Where does the X for Kodak films come from?

Helinophoto · May 30, 2016

Hi

Saw an interesting discussion at rangefinderforum, where a guy asked what the "X" in films like Plus-X, Tri-X etc comes from and what it actually means.

Was it because "anything with x in it" was cool in the 50's and 60's ?

Does anyone know? (photoengineer/others?)

Jeff Bradford · May 30, 2016

I always thought it meant "Exposure". The more Xes, the faster the exposure.

gone · May 30, 2016

Kodak likes to use X's. Tri-X, Plus X, Microdol X, etc. Normally X means times, but in the Mic X case it meant the very secret ingredient,which appears to be sodium chloride, but no one really knows for sure, at least to my limited understanding. All I know is that Mic X is one of my favorite developers w/ some films, but only when used full strength.

In any case, Kodak seems to have used the X designation for different purposes w/ different films. They're just fond of it I suppose. I like it too. It conjures up the names of old, bad sci fi films from the 50's. There always seemed to be a Planet X floating around somewhere out there in the universe. I found one on youtube that's in Spanish, and must say that El Hombre Del Planeta X sounds much more cool than The Man From Planet X.

Gerald C Koch · May 30, 2016

Only The Shadow knows!

Bill Burk · May 30, 2016

I was thinking maybe by finding ads for film with and without the X, the difference might be revealed...

Page 71 is an ad for Kodak Panatomic film without the X... October 1933

https://books.google.com/books?id=6CcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA71&dq=kodak+panatomic&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjH9ICl_4HNAhUN4GMKHRZsCHEQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=kodak panatomic&f=false

Page 225 is an ad mentioning Panatomic-X... February 1939

https://books.google.com/books?id=n...CUU4FBDoAQgiMAI#v=onepage&q=panatomic&f=false

removed account4 · May 30, 2016

i figured it was something that meant nothing like the word "KODAK"
although all those X's do have a space race, cold war, space-age -cool thing going on.
kind of like the sputnik chandelier.

paul ron · May 30, 2016

Never mind the film add.. the magazine was a pleasure to cruise through.

Bill Burk · May 30, 2016

paul ron said:
Never mind the film add.. the magazine was a pleasure to cruise through.

I have to be careful, every time I dig up these magazines I spend the rest of the day looking at how to clean a carburetor and make a hutch for a rabbit...

benjiboy · May 30, 2016

Life's too short to think about such trivia

MattKing · May 30, 2016

I'm guessing that it was used at times to indicate a new version with higher speed.

At times, not to good effect: Kodachrome-X.

BrianShaw · May 30, 2016

benjiboy said:
Life's too short to think about such trivia

I quite agree, but life's too short to be commenting on other people's "time wasters"... Which is what I just did too!

Bill Burk · May 30, 2016

I find it interesting that Super X is used for motor oil and rifle cartridges...

Maybe Kodak originally planned to call their faster film Super-X but was concerned about trademark infringement.

Helinophoto · May 30, 2016

Hehe, funny discussion none the less ^^

removed account4 · May 30, 2016

Bill Burk said:
I have to be careful, every time I dig up these magazines I spend the rest of the day looking at how to clean a carburetor and make a hutch for a rabbit...

i'm currently looking for the gasoline syphoner-er.
but not sure if lungs full of gas fumes beats a mouth full of fuel !

BrianShaw · May 30, 2016

I always thought the X, at least in rifle cartridges, was to imply speed: "xpress".

Ian Grant · May 30, 2016

Bill Burk said:
I was thinking maybe by finding ads for film with and without the X, the difference might be revealed...

Page 71 is an ad for Kodak Panatomic film without the X... October 1933

https://books.google.com/books?id=6CcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA71&dq=kodak+panatomic&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjH9ICl_4HNAhUN4GMKHRZsCHEQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=kodak panatomic&f=false

Page 225 is an ad mentioning Panatomic-X... February 1939

https://books.google.com/books?id=n...CUU4FBDoAQgiMAI#v=onepage&q=panatomic&f=false

The X was used in the name of the new family of B&W Kodak films introduced just before WWII 1938/9 in response to the greatly improved Ilford range that included Pan-F, Fine-grain Panchromatic (FP - FP4 Plus) & Hypersenisitive Panchromatic (HP - HP5 Plus).

Initially the new Kodak X range was Ortho-X, Panatomic-X, Super-XX, and Tri-X and made in the US by Eastman Kodak, and by Kodak Ltd in the UK and Hungary (the plant was nationalised after WWII and became Forte). Tri-X was only available as sheet film. I have the data for all the films in a 1941 Kodak Ltd catalogue.

Microdol-X is the improved version of Microdol so again the X is designating new.

Ian

bdial · May 30, 2016

jnanian said:
i'm currently looking for the gasoline syphoner-er.
but not sure if lungs full of gas fumes beats a mouth full of fuel !

It does, DAMHIK

Nige · May 30, 2016

Bill Burk said:
Maybe Kodak originally planned to call their faster film Super-X but was concerned about trademark infringement.

should have gone with Supa-Dupa-X

Where does the X for Kodak films come from?

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