Freakscene
Obscure member
This is an online collection about Kodak’s history in Australia.
Some of my photos are in the collection, but none are in the short version here. An amazing history, really. I remember hearing in September 2004 that the plant would close in December. So much history:
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/kodak/
How strange it is to be here, standing against the current of time. Recording this sort of thing is what photography is for, really.
Marty
Some of my photos are in the collection, but none are in the short version here. An amazing history, really. I remember hearing in September 2004 that the plant would close in December. So much history:
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/kodak/
How strange it is to be here, standing against the current of time. Recording this sort of thing is what photography is for, really.
Marty
konicaman
konicaman
Really cool site - thanks for sharing 
jmilkins
Digited User
Great Marty - when we're allowed I will go have a look at the full exhibition.
Cheers
Cheers
charjohncarter
Veteran
Very interesting, my great grandmother was born in the Perth area, and I have always had a feeling that Australia was like our old West (then). Maybe it was in Perth, some of these historic photos look pretty urban.
mconnealy
Well-known
What a great collection of Kodak stuff. Seems much more substantial than what was saved in Rochester. Look forward to seeing more. I was particularly pleased to see the poster featuring the early Retina II.
Archiver
Veteran
Congrats for having some of your photos in that collection. I have friends who live in what is now that redeveloped area, and it's super cool how all the streets have names like Snapshot Drive, Pixel Circuit, Spectrum Way, Cyan Walk etc. There's even an Italian restaurant called Old Kodak Pizza or something!
Freakscene
Obscure member
It’s a pretty good place too:
Old Kodak Pizza
(03) 9383 0000
https://goo.gl/maps/dwmrQhLQGC47V6TP9
Thanks, but my photos being in there are more an accident of history than anything else. I did my E6 QA/QC course there and was trained to work on the Kodachrome line. Talk about redundant knowledge . . . anyway, it gave me access to a few things that hadn’t really been recorded. One shot in the collection of mine is an HIE shot taken with 900nm IR during loading of a K14 processing run, for example.
Marty
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
As we say Down Under, good on ya! mate for having contributed to this most excellent collection.
So many happy memories of past photographic times here.
Much of what I saw in the Kodak presentation reflected my time in photography in Australia from 1974. It was a sad day for me (and many others) when Kodak Australasia closed down, even if we had seen it coming as the analogue era at its best had passed and digital taken over. Sadly, Kodak could not compete in the digi-everything market altho' it did market a few quite good small P&S cameras - I have one somewhere at home and really should use it more as a snap-shooter on my bush walks, it fits nicely into a coat pocket and its Schneider lens produces good results.
In Melbourne from the mid-'80s, I shot 200+ rolls of Kodak slide films every year for stock image sales until I moved to digital in the mid-2000s. I often relied on Kodak Australasia's information services for help on technical issues with Kodachrome (my all-time favorite for slides) and later Ektachrome 64 and 100, all three very fine films in their day.
I often talked to Andrew Brown at Kodak in Coburg. Andrew left Kodak in the, if my memory serves me right, late '90s, a great loss. He was a gentleman, a gold mine of technical data and ever reliable with information or customer queries. A few years later I met him when he was briefly at Michael's in the Melbourne CBD and I wished him the best in his post-Kodak life. I hope he did well in his (early) retirement from Kodak.
The Kodak era was a wonderful time in photography, while it lasted. Now vanished in the mists of past photographic history.
As I see it digital is adequate for the 21st century, but it isn't the same as analog. For me Kodachrome and Ektachrome have never had their digital counterparts - the unique Kodak 'look' is not there, Fujichrome and (also in its time) Agfachrome were good films but for me, nothing has surpassed the brilliance of my old Kodakchrome slides.
So many happy memories of past photographic times here.
Much of what I saw in the Kodak presentation reflected my time in photography in Australia from 1974. It was a sad day for me (and many others) when Kodak Australasia closed down, even if we had seen it coming as the analogue era at its best had passed and digital taken over. Sadly, Kodak could not compete in the digi-everything market altho' it did market a few quite good small P&S cameras - I have one somewhere at home and really should use it more as a snap-shooter on my bush walks, it fits nicely into a coat pocket and its Schneider lens produces good results.
In Melbourne from the mid-'80s, I shot 200+ rolls of Kodak slide films every year for stock image sales until I moved to digital in the mid-2000s. I often relied on Kodak Australasia's information services for help on technical issues with Kodachrome (my all-time favorite for slides) and later Ektachrome 64 and 100, all three very fine films in their day.
I often talked to Andrew Brown at Kodak in Coburg. Andrew left Kodak in the, if my memory serves me right, late '90s, a great loss. He was a gentleman, a gold mine of technical data and ever reliable with information or customer queries. A few years later I met him when he was briefly at Michael's in the Melbourne CBD and I wished him the best in his post-Kodak life. I hope he did well in his (early) retirement from Kodak.
The Kodak era was a wonderful time in photography, while it lasted. Now vanished in the mists of past photographic history.
As I see it digital is adequate for the 21st century, but it isn't the same as analog. For me Kodachrome and Ektachrome have never had their digital counterparts - the unique Kodak 'look' is not there, Fujichrome and (also in its time) Agfachrome were good films but for me, nothing has surpassed the brilliance of my old Kodakchrome slides.
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mconnealy
Well-known
Richard G
Veteran
My grandfather was a fitter and turner and acquired many other skills and worked on setting up the temperature baths at the wonderful Coburg factory. Wish I'd asked him about it now.
Archiver
Veteran
Next time I'm able to visit my friends, I'll take pictures of the area with my M9, which has a Kodak/Trusense sensor. It's the closest I can get to shooting Kodak where Kodak once was, not counting getting some Kodak Gold, which is another possibility. Maybe load my Dad's Pentax ME with some Kodak Gold, that might be a fun possibility.
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
This thread is three years old, but if this post revives it, well and good...
To my knowledge 'Kodakery' was never published in an Australian edition. In my archives I have several very old copies of 'How To Make Good Pictures' published in the USA but with an Australian insert (a few pages) with details on cameras, other photo equipment and films sold by Kodak Australasia.
I am currently overseas and unable to check the relevant archive box at home. As I recall I have a very old Kodak book, pre-1920s, but I can't recall if it was called 'Kodakery' or 'How To Make Good Pictures'. It does contain quite a lot of very dated but interesting and even useful data, notably formulas for the then popular film and paper developers. Originally I had great plans to brew up some of these and try them on the newer FB and RC printing papers, but I never did get around to doing this. Whoever inherits my collection of old photo books and darkroom chemicals when I'm no longer around, may do this, but for obvious reasons it isn't something I spend time thinking about...
I also have an old Kodak Data Guide from 1945. A valuable and still useful treasure-trove of interesting information about long-gone Kodak products. Far more useful to me in its time (until I gave up darkroom work about a year ago, after 60+ years of processing films and printing my negatives at home), now sitting in its place of honor on one of my bookshelves.
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