I like Kodak

V

varjag

Guest
Yes, you heard it. I like the Big Yellow, despite never even visiting same hemisphere where Rochester is.

Recently after reading a 1000th rant on the Web about Kodak deserving to die, it dawned on me that most of photography products I like (save chemistry) are made by Kodak. Tri-X, the best film ever; Tmax P3200, fast but with tight grain. And now Kodachrome: before it, I was convinced there's little reason to shoot color film in digital age. Now, I only regret for not trying it earlier.

Kodak support to me have been nice and responsive. They have very comprehensive and helpful data sheets to their products online. Even the cheapest products I used were good, consistent quality.

They have competition that many say is more "customer-oriented" or "pro-film". That said, I will hate the day am forced to switch from Kodak products.

Just my humble fanboy opinion, to provide some counterbalance to Kodak-doom-and-gloom all over the Internet.

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Now that is a typical Kodachrome picture! I like that very much. I still have 2 bricks of Kodachrome in the freezer, and I put a handful of them in my camera bag for the weekend. I keep using that slide film as long as it is available.
 
I like Kodak too... their stuff is readily available, and in their day they supported photography and its practitioners. Right now, though, they seem to think only about money and forget that besides their fleeting digital customers (fleeting because they'll drop one brand or type of camera to pursue the highest pixel count), there is a group of film users that may turn to their stuff.

Easy to forget when you're busy running after the "bottom line"...

BTW, Kodachrome and Ektachrome ISO 200 are the best there is. I use as much K-chrome as I can, and wish I could use more Ektachrome but Fuji stuff comes my way a lot more often (and at a lower cost).
 
sweathog said:
Portra.
Damn good stuff. Love it. My favourite colour film for 'proper work'.
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Can't disagree there either. Though I will say that Fuji's Pro400H gives it a run for its money at that ISO rating (and, in their various forms at ISO 160). Porta, when at 800, though, may be new but is untouchable. Then Fuji holds at 1600 colour. Competition. It is a wonderful thing.

...Mike
 
I like Kodak. If they had not stopped making B&W paper, I could be making all American photos. I use one of their lenses, film and chemicals. If they made paper I would use that too.
 
I love Kodak film! Especially Tri-x and 160VC, but lets be serious, they are a large Corporation and they are out there to make money. When film sales lagged and Digital was taking off, they did what must have seemed appropriate to them, they moved heavily into digital. Now that their digital move has failed, they are thinking about film again, sort of. In any event, they will still need to diversify to survive. Film will likely stick around, but it will never be the mega-money making venture it once was.
 
I think people who hated Kodak with a passion shows how much the love Kodak stuff, they are just frustrated at what Kodak as a company has become.

After all, you won't rant for hours for something that you don't even care about, would you? :)

Kodakchrome is awesome, I echo the sentiments here.

Nice pic, Eugene.
 
Will, love-hate relationship could be it, yes :)

Mike, nothing wrong with HC-110 really, or D76 for that matter. I don't dislike them, but rather impartial. I tried a lot of recipes, mixing some myself too, and in the end arrived to combination of Microphen for winter and Rodinal for summertime. It is always possible to mix Microphen (or any other PQ/MQ developer) yourself though, while one can't make Tri-X from scratch.

Kodachrome, yes, it is unlike all other stuff I tried. Looking at the forums there seem to be people who love it and others who say it's nothing special. I was unsure until tried, but it appears am in the former camp. So now going through slow, contrived and somewhat expensive process of acquiring few dozen rolls for my September project..
 
I have been using Ilford lately (I can get Hp5+ cheaper tha Tri-x) but I do appreciate Kodak. My favorite color film? Kodak Gold 100. I love that film. Too bad it is hard to find in the US.
 
Maybe @ the corner drug store or Ritz camera, but all film is getting hard to find in bricks & mortar stores nowadays. I get almost all of my film from B&H, Freestyle, etc. I like Gold 100, too; to me, it epitomizes the classic Kodak color look.

navilluspm said:
My favorite color film? Kodak Gold 100. I love that film. Too bad it is hard to find in the US.
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I love Kodak for having brought (and continuing to bring!) Tri-X, D-76, and Portra 400VC to the world.

However I'm still kind of cheesed about their having discontinued production of Dye Transfer products without making the process available in any way. It is frustrating to see an entire art form disappear because a private intellectual property was deemed unprofitable. This of course is their right, but it is a lamentable decision none the less.
 
Rey said:
..but lets be serious, they are a large Corporation and they are out there to make money.
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Isn't that what a big company is supposed to do? Really ticks me off when someone says that. Let's have sicialized film production, I'll like waiting six months for my allotted two rolls of inferior film.

Sorry, had to rant...
 
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