak was planning to introduce E100 and TMZ in 120, but aside of coating differences (last news were they coated some tests) the other main point is finishing. If they have a generalised bottleneck perhaps it's holding up E100 and TMZ in 120.

MattKing said:
The information that I have is to the effect that they have been so busy with the 35mm/Super 8/16mm film demand that it actually slowed the development work on the 120 and sheet film product.

Matt's post came in as I am writing, I can imagine it is causing hold ups.

Fuji to bring a new Color film? Now, that's where things indicate something seriously good. I'd echo the sense for Reala to go along the popular 400H and the widespread usage of C41 hybrid.
Provia 400X would be beautiful but quite more niche, and I imagine very expensive.

For small amateur users it'd be nice to have 1L E6 dev kits, saw that Kodak were looking at it. So far I see Bellini in Italy makes a 6 bath kit that's a bit hard to get ahold. Tetenal is unavailable due to their "hiccup".

mohmad khatab · Nov 19, 2019

Henning Serger said:
Dear forum members and film enthusiasts,

I have very positive and encouraging news from Kodak (Eastman Kodak and Kodak Alaris) for you.
Very important:
This is official information from Kodak Alaris! It is one of the results of an important conference call of EK / KA in Rochester, KA in UK and KA in Germany.
I've got it directly from them. And I have asked for permission to publish it and they have given me the permission to publish it.

The news:
1. The global film orders (demand) for Kodak films are surpassing the current production capacity (converting / finishing) by far.
2. This is caused mainly by the general demand and market increase (film revival), but Kodak is also benefitting from film discontinuations / package option reductions and price increases by competitors.
3. There is a special problem with Kodak ColorPlus film: The demand is huge, and there are very big backorders. Currently it is impossible to get enough of the needed raw materials on the market to produce enough to get all backorders fulfilled. This situation cannot be changed in the short term. This supply bottleneck will probably last at least until summer 2020.

What is Kodak's reaction to this strong increasing demand:
1. Kodak is investing extensively / extraordinarily in new production infrastructure, which will increase production capacity significantly.
2. This huge investment is absolutely needed to get the results all customers want, but it will take time. It cannot be done "over night".
3. In the meantime Kodak is working very hard and doing all what needed to produce as much film as possible.

Some additional info from me:
- already some months ago Kodak told me that they have to run 35mm film converting in 3-shifts per day to keep up with demand
- to get the film as fast as possible into the market often air transport is used instead of shipping by ship (despite the much higher costs)
- Kodak alone has global film backorders in the two-digit million unit range
- Fufilm has also significant global backoders, but not as high as Kodak
- both Kodak and Fujifilm already have had significant backorders last year at Photokina, and since then demand and backorders have further increased
- there are some hints from very reliable sources that Fujifilm is reintroducing a color film globally next year (but this is not officially confirmed yet).

The film revival is getting stronger.

Best regards,
Henning

If you have any personal relationships with the Kodak administration, I hope you will tell them about the complaint of the Egyptian Analog Society.
Kodak has an authorized distributor in Egypt and is a very evil man and hates analog photography as it would harm his interests of selling minilab machine acids - although there is no close relationship between the subjects - but this evil man believes that the return of analog photography will affect his interests and strongly rejects Importing quantities of films.
- We tried to contact the main administration of Kodak, but they forwarded the message to that of the villain.
- We hope that Kodak will force this evil person to bring rolls of amateur movies and it is better for the interest of Kodak to set up a branch or office of an official representation of Kodak in Egypt

Christiaan Phleger · Nov 19, 2019

Yeah well PiE in the sky since an increase in black and white film photography is MOOT since one of the best products "Kodak" makes is again seeing reports of packaging failures which cause severely underexposed negatives. As with the 120 backing paper fiasco "Kodak" is cutting corners while still charging a premium hoping the end user doesn't know or care of the obvious failures of the products they so self gushingly are so admiring of.

At the camera store today in Santa Fe New Mexico I chose Ilford over my standard TMax.

Christiaan Phleger · Nov 19, 2019

- Kodak alone has global film backorders in the two-digit million unit range

Yeah well I could (and probably did) tell them 3 years ago film was coming back. Its their own fault. "Kodak" and Fuji "film" were so absolutely convinced at the end of film photography and the pre-determined Digital Future. All they saw was their own noses pointing into the ground, whereas anyone who was actually paying attention to what was really going on saw the youth become enamored with film; taking Grandpa's old Pentax out with film coupled with 4-5 million people per year buying DSLR as well as every smartphone user suddenly became quite interested and fascinated with film. I'd press that APUG membership and page counts has had an increase in the recent past.

mshchem · Nov 19, 2019

If Kodak is struggling to keep up with Ektachrome movie film demand, that's great news. I suspect it's not the coating process that's a bottleneck.

This is great news. As far as the backing paper that's ancient history.

New cameras? Ilford is selling a new camera. Mamiya, are they still in business? Mamiya Leaf, BH has one listed for 28,000 USD. No film back .

Very positive news from Kodak: Strong increasing demand - new investment

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