Wet Collodion vs. Emulsion making & the difficulties involved

[dslater]

Dan;

Mercury and mercury salts cause severe fog in photo materials when not used in the correct manner. Merthiolate is one of them.

We had a case of severe fog on a product line that was traced to mercury and it was found that one of the line workers had visited a relative and slept in a bed used by another individual who had had a cut treated with merthiolate.

The transfer of the merthiolate onto the sheets from one person and then to the other person and then to the film was enough to cause serious defects.

This was one of our courses at EK. Things to avoid.

So, we had special pens, as the ink in most pens and markers can cause fog in films. We have special insect spray, as most sprays can cause fog. The list goes on and on and we had to take classes in all of this.

BTW, Dye Transfer paper used a Thorium salt and was mildly radioactive. They used special equipment and a special machine to make it. If they had not, the accumulated radioactivity would have affected other products on the same machine. And, all Kodak buildings in which film is made have footbaths to remove any outside dust. We have a special laundry and labware cleaning facility and wear specical outfits to prevent contamination.

I would guess this adds to the Kodak quality and also the cost.

PE

Wow - very interesting. So did Kodak have some kind of store at the plant where employees could buy things like pens and markers? Does pen and marker ink still cause fogging or did they used to have mercury in them?

Dan

 

[bill schwab]

Would people recommend the John Coffer set or Quinn Jacobson's book?

I like both, but the Coffer set is a little more in-depth with the added DVD's. They are worth the set right there. Much better when you can see someone going through the process.

Good luck!

 

[htmlguru4242]

Ah, I forgot about the DVDs with the Coffer book. There doesn't seem to be much of a price difference ($10, if I remember from yesterday), so that seems like the good choice.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Wow - very interesting. So did Kodak have some kind of store at the plant where employees could buy things like pens and markers? Does pen and marker ink still cause fogging or did they used to have mercury in them?

Dan

I had 2 passes. One for the plant keyed to buildings and areas that I could go to, and another for stockrooms. I could go to a stockroom and get a pen, pencil, graph papers, wratten filters, step wedges, tablets, safe-flashlights and regular flashlights, chemicals, labware and on and on and on. They scanned the card and my project would be charged. I got anything I needed that way.

Actually, I had 3 passes. One was for exit from the plant carrying very confidential material and this pass exempted me from inspection, as the gate guards could not see the contents of my briefcase.

PE

 

[dslater]

I had 2 passes. One for the plant keyed to buildings and areas that I could go to, and another for stockrooms. I could go to a stockroom and get a pen, pencil, graph papers, wratten filters, step wedges, tablets, safe-flashlights and regular flashlights, chemicals, labware and on and on and on. They scanned the card and my project would be charged. I got anything I needed that way.

Actually, I had 3 passes. One was for exit from the plant carrying very confidential material and this pass exempted me from inspection, as the gate guards could not see the contents of my briefcase.

PE

So the special pens and such were for use at the plant - not necessarily for use at home?

Dan

 

[Kerik]

Actually, I had 3 passes. One was for exit from the plant carrying very confidential material and this pass exempted me from inspection, as the gate guards could not see the contents of my briefcase.

PE

Was it a.... HARMONICA???

 

[Photo Engineer]

Oh, one time it was a Kodak Instant camera which had not been released yet and once it was legal documents related to the Polaroid case. There were many cases.

I played a violin at one time, but it was too big for a briefcase.

My last day at Kodak, my wife and I carried out cake, baloons and posters from the reception party. Kinda bittersweet. I had to drop my pass into a slot as I exited. They had my name on register so that I had to do that, and they knew to pass us both with the cake and other stuff.

PE