Kodak said on Thursday it would sell its traditional off-the-shelf print-film busines
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JChrome
Street Worker
Someone on RFF buy the film portfolio and kep it going!
gb hill
Veteran
Isn't print film cut into rolls from sheets of motion picture film? How can Kodak sell off it's print film business without selling it's motion picture film business? Unless it's talking about it's Portra & Ektar line of films. Doesn't sound too well for these Pro Color films.
cepwin
Member
Man, I hope someone does step up and buy the thing lock, stock and barrel. While illford will still be there making fine B/W film I hate to see Ektachrome go away.
divewizard
perspicaz
Ektachrome has already gone away. Kodak has ceased production of all E-6 films.
loquax ludens
Well-known
I don't believe so. Movie films and still films have different emulsions and sometimes backings. Processing is different too.
I don't know what they plan, but one possible solution would be for the sold off coating operation to produce films under contract for the movie film business.
Too early to tell. I think Kodak will look for a buyer that will continue the most profitable products.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Greg,
All films are made by coating the plastic base that comes on very wide rolls, which are then sliced to the narrower width needed for the roll or sheet film size being made. The movie films use different emulsions than the regular print films, so selling the consumer film business won't affect motion picture film production.
gb hill
Veteran
Thanks Chris for the clarification. I know several that have been shooting movie stock films so I guess that was my confusion.
Photo_Smith
Well-known
Which raises the issue that although the films are different in formulation they are coated on the same machines, there is only building 38 left.
How can you sell a business that has coating stills films at it's core and is separate from movie film when both the two remaining Kodak coating machines are housed next to each other?
So are they selling the name and the C41/B&W film portfolio, yet keeping building 38 as a subcontractor?
I can't imagine too many takers for that scenario.
krötenblender
Well-known
What really annoys me, is that I only Ektar and Portra in color...
They could try to split a small company for those products. With the current hype about "analog" photography, a small company could be able to survive with these product, where big ones fail. Best example is "Impossible" with their polaroid-films.
They could try to split a small company for those products. With the current hype about "analog" photography, a small company could be able to survive with these product, where big ones fail. Best example is "Impossible" with their polaroid-films.
RObert Budding
D'oh!
Interesting strategy: sell your profitable businesses so that you can invest the proceeds in the businesses where you're losing your shirt. The job creators in action!
starless
Well-known
Move on to HP5 for me.
mervynyan
Mervyn Yan
Need to load up ektar and portra, no alternative.
filmfan
Well-known
...this news the same week I enter the world of color film photography via Portra + Ektar
Dylan Hope
Established
Best case scenario is that nothing changes, Perez is fired and barred from corporate positions, Kodak rises and reclaims it place as head honcho.
Realistic case - the label on the box changes from Kodak to some other company like foma or something. Kodak formula based stock would be very profitable to non-mega corporations I can deal with this, I like the products, not the name (If I cared about the name that much I'd have stopped buying tri-x when they replaced the green text with black text)
Worst case, I stock up on an insane amount of XTOL.
This isn't going to put me off buying Kodak film (or film using the same emulsion) until it's gone for good, and it shouldn't put any current users off buying until there is none - if the sales drop off, it just proves 'the man' right (Long day and it's midnight, can't get the words right - something about the beancounters not being able to see what's keeping them afloat going "aha! film sales have dropped since we announced the sale of the division, but that's correlation and not causality, looks like we got out before film production was really unprofitable!").
I've actually got an order of 80 rolls of 35mm Tri-x I'm arranging for my 2013 stash, as well as 12 or 24 rolls of 120, some Portra in 120 and 35mm in 400, 160 and 800 varieties as well as four more bags of XTOL because it's always better to have more chems than you need. I'll probably be buying Ultramax to tide me over when I finish off my last brick of tri-x until I can't stand it anymore. I know my couple of hundred dollars are just a drop in the bucket but every dollar is another ballet entry that says "This still makes money". Guess I'll go out nail and tooth
But worst comes to worse, what's the Ilford equivalent of XTOL? I can live with the slightly more noticable grain at IS0 800 on HP5, but I'm really not too fond of the idea of pushing without a full speed developer.
Realistic case - the label on the box changes from Kodak to some other company like foma or something. Kodak formula based stock would be very profitable to non-mega corporations I can deal with this, I like the products, not the name (If I cared about the name that much I'd have stopped buying tri-x when they replaced the green text with black text)
Worst case, I stock up on an insane amount of XTOL.
This isn't going to put me off buying Kodak film (or film using the same emulsion) until it's gone for good, and it shouldn't put any current users off buying until there is none - if the sales drop off, it just proves 'the man' right (Long day and it's midnight, can't get the words right - something about the beancounters not being able to see what's keeping them afloat going "aha! film sales have dropped since we announced the sale of the division, but that's correlation and not causality, looks like we got out before film production was really unprofitable!").
I've actually got an order of 80 rolls of 35mm Tri-x I'm arranging for my 2013 stash, as well as 12 or 24 rolls of 120, some Portra in 120 and 35mm in 400, 160 and 800 varieties as well as four more bags of XTOL because it's always better to have more chems than you need. I'll probably be buying Ultramax to tide me over when I finish off my last brick of tri-x until I can't stand it anymore. I know my couple of hundred dollars are just a drop in the bucket but every dollar is another ballet entry that says "This still makes money". Guess I'll go out nail and tooth
But worst comes to worse, what's the Ilford equivalent of XTOL? I can live with the slightly more noticable grain at IS0 800 on HP5, but I'm really not too fond of the idea of pushing without a full speed developer.
dallard
Well-known
I fail to see how this can be anything but good news. Kodak's film division will no longer be managed by Kodak. How is that a bad thing?
RObert Budding
D'oh!
I'd like to see Ilford buy the Kodak film business.
MartinP
Veteran
The movie-films are staying with kodak as they have contractual obligations to provide them for a few years more. The still-photo films are made on the same machinery - is it likely that any company could see a profit in moving the production-and-knowledge away from the current site? Unlikely, so a new owner will contract with Kodak for production on their machinery. No more research or new products and, fairly soon given the higher costs (especially when Kodak are legally able to stop making movie film) no more existing products. I suspect the best-case is that the simplest films are produced by another manufacturer, of which there are very few.
gavinlg
Veteran
I really hope a good company buys the film side. Ilford. Please buy it Ilford. I think you guys would be great with a color neg film portfolio!
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