New film from Kodak!

Koni Kowa said:
Again, Kodak builds the M9 sensor and releases new films every year : New TMax 400 with very fine grain, new Ektar dedicated to 'old style' colors and now a new one again. I heard rumors about the end of production of the Ilfors HP5+, but the Tri-X is cheaper and cheaper. IMO, Kodak is doing a great job for many photographers.
Click to expand...

Where did you hear about Ilford HP5?
 
If Ilford did discontinue HP5+ that would be fine with me ... I never got on top of it! 😛

It doesn't have the flexibility of Tri-X and they could do themselves no harm by introducing a film to their line up that does! Then they could supply it in bulk to Freestyle to repackage and sell as something else ... 'Premuim Pro' maybe! 😀
 
wgerrard said:
I've been using a little plastic Melita filter for the last year or so. I went though all kinds of coffee makers, most of which still clutter my cupboards. Really like сafetière, or French press, coffee but grew tired of paying exorbitant prices for a simple glass cylinder every time I knocked one off the counter.

The Melita filter has zero class, but it works just fine.
Click to expand...

And you can use it to filter developers in the darkroom too!
 
Films do come and go that's true but after 120 years it seems that Rodinal is forever ... and provided that there is still black and white film available fifty years from now I supect we'll still be using it!

...... well some of us will! 😛
 
I think it makes some sense that insofar as they intend to continue with film production, they would want to limit the number of lines of film they produce to those that are closest to 'all things for all people.' Less variety, better film, and little cost change. Maybe. God knows they should be aware how many people decried the loss of 400UC.
 
A couple of years ago Kodak knocked down the film production buildings in Kodak Park. Everybody was terrified - is Tri X dead etc. Then they revealed the new coating plant and started produce films like Tmax 2-400, the Ektar 100 etc. I doubt Kodak will completely curtail film production in a foreseeable future after that kind of investment.
Film like Tri X and Tmax 2-400 are relatively simple to make and really need minimum advertising and marketing costs as they are almost "generic" black white films.
The new Ektar 100 is outstanding and a higher speed version of it would be nice - though I am not a colorshooter as such. Now, a true 1600 speed Tmax 2-1600 with the grain of a 400 asa and the qualities of the Tmax 2-400 as to contrast and exposure latitude - that would be something.
Kodak, Ilford and Fuji screwed up a bit with the hype on the T-speed, the Delta 3200 and the Fuji 1600. All of these films are good, but usually around 1000-1200. Advertising hype pushed it up to get us to buy it. We did, we shot it, we tried to print it - and, at least in my case - gave up on it. I kept using Neopan 1600 - but rating it at 1000 and it works quite well - so why not call it NP 1000 instead!
As for the "death" of TX 320 - It was not a film that used a lot off (still have a couple of Pro Packs in the freezer (15+ years old) so it was not a big shock to me. The death of 220 is another thing. My Bessa III can use 220 and 20 exp of 6x7 is better than having to reload after 10!!!
Last year I heard a rumor in Japan that Fuji was considering Acros 100 in 220 (makes sense as the Bessa III/Fuji 67 has the cabability). Now that but would be something!
 
speaking of 220, it's kinda reassuring that there are still 5 slide and 8 color print films in that format.
 
colyn said:
While we are still on the subject of film....who can process and scan (high rez..not the low rez you get from the drugstore/dept store scans) to disk my Ektar film and not charge a mint?
Click to expand...

I can second NCPS. I've used them for a couple of sets that had to be done correctly and was not disappointed. They have pretty much the latest in Noritsu scanning tech.

(But even that's almost on the pricey side for me. I'm in CA, so I pay for shipping both ways and tax.)
 
wpb said:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was shot on 6 million feet of film... 1800 kilometers of the stuff, and that is just three movies.
Click to expand...

Mind if I ask where you got those figures? 6 million feet is a lot of film, even as the camera footage for three movies. What is the running time for a Lord of the Rings feature?
 
kxl said:
+1

The average user has never heard of Ektar or Portra. The average user has never heard of rff. The average user knows Sandisk and card readers at CVS.
Click to expand...
Well, 20-or-so years ago, the "average user" knew only of Kodacolor.

And, given the fairly high percentage of casual digital shooters who next-to-never bother printing at all, should we next be worried about the digital-printer market caving?

Kodak discontinues a film or two, and people gritch and groan that the sky is falling. Then, Rochester announces a new film, and...people still gritch and groan. WTF?

Why a color-neg film? Well, for me, just about all the color film I've shot in the last decade-plus has been color neg. I'd pretty much stopped shooting color-slide film around 1999. Why? Digital...specifically, my introduction to digital scanning and printing around 1998. Yeah, color-slide scanning was cool (still is, given the thousands of frames in my archives left to be scanned and catalogued), but, suddenly, color-neg film took on far greater relevance, particularly given its considerably-greater exposure latitude. Color-neg film and digital post-production are a match made in heaven (Or New Haven, since I'm an agnostic). And since I can get the stuff processed competently anywhere from my local CVS to my fave pro labs across the bridge, hunting around for a place that can soup the stuff quickly (and for a reasonable price), doesn't require an expedition. And Rochester's had the color-neg thing down cold (with the occasional KITA from Fuji) for the longest time.

Like certain other large American corporations, Kodak has certainly made is share of, to put it charitably, inscrutable moves. Have they been quite as boneheaded as, say, GM? I don't think so, though I suppose the point can be argued.

But, I'm betting on a faster addition to the Ektar family. I'll certainly be in line to give it a spin.


- Barrett
 
Last edited:
imokruok said:
I can second NCPS. I've used them for a couple of sets that had to be done correctly and was not disappointed. They have pretty much the latest in Noritsu scanning tech.
Click to expand...

I checked out their site and their prices look good.

imokruok said:
(But even that's almost on the pricey side for me. I'm in CA, so I pay for shipping both ways and tax.)
Click to expand...

I figure shipping + the cost of processing/printing and scanning is a lot cheaper than the local lab..
 
As far as NCPS goes, they have a budget scan option for $5 I think, which gives you 2000x3000 scans. Sounds actually like a much better deal than the monster sized scans.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom