Kodak revises Porta films

[Early Riser]

PE, do you know for a fact that the B&W films will be upgraded? T-max 100? And if so what does the 2 electron sensitization actually mean in a practical sense?

[Photo Engineer]

PE, do you know for a fact that the B&W films will be upgraded? T-max 100? And if so what does the 2 electron sensitization actually mean in a practical sense?

I don't know it as a fact. I know that they had plans for it.

What it means is that a 200 speed film can be made with the same grain as a previous 100 speed film, or that the 100 speed film can be made with better grain.

Generally it means a better film all around for sharpness, speed and grain.

PE

[braxus]

Ron,

What does the new technology mean for old school emulsions like Plus X and Tri-X? Will they also be effected or will they leave them alone? I can see TMax changing.

Also for a film like 100UC- will there be a chance they can make it finer grained closer to the Supra 100 standard of PGI 27?

[Photo Engineer]

Ron,

What does the new technology mean for old school emulsions like Plus X and Tri-X? Will they also be effected or will they leave them alone? I can see TMax changing.

Also for a film like 100UC- will there be a chance they can make it finer grained closer to the Supra 100 standard of PGI 27?

I really don't know what EK will do overall.

I suspect what you say will be close to fact. The new Portra 800 film, AFAIK, is the first consumer film with the new sensitization. Vision 2 ECN for motion picture was the first to get this new technology.

PE

[Photo Engineer]

Ron,

What does the new technology mean for old school emulsions like Plus X and Tri-X? Will they also be effected or will they leave them alone? I can see TMax changing.

Also for a film like 100UC- will there be a chance they can make it finer grained closer to the Supra 100 standard of PGI 27?

I really don't know what EK will do overall.

I suspect what you say will be close to fact. The new Portra 800 film, AFAIK, is the first consumer film with the new sensitization. Vision 2 ECN for motion picture was the first to get this new technology.

PE

[Black Dog]

Portra films seem to change more often than David Beckham's haircut........

[Matt5791]

Nice to see continued strong marketing and development of these professional products.

I have been using Portra film this summer for all the weddings I shot - apart from the most recent (last Saturday) - I used Fuji Pro400.

Why?

Well, whilst I think the skin tones are superior in the Kodak emulsions, I do like the general overall look of the Fuji emulsion and I wanted to give it a whirl having not used it for a few months.

The second reason is:

Kodak Portra 400NC pack of 5 135 films: £24.66
Fuji Pro400 pack of 5 135 films: £17.57
(source: calumet)

That is basically 40% more for Kodak - which is just absurd, and also rather disappointing.

Matt

[RidingWaves]

I'm keen to try them, I used to use the NC 400 but switched to UC 400, and I'd like a better version of the VC 400 to fit in between those palette/contrasts. I just can't figure out when and where I can get them, major retailers are not posting them yet and Kodak says Q4 06 as stock turn-over. Yikes! Might be ages or do I have to keep buying the old stuff to get to the new stuff?

[ajuk]

AFAIK, at the present time, Kodak is upgrading all of its color negative films with the new 2 electron sensitization. Following this, or concurrent with this, B&W films will also be upgraded.

PE

Do you have a citation? Do you work for Kodak, you seem to know a lot of stuff?

[Photo Engineer]

Do you have a citation? Do you work for Kodak, you seem to know a lot of stuff?

I spent 32 years working in the Kodak Research Labs.

The 2 electron sensitization was the topic of one of the talks at the ICIS (International Conference of Imaging Science) held in Rochester this year. I was present at the talk.

PE