Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film

[AgX]

...I think that Kodak really should sell off the profitable parts of the digital side, and dump the rest of the digital stuff in the nearest dust bin, to concentrate on it's film business. Pretty much what Ilford did when it sold off it's foray into Ink papers and colour materials, to concentrate on it's core business, B&W imaging materials.

The british Illford IS engaged into inkjet papers. But under the brand Harman Photo. Practically it's all the same company: Harman Technology Limited.

[wogster]

Paul, profit problems aren't related to Kodak's hard-working, skilled and devoted employees being overpaid. Digital is their money-loser, and selling the Healthcare Unit was a disaster. Their Films do make a profit, but could be more profitable if they were universally available to consumers. They've had this problem of non-availability in Stores for over a decade. I remember telling them 10 years ago about their Films not being available in the former Bi-Way Store.
For low-selling Films, the pre-paid ordering system I suggested would pay for the Master Roll before it were made, and so they would not have to invest any capital to produce the Roll. Sounds like a good idea to me, but what do I know. I don't want to go beyond the pale again. :rolleyes:


Yes, starring the beloved Sir Roger Moore. The song is "Nobody Does It Better" (1977) -- my favourite Bond Theme Song. I can write out all the words if anyone wishes. Many of you probably won't believe me, but I don't care because it's true. I'm the one who got Roger his Knighthood back in 2003. I had originally recommended him back in 2001, but nothing was happening. So I enquired in January 2003 with the Ceremonial Secretariat Richard Roscoe, and was told there is a five year grace period between two consecutive honours. Roger was made a CBE (check your dictionary if you don't know what that is) in 1999, and so wasn't eligible until 2004. I asked if they could please waive that five year period, and they did and the Knighthood was announced in June 2003. Now, a defeatist would have accepted the original explanation, and Sir Roger would have had to wait another year. Where there's a will there's a way! Nobody does it better than Kodachrome!

I didn't comment on the employees or their pay scale, however if you can't replace a piece of equipment in Rochester, you might be able to use someone elses. Even though they don't now, I think Harmon can coat multi-layer colour materials.

I think the issue with availability may be too large a minimum order. I heard somewhere that Kodak has a fairly large minimum order. So independent stores and stores that don't go through a central ordering office, who would like to put a few rolls on the shelf, can't, put Kodak film on that shelf. Say you own a restaurant in a tourist trap, so you think, okay lets put a few rolls of film on the shelf behind the register. Kodak requires say a minimum of 50 rolls per film ordered, well that's not going to do, some other company allows a 20 roll minimum order, and you can mix and match. This is why I think so many places like that had Konica Film and Agfa film at one time, and Fuji now....

As for Bond, don't know all the words to any of the songs, seen all the movies though. Craig is similar to Connery, tough, rough, no nonsense Bond, a mans man, but good enough looking that the ladies like him too. Moore was debonair Bond, Dalton I thought was too "gay" fortunately this was at odds with the writing, thought the casting agent should have been fired for picking him. Brosnan tried to be half Connery/Half Moore, but never was successful at pulling off either, which made him annoying, then again, I've seen him in other things and he was still annoying, maybe it's the fact he can't act. Lazenby only did one movie, not enough to really form an opinion on what he would have done if he had been able to mature his portrayal of the character. If you really want to see Bond as Fleming intended him, you have to read the books.

[Photo Engineer]

Terry;

Sorry you took offence. I was surprised though. Yes, tape is used and it was about 3" wide and yellow when I watched the operation. Don't stand in front of the roll when they are changing one at high speed! You could be rolled up with the film or slit and spliced.

No heavy tension is put on the splice. It is not really a splice per se. It is removal of one roll and taping it fast, and then taping the upcoming roll to the core, so no real splice is involved. The tape is about 1 - 3 ft long to hold the film on the core, but when actually used for splicing, which it is sometimes, it is used full width and on BOTH sides.

PE

[brianmquinn]

I have read that after a film is coated it must age for a period of time in order for the contrast, color balance etc to reach desirable levels. If this is true and if Kodak decided to coat another batch how long would it be before it would be ready to use?

[Photo Engineer]

I have read that after a film is coated it must age for a period of time in order for the contrast, color balance etc to reach desirable levels. If this is true and if Kodak decided to coat another batch how long would it be before it would be ready to use?

Brian;

This is not really true.

Here is some reasoning. If film must age and change to turn into something good, what tells it when it reaches that point, and what stops it from further change? If film changes with keeping, it keeps on doing it until it is done for.

And, that is actually what takes place. Film is constantly changing due to heat and background radiation as well as oxidation and other environmental factors and thus must have a definite expiration.

Kodak keeps their film under known optimum storage conditions until product is needed on the market. With high volume products they go out the door as quickly as possible, but others are in the locker for quite a while as they sell it in bits and pieces so to speak.

PE

[brianmquinn]

PE
I guess your reply means the old story of Pro films being aged to perfection and then shipped cold is really not true.

[PHOTOTONE]

PE
I guess your reply means the old story of Pro films being aged to perfection and then shipped cold is really not true.

I don't think film has ever been "shipped" cold, however Professional color films, even now are kept refrigerated at the retailer, particularly sheet films.

[Photo Engineer]

The Pro films are a different formula than the consumer films.

They are kept more carefully and are "aged" in the sense that they don't go out the door as soon as possible, but this is not to get them to do anything special. Among other things, it is more due to the fact that Kodak wants to get everything just right for the Pro product and so a lot of things have to happen in testing before it is approved.

Films do undergo a small change cycle from the moment they are coated until the change speeds up and they spoil. This differs for each product.

So, in a hypothetical example, a consumer film may go out any time, and a master roll or group of rolls from a run may be cut and packed many times based on demand with very tiny changes between batches taken from the same run simply due to keeping. The pro film is all done at one fixed time after manufacture to insure that every single one of the rolls are all the same. Therefore, a pro can buy film anywhere in the world knowing it was packed with the same characteristics and should be the same provided it is kept well. It is up to the professional and the dealier to keep his/her film at the optimum conditions.

This is how the story started. Simply an effort to make every roll in a batch of pro product identiacal.

Of course it is a moot point.

PE

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak color products were once shipped cold. I can remember the Kodak refrigerated trucks delivering ice cold packages of color paper to our photofinishing lab back when Kodak was its own distributor and had a fleet of trucks nationwide.

PE

[Dinesh]

...., Dalton I thought was too "gay" fortunately this was at odds with the writing, ....

Care to elaborate?