Edge markings on 120 film

[twinsfan]

Hi Everyone,

Silly question, but I noticed on 3 rolls of Kodak film that I've had processed there are numbers on the edge of the film. Each roll begins with 41 and ends with 55. This is on the opposite side of the film that has the frame numbering and arrows, it's interspersed with the words KODAK 400TMY-2 (in the case of Tmax 400) or KODAK E100VS (in the case of 100VS). Anyone know what those numbers refer to?

[photomem]

Those could be numbers superimposed by the processing machine at your lab. I noticed them when I used to have Dixie Color (Gone Now, but sorely missed in Memphis) processing my film when I first moved to town. Now I have to use Memphis Professional Imaging and no strange numbers printing. Just a thought.

[twinsfan]

I don't think that's it, they are from 2 different labs, and it's in the same font as the Kodak markings.

[naugastyle]

I think it's just a Kodak thing, although I'd love to know the meaning behind it. I have these numbers too on 160NC, home-processed. Nothing like this on home-processed 400H, 800Z, Acros, Delta 3200. I might dev a roll of TMY tonight and see if it's the same.

[michaelbsc]

I think it's just a Kodak thing, although I'd love to know the meaning behind it. I have these numbers too on 160NC, home-processed. Nothing like this on home-processed 400H, 800Z, Acros, Delta 3200. I might dev a roll of TMY tonight and see if it's the same.

My guess would be that it's something to do with tracking the packaging process. If dozens of rolls come back as defective with "these particular numbers" they can most likely determine when/where/who/how.

[naugastyle]

But if ALL the tracking numbers are 41 - 55, how does that help? I suppose it could be coincidence, but three different films? (TMY and E100 for twinsfan, 160NC for me).

[MattKing]

All of the Kodak 120 film I shoot (Plus-X, TMX, TMY, E100 and Portra) has these numbers. They are alternate frame numbers - if you shoot 6x4.5, they line up correctly with the frames. If you shoot 6x9, you get two numbers per frame.

I don't have any idea why they chose 41-55, but it certainly makes it easier to specify negative numbers to your photofinisher.

IIRC they have done this for as long as I have shot 120 - since the 1970s.

I don't have any 220 negatives handy, but I think they do the same or a similar thing with them as well.

Matt

[Sirius Glass]

If you print contact sheets, the numbers can be associated with the negative so that it is easier to pick the right one when a number of shots have been taken of the same subject/scene.

Steve

[msage]

All of the Kodak 120 film I shoot (Plus-X, TMX, TMY, E100 and Portra) has these numbers. They are alternate frame numbers - if you shoot 6x4.5, they line up correctly with the frames. If you shoot 6x9, you get two numbers per frame.

I don't have any idea why they chose 41-55, but it certainly makes it easier to specify negative numbers to your photofinisher.

IIRC they have done this for as long as I have shot 120 - since the 1970s.

I don't have any 220 negatives handy, but I think they do the same or a similar thing with them as well.

Matt

Matt is correct, I remember when they first started doing that. There was a Kodak publication that stated so.
Michael

[stm]

I see the same thing on the top edge of 120 T-Max 100. I am clueless as to what they mean. I shoot almost exclusively with my A-16 (6 x 4.5) backs have no idea what they correlate to; certainly not to 16 frames per 120 roll.

I have just come to totally ignoring them. Like they say in the Bud commercials, why ask why?