What he means by "bring light into the dark" is that certain repairs and upgrades require you to turn the lights on, so you have to stop making film or it's all ruined.
A fellow southerner making film photography videos and you have a decent following and high quality videos! I'm glad to have found your channel bud. I think this is good news indeed. I hope so anyway since I've just made a large commitment to shoot film for life with the acquisition of a quite expensive new film camera. My gut feeling is film isn't going anywhere. People thought it was dead for over a decade before and here we are now.
Sad reality is that Kodachrome-like cannot be E-6 because it's fundamentally different. In Kodachrome the dyes comes from the developers (That process "developed" your film like 4 times in a row. Machinery that worked it was truly insane). The reversal exposure is done optically from both the front and the back of the film in for the different developers for the 3 colors. The way Kodachrome worked to put the color on the film is kinda similar to how you dye clothes. For a long time it was the only color film with true archival capabilities. (If you find a slide of Ektachrome from the 1960's it looks red/orange/pink and not truecolor anymore. The Cyan dye is gone...!) E-6 works like C-41 and ECN-2, the Dye couplers are present in the emulsion directly, and are "activated" by reacting with the oxidized form of the developer. It may be doable to make a slide film that "looks like" Kodachrome that develops in E-6. But there's something about the grain and the way the colors comes up so saturated that I am not sure is fully doable due to the chemistry involved (sadly)
@@xtra9996 It is very much not! K-14 (Kodachrome) is dead but E-6 is the *current* process for all reversal film for both motion picture stocks (Kodak 5294) and still (Kodak Ektachrome, Fuji Provia/Velvia ...) I have E-6 chemicals sitting in a box in my home film lab kit right now.
All very positive. Let's hope Fuji takes notice and rebuilds their production facilities. Personally I never liked and used Fuji film, but I do think it is good for the industry to see more film production returning. The more factories, the more secure film photography's future will be, and the more choices we will have.
I do get slightly surprised when I hear some movies are shot on film. Also, call me random but I do feel that RUclips and independent cinema has kept film photography alive.
Beloved hobby indeed! A few years ago I started quietly building a stash of frozen film as a hedge against rising prices. Manufacturing capacity to replenish film at retail as it sells out is a major driver of prices in the market, so i hope Kodak is adding output to meet demand growth. That will help keep prices stable. If current (high) prices and demand levels make Kodak profitable and able to invest in capacity then I feel good about the long term outlook. Especially with all the great YTers (like yourself) continuing to build enthusiasm for shooting film.
When I first saw the headline on the announcement, my first thought was "Oh no...". Then after reading the reasons for the pause, that quickly changed to "Oh good!". No company - even one with some legendary blunders in its past - stops production entirely to refit their equipment if they don't believe it is a good long-term investment. 👍
@@mikishootsonfilm I should clarify - I first saw the headline last week sometime on a different site altogether. There was nothing about this video or its description/title that I found clickbait-y.
Strangely, the advent of mobile phone cameras is helping the film industry. More people are shooting photos, which gets them involved and makes them want to learn more. At some point, they learn about various film stocks and how they create different kinds of photos. I shoot mostly digital, but I also have two 35mm film cameras. It's fun to use them.
The future of consumer film photography will likely be determined by whatever pension fund takes over Alaris. Maybe Eastman can take it over and become Kodak again. Consumer film photography is past its peak of 2023. If 2025 continues the drop of 2024 then I don't see how Alaris can use the consumer film boom to make itself attractive. I'm not optimistic that Alaris, Eastman , Fuji and whoever runs the German film coating lab can revive a decline. These companies did not create the consumer film growth starting in 2015, (I give Lomo credit for that), so they have been reacting to rather than driving this phenomenon. I'm not optimistic for continued consumer film use, let alone growth.
My experience as a lab owner is that Fuji has been a reluctant participant in the film revival. They are seriously invested in their Instax products but 35mm seems an inconvenience they are too timid to entirely abandon. They have however kept my lab supplied with C-41 chemistry without interruption since 2009. And since 1-in-4 of all the 35mm film I process is from disposables, and Fuji has a large percentage of that, (two-thirds in my lab), loaded with Fuji branded film made in Rochester, Fuji does at least recognise some value there. My wish-list for keeping consumer film viable is less about Eastman and more about Fuji. I wish Fuji would at least matter to this market. Fat chance.
I’m definitely optimistic for the future of film.. for however long that future might be of course.. I have hundreds of working cameras that will be going to new owners over the next 6 or 8 months and I certainly hope film will be available for them.
Good to see that Kodak is investing in the future. A little worried though that we are at the beginning of a global trade war due to upcoming tariffs. Since I don't live in the United States I am preparing for a time when availability and price of products, including film, manufactured in the United States will be a big problem. I know that a lot of prominent companies supported (i.e. contributed to) these policies before the November election. I hope Kodak wasn't one of them. No matter, we will all have to deal with the results now. Hopefully the domestic markets in the United States can keep companies like Kodak afloat until this all blows over.
All good news I'm just really bumped that I missed the ship to order a canister of Ektachrome directly from Kodak. Now I have to eat the markup from B&H to get 400' of ekttachrome.
Great news from Kodak and although a lot more people are shooting film, I think a lot has to do with the movie industry. Lots of new movies and shows are being shot on film ,for instance Amazon's show Fallout is shot on film. To put in perspective how much film they might use, 1 hour of film is ~5,400 feet, or the equivalent of ~1,200 36exp 35mm rolls. Take into account that a conservative shooting ratio for most films is around 1:10(taking into account,errors, b-roll,vfx,test shows,etc) , they might use 54,000 ft or 12,000 36exp rolls of film for each episode. The first season is 8 episodes long so ~ 432,000 feet or 96,000 rolls. For a tight-90 movie, it would be pretty fair to expect somewhere around 100,000 FT or ~22,000 rolls of 36exp film. If you bought that much Kodak Gold , that would be nearly $200k, not including developing!
This is a two-edged sword. Kodak has also recently said they will no longer sell ECN product to everyone. You must complete a document so they will verify the use of ECN will be a viable 'film project'. Kodak wants ECN used in film making, not respooled for shooting stills. I'm heart broken. I have been buying ECN, TriX and XX film for the past 3+ years and bulk rolling into cartridges for personal use. Guess that is no more.
HELL YEAH, good news, I would also like it, if gold 200 and a few other stocks where available in 4x5" sheets, and affordably priced, I have shot Kodak Gold 200 120 in my sinar F2 and LOVE it, even with a wide 65 and 90mm lens (20 and 28 equivalents {135 format}) just am excited to shoot, just wish I had a colour film I could afford (as an 'emerging' photographer) in this format. Another suggestion would be to make a polaroid like film, as a replacement for the new 55 stocks, so the 545j owners can still use this back.
But it looks like this pause is for the better good perhaps of film moving forward as it seems they are adjusting their production for demand hopefully. So it's not like they are ceasing production like some other companies have over the past few years. This all being said, I will probably stock up on 35mm film to cover me for a few months which wouldn't be that much, maybe 2 or 3 rolls per month.
I don’t think we really need new things personally, that’s not why I shoot film, I just hope the market remains large enough that they continue and maybe other players get into it again.
@@robdixon5016 Yeah I've enjoyed Porta 800 when I've shot it recently; I knew I was gonna get high quality results. But where I live it sets me back over a dollar per exposure, not including developing, so it's hard to justify for casual shooting 😮💨
You say most of us want to see new products. I don't. I have no interest in new film products - only in Kodak continuing to produce the same photographic supplies as they did in the 1980s, before the advent of consumer digital photography.
Long-term this is going to be good, but I'm not sure that they can eat the cost and we'll be seeing an increase in prices as stock thins until production comes back online.
I hope they will continue to produce, it would be so sad to see Kodak dissapear. However, halting production just doesn't sound right to me, any other business would upgrade along side continuous production. For example half of the production line would be shutdown for updating whilst the other half would keep producing and then change over. If they said they were going to shutdown production totally nobody would purchase the remaining stock that has already been produced and people would start buying digital alternatives. I hope I'm wrong.
Yes but Kodak has one problem: They have only left parts of their original production line. Plus, they have not reinvested into it for at least 20 years. Depending on which machines they are overhauling, they maybe only have one of them in working conditions.
When Kodak introduced Vericolor, in 120 and 220 formats, in the mid-1970s, it was a professional game-changer, confirming the switch from monochrome to colour for most social photography. The competition from Fuji came later.
Film handles hightlights, color separation and contour definition in an organic and graceful way. Nothing can replace the physical/chemical process. The only digital photgraphy tech that has shown promises (that were not quite met yet though) is Sigma's foveon sensor.
@@andersistbesser though it depends on the talent of photographers, but in general, digital images are flat, sharp & boring. Steve mccurry couldnt shot a single impressive photo after he went digital.
@ thats because film photos have a look defined by the film stock. In digital photography the look depends on your editing skills as raw photos unlike film have no build in look at all…
What he means by "bring light into the dark" is that certain repairs and upgrades require you to turn the lights on, so you have to stop making film or it's all ruined.
agreed, I can't believe he did not mention that.
Let's hope he didn't mean Lightroom instead of the darkroom, Digital in another word???
Hoping they bring us more affordable films again. Gold in 120 was so affordable now it’s going to stick with.
A fellow southerner making film photography videos and you have a decent following and high quality videos! I'm glad to have found your channel bud. I think this is good news indeed. I hope so anyway since I've just made a large commitment to shoot film for life with the acquisition of a quite expensive new film camera. My gut feeling is film isn't going anywhere. People thought it was dead for over a decade before and here we are now.
I’m hoping for a Kodachrome-like E6 slide film.
Sad reality is that Kodachrome-like cannot be E-6 because it's fundamentally different. In Kodachrome the dyes comes from the developers (That process "developed" your film like 4 times in a row. Machinery that worked it was truly insane). The reversal exposure is done optically from both the front and the back of the film in for the different developers for the 3 colors. The way Kodachrome worked to put the color on the film is kinda similar to how you dye clothes. For a long time it was the only color film with true archival capabilities. (If you find a slide of Ektachrome from the 1960's it looks red/orange/pink and not truecolor anymore. The Cyan dye is gone...!)
E-6 works like C-41 and ECN-2, the Dye couplers are present in the emulsion directly, and are "activated" by reacting with the oxidized form of the developer.
It may be doable to make a slide film that "looks like" Kodachrome that develops in E-6. But there's something about the grain and the way the colors comes up so saturated that I am not sure is fully doable due to the chemistry involved (sadly)
I'd rather have Elite Chrome back.
Since changes are being made to the factory Aerochrome maybe?
E6 is dead.
@@xtra9996 It is very much not! K-14 (Kodachrome) is dead but E-6 is the *current* process for all reversal film for both motion picture stocks (Kodak 5294) and still (Kodak Ektachrome, Fuji Provia/Velvia ...)
I have E-6 chemicals sitting in a box in my home film lab kit right now.
This happened in November and production is now resumed as explained.
All very positive. Let's hope Fuji takes notice and rebuilds their production facilities. Personally I never liked and used Fuji film, but I do think it is good for the industry to see more film production returning. The more factories, the more secure film photography's future will be, and the more choices we will have.
If they bring something like kodachrome, it will be great for film photography
Kodachrome is dead not because of the film itself but because it was so damn difficult to develop. It is never coming back.
The public wants a comeback? Kodak said: “Oh, we’ll give you a comeback!”
Lets hope it is not corporate mumbo jumbo for exiting the market, at least comsumer market, or coming back with a premium pricing.
I do get slightly surprised when I hear some movies are shot on film. Also, call me random but I do feel that RUclips and independent cinema has kept film photography alive.
Actually the demand from the movie business is what has made film profitable. So, we owe the movie industry.
Beloved hobby indeed! A few years ago I started quietly building a stash of frozen film as a hedge against rising prices.
Manufacturing capacity to replenish film at retail as it sells out is a major driver of prices in the market, so i hope Kodak is adding output to meet demand growth. That will help keep prices stable. If current (high) prices and demand levels make Kodak profitable and able to invest in capacity then I feel good about the long term outlook. Especially with all the great YTers (like yourself) continuing to build enthusiasm for shooting film.
When I first saw the headline on the announcement, my first thought was "Oh no...". Then after reading the reasons for the pause, that quickly changed to "Oh good!". No company - even one with some legendary blunders in its past - stops production entirely to refit their equipment if they don't believe it is a good long-term investment. 👍
Sometimes you have to press the pause button when you’re getting overwhelmed.
Exactly. It is called clicbait.
@@mikishootsonfilm I should clarify - I first saw the headline last week sometime on a different site altogether. There was nothing about this video or its description/title that I found clickbait-y.
Strangely, the advent of mobile phone cameras is helping the film industry. More people are shooting photos, which gets them involved and makes them want to learn more. At some point, they learn about various film stocks and how they create different kinds of photos. I shoot mostly digital, but I also have two 35mm film cameras. It's fun to use them.
Wasn’t Fuji also shutting down “temporarily?”
If they keep producing film, I'll keep using it.
They needa bring back ektachrome 160 T for cinema and still photography
The future of consumer film photography will likely be determined by whatever pension fund takes over Alaris. Maybe Eastman can take it over and become Kodak again. Consumer film photography is past its peak of 2023. If 2025 continues the drop of 2024 then I don't see how Alaris can use the consumer film boom to make itself attractive. I'm not optimistic that Alaris, Eastman , Fuji and whoever runs the German film coating lab can revive a decline. These companies did not create the consumer film growth starting in 2015, (I give Lomo credit for that), so they have been reacting to rather than driving this phenomenon. I'm not optimistic for continued consumer film use, let alone growth.
My experience as a lab owner is that Fuji has been a reluctant participant in the film revival. They are seriously invested in their Instax products but 35mm seems an inconvenience they are too timid to entirely abandon. They have however kept my lab supplied with C-41 chemistry without interruption since 2009. And since 1-in-4 of all the 35mm film I process is from disposables, and Fuji has a large percentage of that, (two-thirds in my lab), loaded with Fuji branded film made in Rochester, Fuji does at least recognise some value there. My wish-list for keeping consumer film viable is less about Eastman and more about Fuji. I wish Fuji would at least matter to this market. Fat chance.
I’m definitely optimistic for the future of film.. for however long that future might be of course.. I have hundreds of working cameras that will be going to new owners over the next 6 or 8 months and I certainly hope film will be available for them.
I always prefered Fujifilm tho.
Good to see that Kodak is investing in the future. A little worried though that we are at the beginning of a global trade war due to upcoming tariffs. Since I don't live in the United States I am preparing for a time when availability and price of products, including film, manufactured in the United States will be a big problem. I know that a lot of prominent companies supported (i.e. contributed to) these policies before the November election. I hope Kodak wasn't one of them. No matter, we will all have to deal with the results now. Hopefully the domestic markets in the United States can keep companies like Kodak afloat until this all blows over.
All good news I'm just really bumped that I missed the ship to order a canister of Ektachrome directly from Kodak. Now I have to eat the markup from B&H to get 400' of ekttachrome.
Keep going kodak ! Just keep track of your spending ! Control your quality !
Great news from Kodak and although a lot more people are shooting film, I think a lot has to do with the movie industry. Lots of new movies and shows are being shot on film ,for instance Amazon's show Fallout is shot on film.
To put in perspective how much film they might use, 1 hour of film is ~5,400 feet, or the equivalent of ~1,200 36exp 35mm rolls. Take into account that a conservative shooting ratio for most films is around 1:10(taking into account,errors, b-roll,vfx,test shows,etc) , they might use 54,000 ft or 12,000 36exp rolls of film for each episode. The first season is 8 episodes long so ~ 432,000 feet or 96,000 rolls.
For a tight-90 movie, it would be pretty fair to expect somewhere around 100,000 FT or ~22,000 rolls of 36exp film. If you bought that much Kodak Gold , that would be nearly $200k, not including developing!
I hope Kodak will create some new lines so they can bring back more film stocks like Plus X
Bring back the dye transfer process
I love Tri-X.
This is a two-edged sword.
Kodak has also recently said they will no longer sell ECN product to everyone. You must complete a document so they will verify the use of ECN will be a viable 'film project'. Kodak wants ECN used in film making, not respooled for shooting stills.
I'm heart broken. I have been buying ECN, TriX and XX film for the past 3+ years and bulk rolling into cartridges for personal use. Guess that is no more.
im copping a sr2 right now and bunch of film to support
HELL YEAH, good news, I would also like it, if gold 200 and a few other stocks where available in 4x5" sheets, and affordably priced, I have shot Kodak Gold 200 120 in my sinar F2 and LOVE it, even with a wide 65 and 90mm lens (20 and 28 equivalents {135 format}) just am excited to shoot, just wish I had a colour film I could afford (as an 'emerging' photographer) in this format.
Another suggestion would be to make a polaroid like film, as a replacement for the new 55 stocks, so the 545j owners can still use this back.
He was quite literal.
Film is made in the dark. And you need light to work on the machines.
My theory is, they are fixing up those old Kodachrome machines 👀👀👀
Kodachrome was a very complex process with harsh chemicals. I dont think we will se it again but never say never right?
Hopefully they will produce more large format film
But it looks like this pause is for the better good perhaps of film moving forward as it seems they are adjusting their production for demand hopefully. So it's not like they are ceasing production like some other companies have over the past few years. This all being said, I will probably stock up on 35mm film to cover me for a few months which wouldn't be that much, maybe 2 or 3 rolls per month.
pls, don't do it to us kodak.
I don’t think we really need new things personally, that’s not why I shoot film, I just hope the market remains large enough that they continue and maybe other players get into it again.
They'll be making more movie film in their contract wit the major studios by next year, so we'll see if it makes the film better in any way.
400 speed slide film would be fantastic!
Or another consumer ISO 800 speed film as an alternative to Portra wouldn't be a bad thing
Another 800 speed or higher. A lot of photographers are embracing the grain and using it in concert is making a comeback
@@TheRenalicious Im happy with what I get from Portra 800 but the more options we have the better right?
@@dragonaut4208 I will take any new films that we can get!
@@robdixon5016 Yeah I've enjoyed Porta 800 when I've shot it recently; I knew I was gonna get high quality results. But where I live it sets me back over a dollar per exposure, not including developing, so it's hard to justify for casual shooting 😮💨
You say most of us want to see new products. I don't. I have no interest in new film products - only in Kodak continuing to produce the same photographic supplies as they did in the 1980s, before the advent of consumer digital photography.
Long-term this is going to be good, but I'm not sure that they can eat the cost and we'll be seeing an increase in prices as stock thins until production comes back online.
Please no click bait I’ve just gone a bought a Leica and Hasselblad after using my 5x4 Horseman 45FA for a solid two years.
As long as they keep producing the community will keep buying
I hope they will continue to produce, it would be so sad to see Kodak dissapear. However, halting production just doesn't sound right to me, any other business would upgrade along side continuous production. For example half of the production line would be shutdown for updating whilst the other half would keep producing and then change over. If they said they were going to shutdown production totally nobody would purchase the remaining stock that has already been produced and people would start buying digital alternatives. I hope I'm wrong.
Yes but Kodak has one problem: They have only left parts of their original production line. Plus, they have not reinvested into it for at least 20 years. Depending on which machines they are overhauling, they maybe only have one of them in working conditions.
We have wideluxx to wait 😁
#kodakbringbackaerochrome 🙏
Bring back Kodachrome!!!!!
When Kodak introduced Vericolor, in 120 and 220 formats, in the mid-1970s, it was a professional game-changer, confirming the switch from monochrome to colour for most social photography. The competition from Fuji came later.
I dont understand the film hype. Its outdated tech and not needed for anything
Film handles hightlights, color separation and contour definition in an organic and graceful way. Nothing can replace the physical/chemical process. The only digital photgraphy tech that has shown promises (that were not quite met yet though) is Sigma's foveon sensor.
@@andersistbesser though it depends on the talent of photographers, but in general, digital images are flat, sharp & boring. Steve mccurry couldnt shot a single impressive photo after he went digital.
@ thats because film photos have a look defined by the film stock. In digital photography the look depends on your editing skills as raw photos unlike film have no build in look at all…