I thought you'd enjoy seeing how they look at the film. I thought using the color filters to sniff out where any potential problems would be was rather fascinating! Here's my Patreon note from the main channel video: If you feel like this content is worth your time and you'd like to enable me to keep making stuff like this, please consider supporting on Patreon. www.patreon.com/smartereveryday . If you enjoy the channel, that's the single best way to help. Thank you!
pro tip the distance from one spot to the next can give you an idea of the size of the roller causing the issue ... if it is repeating ... I worked on production machines for a living. you have to change the way you look at color when CMYK is involved
"There is no consequences for him raising a red flag, there is action items after that, we want him to find it" Great clarification, this is the mindset to have regarding quality, and more importantly safety.
This should really be the norm, especially in QC environments. But if this is integrated throughout the whole production line, I can promise you positive results. If there's follow through.
I recall reading somewhere that Kodak’s quality control lab was the first organisation outside government to become aware of the Manhattan Project. Radiation caused by the first test apparently caused a consistent fault in their X-Ray film processing. Having ruled out a manufacturing fault they approached government with their findings.
There was a problem in the computer industry for a while because a lot of ceramic materials (iirc) came from an area near a nuclear test sight and had been embedded with radioactive material (not just irradiated). The radioactive materials were gamma emitters meaning they emitted electromagnetic waves with a shorter wavelength/higher frequency than X-Rays. Gamma emitters are all over the place and while gamma is ionizing (meaning it can alter atomic structures) most gamma emitters don't produce enough to be harmful to humans (our bodies are actually designed to handle a good deal of ionizing radiation, especially from outside sources like the sun, using things like a layer of dead skin that absorbs/blocks most of it and special immune responses that quickly kill mutated cells or DNA). When electromagnetic waves hit a conductor they induce a small current, the higher the frequency/shorter the wavelength the smaller the conductor has to be, since gamma waves are particularly short they are able to create a current inside the gates of the transistors within the computer processors and memory (RAM), activating them even if they weren't supposed to be activated (gates are like switches, when you apply a small current to the gate it allows power to flow through the other 2 pins of a transistor). Normally the plastic or ceramic that encases the components would easily block such radiation, shorter wavelengths (with few exceptions*) have worse penetration through solid materials, that's why mmWave 5G needs so many repeaters to work and that's nowhere near the nanometer or picometer range of gamma. Of course since the ceramics themselves were contaminated that meant that the chips were actually getting blasted by the very material meant to protect them. *Some solid materials have small gaps that make it easier for certain wavelengths to travel through, quartz is a good example. That's also why we use quartz glass for (real) UV lights, normal glass blocks UV (UVC, X-Ray, and Gamma are all ionizing).
3:27 Destin: "If it breaks, what do you do"? - Jeff: "We've got really good engineers, there's always eBay" - Best Answer Ever! 🤣👍👍 I'm imagining a Kodak engineer in a bidding war with some collector for a piece of vital equipment they need to get the line running again. Jeff is Awesome!
That feeling when you look for replacement parts for a specialty instrument on eBay and find one with a tag on it showing your factory scrapped it years ago....stranger than fiction.
Jeff mentions the most important part after that; upgrading. Upgrading (or replacing) is eventually the only way to keep complex production lines like these running. Over the years I've seen production lines of different kinds being stopped and replaced, due to the fact that PLC-components, frequency and servo-drives and motors from the old days, and sometimes even sensors and other field components were too hard to reliably get by. The price tag on those older components was never an issue (downtime is more expensive) even though prices often went up like tenfold after the manufacturer stopped production of a specific range of PLCs or frequency drives, it was just plain availability of those components that eventually forced users to order a new line and scrap the old one. Rarely were those machines mechanically worn out, and that certainly never was a primary cause for their replacement.
@@johnenglish8126 yeah it's just too bad that companies have to be forced to that point almost like on the edge of the cliff and then the coyote cuts it off and they don't fall and they still don't want to replace it. But on the other hand you have these companies that find that they're in a niche market so they can make it whatever they want it to cost and pushes it out of the realm of will just purchase it to the well maybe, we'll put in next year's budget, to do we absolutely have to? Then there's the repairability score or lack there of for some companies to be able to actually repair something because everything is proprietary we don't want you to look under the sheet....
As a customer, I know Kodak takes quality control seriously. I emailed them once about a defect on a developed roll. They asked me some general questions and took my concern very seriously. Two weeks later 5 rolls of replacement film showed up in the mail from Kodak. The weirdest thing was, and I went back through my email to double check, was that I never gave them my address.
@@B3D5X That does make sense - you weren't happy with the result, so it was either them or the lab. I find it quite reassuring that this means they gave your lab a grilling.
@@goldcd I actually developed it myself but the other roll I developed at the same time came out fine. So either it WAS my fault somehow (though I've never had the same issue before or since) or it was the film somehow. Either way, however they got my info, they erred on the side of making me a happy customer. And I was. I gave them the batch code numbers and all that but never heard what came of the investigation.
Well just having a Top Secret security clearance doesn't get you onto a nuclear submarine. Being a respected & professional videographer with a TS gets you there. Getting a TS is an involved process for sure but they hand them out like candy both in the military and to contractors. I had one in the Army to become a platoon level armorer, ya know what mine was used for more than anything else? Getting the mail from battalion so dude's didn't have to wait until the end of the day to get their mail. LOL
I had the opportunity to work at Kodak in Melbourne back in the late 90s doing IT support. Quality was the core value of the entire organisation. A wonderful community and some of the most positive and supportive people I've ever had the chance to work with.
It's almost like upper management has deserted Kodak and left everyone else to do their own thing. It's a rare thing to see so many happy and passionate people who have a single minded focus on making the best product possible!
As mentioned in my comments on the main video. the device at 15:57 is know as a “snot slot” to us Kodakers. Retired 2002. Great series of videos, I’m headed to Patreon to suppoort this guy. here
I was a manufacturing engineer in professional sheet film back in the 90s. Yes, occasionally we would get problems back from customers. We got some shots back from Play Boy. We really gave them a close examination!
What I appreciate about your type of interviewing is that you're not making sounds of agreement every two seconds, like "hmm", "yea", "aha", "ok", which happens in so many "interview" type videos. You're just letting people talk, that's good.
So, I'm a QC technician for semiconductor lithography, and I just love learning about this stuff. Also, anyone else working in an applied QC lab, don't we have some of the coolest jobs around? Destin still takes the cake, along with the NASA engineers tho.
I worked in lithography before for a company Kodak sold to..... that was a super interesting process! Now I work right around the corner and make film at Kodak lol
My father's job at Kodak was as a QC engineer in this exact department at the factory, he mostly used microscope to study the cross section of the film. I had tell him to check out these videos for a flash back.
When it comes to quality, I think its important that some motion pictures are still shot on 'analog' film, imagine if there was a defect on a a roll, that would only be discovered after the scene was shot, wrapped and processed. That is part of why there is the 'dailies review' on film set, to see if the scene worked from a cinematographic point of view, but also from mechanical film point of view.
Dustin, in case I neglect to say it in time (between now and mid-2023) I’d like to thank you and everyone that helped make all your videos. It makes the remaining time in the hospice so much more bearable, if not downright enjoyable. I’ve been into photography for nearly 55 + years, ever since I started to use my father’s Kodak Box Brownie, which used monochrome 120-roll film. By the time I was 7/8 it was possible to use colour 120 film so long as the light was decent. The Box Brownie was able to do landscape and portrait format photos but only had one single shutter speed (about 1/100th of a second but feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken. To everyone at SED, thank you all for your efforts and explanations. I’d be very interested in writing to the team you spoke to in order to thank them all for the amount of time they all spent in order to answer all your questions, as well as all the explanations. The video might be considered as a PR coup for Kodak at the end of the day, but I don’t see it as such. Everyone was so keen to spend time to explain their role in the procedure and it undoubtedly helped that Dustin’s enthusiasm for the topic is so clear to see - no scripted jokes or pro-Kodak advertising was necessary. If anything I’d probably say that Kodak truly knocked the ball out of the State - something I never expected to see with a ping-pong ball!!!
Those color filters at the end are the complementary colors on the additive vs subtractive color wheels. Light is RGBW, print is CYMK. By using the other chart you can isolate light to colors by subtracting out the additive light. (This is also why only 3D glasses weren’t actually red and blue, they were red and cyan so they could use the alternative color wheels for each eye. The yellow and green glasses were always better though.)
Was it me or did Destin find this either utterly boring or didn't understand a single thing about this and just started to make fun of it by filming Jeff through the device? Kinda weird the way he responded to it.
I once took a Summer job as a developer/color corrector at a mom and pop film lab. That's when I learned that I was color-vision deficient. My career was short lived, and several couples got a bunch of rather green wedding prints.
You're an amazing person. For real; You are intrinsic, interested in the way things in our life work, and constantly try to learn and grow; And even better than all that combined; You share your passions with us, so that we may also learn and grow
Hi mate I'm a photographer from the outback of Australia I have been photographing for the last 30 years and after watching your Kodak episodes I have been inspired to call a few old friends and get our old film cameras together and do some photography and a couple of them still have old dark rooms thank you for inspiring a few old photographers to get their old very expensive cameras out and just have some fun I have a couple of the first Kodak cameras ever mass-produced so I've ordered some 120 film
I have followed your channels for some time and love most if not all of your content, but this deep dive into Kodak is amazing, and it made me wish I worked there. I doubt people realise what went into making the film when they shoot a picture. Aboslutely amazing series this!
Thanks for posting, this was fascinating. I use to work in a dark room making the negatives for a printing press and was always impressed with the quality of such large sheets of film, now I have a better understanding of why :)
The other videos are AWESOME and worth watching. Yes, they are long, but very much well worth it. Very much living up to the namesake of the channel! As an engineer (software and electronics w factory automation, avid film photography lover), this series is fantastic, and Jeff Hansen is a humble guru.
I spent 14 years at Kodak working in systems maintenance… computers. People don’t realize the enormous amount of technical expertise that goes into every aspect of film manufacturing… I was so sad for the way that the business went … I really have enjoyed your videos.
this was amazing.. mr Jeff has a great sense of humor. i used to candidly photograph life in highschool, one 36 roll per week, Kodak color 400ISO (they would give you a free roll if you ordered a certain nr of prints). the photos would have numbers on the back, everyone interested would write down what photos they'd like to have, i'd place the order, get my free roll and distribute the prints. this went on for years, i made zero money because i'm stupid like that :} if something was happening and i wasn't around, a classmate would run to my desk, grab the camera and try to work it... we had lots of nice ones, and the most requested would be 'the artistic' ones, where by accident a motion blur would be just the right amount to look proper, a camera drop where the film would be partially exposed, an accidental double exposure and that sort of thing.
This video is an amazing learning tool for anyone who is or aspiring to shoot film. You show how film reacts to light. How the cyan, magenta, and yellow control the RGB of the final image. By understanding that, the photographer will be able to see how their film will react to a particular scene before taking the photo, resulting in fewer "bad" images. Great video!!!
Dude- that is awesome ! I was most likely conceived in a dark room, to a father who was a camera man, ran a processing lab... That over 50 years ago, but every day since than I spend every day with image or camera. But ! I have never seen or questioned how film was made, despite knowing about the different properties and how to get image onto film stock. Thanks for bring my life full circle !!
So many people have never taken or developed film photography. They have only experienced the instant gratification of digital photography and don’t understand the process, the warmth, the feel and rich depth of detail that only film photography gives and digital, no matter how many pixels that their camera exposes, can ever offer. I will always prefer film!
This series on Kodak film makes me more Conscious about the work that goes into this film. And makes me want to shoot better pictures. To all the good at Kodak! Thanks for making the film.
This was awesome, I love all form of photography! My dad had one of those sorts of automatic cameras which still used film and I was allowed to use it when we went on a holyday. I greatly enjoy adjusting all the settings for each shot. Unfortunately, it broke, and we bought digital camera which for me took all the fun out of photography. However just this winter I finally bought my first DSLR and fell in love with taking pictures again. If I remember correctly my mother had an ancient camera, this video series got me fired up to search it and give a new life to that piece of awesome technology.
I forgot to tell you how much I actually learnt from your videos so I think I might have a new way of using film things that my old teachers used to teach me that digital can not reproduce that'll be good to try those things today we used to cook film and it go very deep almost 3D feel it all comes down to that silver I spent so many hours in a dark room I probably have a heap of silver in my blood thanks again mate
Destin, great suppliment to your top quality video series on Film. 👏What my mind Keeps pulling back to, is the WHOLE mile-long drying process, except at the endpoints, appears to be no-contact. it's all air floated. Is that correct? Thank you for showing how Proper QA/QC needs to be if a company is truly dedicated to quality before sales. (As good Quality Drives Sales, to a point in my mind.) You again, deliver on your channels promise - I got smarter today, Thank you. -Matt
I'm curious about how they monitored the film back in the day when they were still making infrared sensitive film, like Aerochrome or some B&W films, since the infrared light they use to monitor normal film will instantly ruin the infrared film.
I'm just guessing, but if its IR sensitive, wouldn't that mean it is not sensitive to most visible wavelengths? You would then use something like a sodium bulb or a laser to get one of those wavelengths and scan with that.
@@thekodanator Well, as far as I know (and had one time hands-on experience), they do sensitive to visible light too, at least the B&W ones. These films are just normal B&W film, but over sensitive to IR (usually, films are over sensitive to UV, that's why there are plenty of UV filters for camera). They were meant to use for aerial photo reconnaissance or traffic surveillance cameras, because IR can punch through fog and haze, makes photos clearer. Even today, Ilford in UK, and the factory in Belgium that produces film for Rollei, still makes this kind of B&W film. If you use these B&W films without IR filter, the photos you'll get are just simply normally B&W photos. Only when you use in combination with the IR filter, which will cut out the visible light (up to what wavelengths it rated for), then the photos will come out completely different. On the other hands, if you use the IR filter with the standard films, the photos will be super underexposed, or not exposed at all. Actually, some compact cameras read the DX code (the bar code on the film cannisters that tell camera what speed are they) with IR scanner instead of electrical contacts, could cause some film stocks to fog up.
Anyway, technically, those B&W films I mentioned prior are "near infrared" sensitive, so the manufacturers could use even longer wavelengths infrared, maybe I guess? But there were films that sensitive well into infrared wavelengths like Efke IR820, so I'm not sure how they monitored production back in the day.
When IR films were manufactured, the scanners would have been turned off. I was told a different sampling pattern was employed to verify film quality for those types of film.
I had heard that Kodak only makes movie film now. Watching the video on your main channel confused me because they were packaging 35mm print canisters. This video explains what's going on.... Kodak Alaris - the company that sells print film - contracts back with Kodak to acctually make the product!
I noticed the Dev step is labeled "ECP". This suggests this line is running the ECP print film process, and a document I found about ECP-2D specifies that the developer be 98.0 ± 0.2 °F. Presumably if we were looking at a C-41 line it'd be running at its usual 100F target.
I shot a roll of Ektachrome last fall and it was great fun to see real photos like that again. I 'm glad film is finding its place again. Although I think the camera makers might want to consider building some new film cameras since sooner or later we will start running out of ones to sell on E bay.
I have never had a bad roll of Ektachrome. Hunter, I personally thank you! Jeff, thank you for bringing Ektachrome back! Was it worth it? I can say that is a definitive YES!!! (Please bring aerochrome back!)
14:30 something interesting here. Kodak is forced to rely on producing a high quality product. Because if it isn't, they will go out of business (again). Many companies these days, aren't concerned with high quality, because they don't get punished for it. Or they can make it up with other areas of their portfolio
One thing I don't miss about film cameras is that when I would get my photos back from the developer there'd be little stickers with tips on how to not have blurry washed out pictures. Yep, thanks. I tried my best. Sorry I'm not a pro. People don't know how good they have it now.
Those Kodak QC techs must have strict vision testing when they are hired. Do they also have to undergo regular vision assessments during their employment?
There is no tension between manufacturing and quality control, not in well run manufacturing. Quality really is free. Problems found by customers cost a lot, sometimes the whole business. Finding and fixing them at source is always cheaper and makes the process more efficient too.
The coolest Kodak fact that I know is that they accidentally discovered the USA was starting to test nuclear weapons due to their quality control showing the effects of radiation on their film during production.
When there is a bad section they cut out the spliced together section that is made before it even gets coated....... basically they cut out the bad stuff splice it and keep running or end the run clean the machines and start again.....but that is a super big hassle
Thank you so much for tackling this topic 😱😱 I'm a young photographer and in a digital age, understanding the science behind color and film and the amazing people doing amazing work really helped my understanding photography and color theory even more. Plus you made photography sooo much cooler 😎😱😱 love it ❤️
Noob question: isn’t the film exposed to light? I watched all the videos but I might have missed something. This is after the coating with chemicals has been applied but wasn’t it supposed to be in total darkness?
Good question! I believe that when this was filmed the production line was stopped and so they could have the lights on without damaging the film. In the video on the main channel there are moments when the lights turn off as they restart the line.
The film backing is always running through the plant, so they don't have to "re-thread" that film. When they want a film the start coating with the light sensitive emulsion. They then roll that up and put it away without it having been exposed to light. All the Film you say with the lights on was just the plastic backing with no coating applied. The coating looks white in color when it's there.
The "film" you see in the videos here were called the "leader", which is just there so you don't have to thread in the "real" film (with the emulsion) each time. Just coat it/attach it and the leader pulls it through the machines.
So is Kodak Alaris basically the licence holder for distribution of photo films vs actually manufacturing them? I know they were segmented in the bankruptcy but unsure whether they actually make it / own the patents or are just perpetual licence holders for distribution. Alaris sold chemicals business to a Chinese company so confused as to whether Alaris actually manufactured them or just held the licenses Also… Alaris are the ones that set retail prices. I would be interested in knowing whether Eastman Kodaks manufacture prices have gone up or whether it’s Alaris trying to offset losses from Kodak Moments. I might have to do some research and do a video on this!
I hope the art of film photography never stops.....as Destin said there isn't the same inherent quality to the perfections and inprofections of film vs digital.......to us humans super super sharp vibrant colors aren't what we normally see with our eyes.....we have poor eyesight compared to a digital camera so film quality has a more natural look like what our eyes are capable of seeing which is more normal to us therefore more lifelike and real
Really? When I shot film, it was mostly slide film and not print. Prints always looked too dull to me. Setting up the projector always gave me a much better FEEL as to what I originally shot. I get the same feeling from seeing my digital shots on a computer monitor or large screen TV. When I print my digital shots today, I get a much better vibe from them than I ever did from print film or even prints from my slides. When I print my digital images they are mostly at 4 x 6 and I paste them onto card for individualized greeting cards. I get many complements about those.
I thought you'd enjoy seeing how they look at the film. I thought using the color filters to sniff out where any potential problems would be was rather fascinating! Here's my Patreon note from the main channel video: If you feel like this content is worth your time and you'd like to enable me to keep making stuff like this, please consider supporting on Patreon. www.patreon.com/smartereveryday . If you enjoy the channel, that's the single best way to help. Thank you!
pro tip the distance from one spot to the next can give you an idea of the size of the roller causing the issue ... if it is repeating ... I worked on production machines for a living. you have to change the way you look at color when CMYK is involved
But how many air filters does this facility use per month?
"There is no consequences for him raising a red flag, there is action items after that, we want him to find it" Great clarification, this is the mindset to have regarding quality, and more importantly safety.
Fantastic clarification.
That it is... the difference is if things get past him and customers bring it up then it is an issue.
In software, we call this "blameless retrospectives". I'm so glad to see this in place in other industries.
This should really be the norm, especially in QC environments. But if this is integrated throughout the whole production line, I can promise you positive results. If there's follow through.
Yeah, so nice to hear and in general it seems to be a great place to work at and buy from.
I recall reading somewhere that Kodak’s quality control lab was the first organisation outside government to become aware of the Manhattan Project. Radiation caused by the first test apparently caused a consistent fault in their X-Ray film processing. Having ruled out a manufacturing fault they approached government with their findings.
I’ve see a video on RUclips about this. Was hoping it would come up in conversation here.
Veritasium did one I think
Yea but then they took that information and used it as leverage to get funding
There was a problem in the computer industry for a while because a lot of ceramic materials (iirc) came from an area near a nuclear test sight and had been embedded with radioactive material (not just irradiated). The radioactive materials were gamma emitters meaning they emitted electromagnetic waves with a shorter wavelength/higher frequency than X-Rays. Gamma emitters are all over the place and while gamma is ionizing (meaning it can alter atomic structures) most gamma emitters don't produce enough to be harmful to humans (our bodies are actually designed to handle a good deal of ionizing radiation, especially from outside sources like the sun, using things like a layer of dead skin that absorbs/blocks most of it and special immune responses that quickly kill mutated cells or DNA). When electromagnetic waves hit a conductor they induce a small current, the higher the frequency/shorter the wavelength the smaller the conductor has to be, since gamma waves are particularly short they are able to create a current inside the gates of the transistors within the computer processors and memory (RAM), activating them even if they weren't supposed to be activated (gates are like switches, when you apply a small current to the gate it allows power to flow through the other 2 pins of a transistor). Normally the plastic or ceramic that encases the components would easily block such radiation, shorter wavelengths (with few exceptions*) have worse penetration through solid materials, that's why mmWave 5G needs so many repeaters to work and that's nowhere near the nanometer or picometer range of gamma. Of course since the ceramics themselves were contaminated that meant that the chips were actually getting blasted by the very material meant to protect them.
*Some solid materials have small gaps that make it easier for certain wavelengths to travel through, quartz is a good example. That's also why we use quartz glass for (real) UV lights, normal glass blocks UV (UVC, X-Ray, and Gamma are all ionizing).
3:27 Destin: "If it breaks, what do you do"? - Jeff: "We've got really good engineers, there's always eBay" - Best Answer Ever! 🤣👍👍
I'm imagining a Kodak engineer in a bidding war with some collector for a piece of vital equipment they need to get the line running again.
Jeff is Awesome!
That feeling when you look for replacement parts for a specialty instrument on eBay and find one with a tag on it showing your factory scrapped it years ago....stranger than fiction.
Jeff mentions the most important part after that; upgrading. Upgrading (or replacing) is eventually the only way to keep complex production lines like these running.
Over the years I've seen production lines of different kinds being stopped and replaced, due to the fact that PLC-components, frequency and servo-drives and motors from the old days, and sometimes even sensors and other field components were too hard to reliably get by. The price tag on those older components was never an issue (downtime is more expensive) even though prices often went up like tenfold after the manufacturer stopped production of a specific range of PLCs or frequency drives, it was just plain availability of those components that eventually forced users to order a new line and scrap the old one.
Rarely were those machines mechanically worn out, and that certainly never was a primary cause for their replacement.
@@johnenglish8126 yeah it's just too bad that companies have to be forced to that point almost like on the edge of the cliff and then the coyote cuts it off and they don't fall and they still don't want to replace it. But on the other hand you have these companies that find that they're in a niche market so they can make it whatever they want it to cost and pushes it out of the realm of will just purchase it to the well maybe, we'll put in next year's budget, to do we absolutely have to? Then there's the repairability score or lack there of for some companies to be able to actually repair something because everything is proprietary we don't want you to look under the sheet....
As a customer, I know Kodak takes quality control seriously. I emailed them once about a defect on a developed roll. They asked me some general questions and took my concern very seriously. Two weeks later 5 rolls of replacement film showed up in the mail from Kodak. The weirdest thing was, and I went back through my email to double check, was that I never gave them my address.
maybe they asked the store you bought the film in to send it to you?
@@xgozulx Good point! I don't remember now if I told them where I got it but that's the only possibility I can think of.
@@B3D5X That does make sense - you weren't happy with the result, so it was either them or the lab.
I find it quite reassuring that this means they gave your lab a grilling.
@@goldcd I actually developed it myself but the other roll I developed at the same time came out fine. So either it WAS my fault somehow (though I've never had the same issue before or since) or it was the film somehow. Either way, however they got my info, they erred on the side of making me a happy customer. And I was. I gave them the batch code numbers and all that but never heard what came of the investigation.
I love when Destin asks if he can touch things or step in certain areas. So much respect.
Well just having a Top Secret security clearance doesn't get you onto a nuclear submarine. Being a respected & professional videographer with a TS gets you there. Getting a TS is an involved process for sure but they hand them out like candy both in the military and to contractors. I had one in the Army to become a platoon level armorer, ya know what mine was used for more than anything else? Getting the mail from battalion so dude's didn't have to wait until the end of the day to get their mail. LOL
I had the opportunity to work at Kodak in Melbourne back in the late 90s doing IT support. Quality was the core value of the entire organisation. A wonderful community and some of the most positive and supportive people I've ever had the chance to work with.
It's almost like upper management has deserted Kodak and left everyone else to do their own thing. It's a rare thing to see so many happy and passionate people who have a single minded focus on making the best product possible!
As mentioned in my comments on the main video. the device at 15:57 is know as a “snot slot” to us Kodakers. Retired 2002. Great series of videos, I’m headed to Patreon to suppoort this guy. here
I was a manufacturing engineer in professional sheet film back in the 90s. Yes, occasionally we would get problems back from customers. We got some shots back from Play Boy. We really gave them a close examination!
What I appreciate about your type of interviewing is that you're not making sounds of agreement every two seconds, like "hmm", "yea", "aha", "ok", which happens in so many "interview" type videos. You're just letting people talk, that's good.
I've mentioned it before, but you should try to get a tour of a paper mill. A paper mill would be extremely interesting for RUclips content 👍
I’d love to see that!
I agree, an integrated paper mill is an amazingly complex process.
Yes, that would be amazing. Need more in-depth manufacturing tours with Destin.
So, I'm a QC technician for semiconductor lithography, and I just love learning about this stuff. Also, anyone else working in an applied QC lab, don't we have some of the coolest jobs around?
Destin still takes the cake, along with the NASA engineers tho.
I worked in lithography before for a company Kodak sold to..... that was a super interesting process! Now I work right around the corner and make film at Kodak lol
It might just be me but I think this was definitely main channel worthy
My father's job at Kodak was as a QC engineer in this exact department at the factory, he mostly used microscope to study the cross section of the film.
I had tell him to check out these videos for a flash back.
When it comes to quality, I think its important that some motion pictures are still shot on 'analog' film, imagine if there was a defect on a a roll, that would only be discovered after the scene was shot, wrapped and processed. That is part of why there is the 'dailies review' on film set, to see if the scene worked from a cinematographic point of view, but also from mechanical film point of view.
Dustin, in case I neglect to say it in time (between now and mid-2023) I’d like to thank you and everyone that helped make all your videos. It makes the remaining time in the hospice so much more bearable, if not downright enjoyable.
I’ve been into photography for nearly 55 + years, ever since I started to use my father’s Kodak Box Brownie, which used monochrome 120-roll film. By the time I was 7/8 it was possible to use colour 120 film so long as the light was decent. The Box Brownie was able to do landscape and portrait format photos but only had one single shutter speed (about 1/100th of a second but feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken.
To everyone at SED, thank you all for your efforts and explanations. I’d be very interested in writing to the team you spoke to in order to thank them all for the amount of time they all spent in order to answer all your questions, as well as all the explanations.
The video might be considered as a PR coup for Kodak at the end of the day, but I don’t see it as such. Everyone was so keen to spend time to explain their role in the procedure and it undoubtedly helped that Dustin’s enthusiasm for the topic is so clear to see - no scripted jokes or pro-Kodak advertising was necessary. If anything I’d probably say that Kodak truly knocked the ball out of the State - something I never expected to see with a ping-pong ball!!!
Hey man, I'm not sure you're still around to see this, but if you are I hope you are still doing OK.
If you aren't then I hope you rest in peace.
Those color filters at the end are the complementary colors on the additive vs subtractive color wheels. Light is RGBW, print is CYMK. By using the other chart you can isolate light to colors by subtracting out the additive light. (This is also why only 3D glasses weren’t actually red and blue, they were red and cyan so they could use the alternative color wheels for each eye. The yellow and green glasses were always better though.)
Was it me or did Destin find this either utterly boring or didn't understand a single thing about this and just started to make fun of it by filming Jeff through the device? Kinda weird the way he responded to it.
@@MartinH81 Pretty sure that's just you dude. He seemed totally fine to me.
Why is black represented with a K?
@@MattH-wg7ou to designate it different from blue. If you do the two letter versions they are BL and BK. They just shorten the BK to K.
I was for some reason struggling at first on the yellow magneto cyan, then he held up the RGB filter and it clicked in my head, inverted colors.
I once took a Summer job as a developer/color corrector at a mom and pop film lab. That's when I learned that I was color-vision deficient. My career was short lived, and several couples got a bunch of rather green wedding prints.
Finding the job you were meant for is pretty important! :)
Did you ask if you could go into the B&W department before you headed out?
Maybe it was the Shrek family?
You're an amazing person.
For real; You are intrinsic, interested in the way things in our life work, and constantly try to learn and grow;
And even better than all that combined; You share your passions with us, so that we may also learn and grow
This whole video series has been fascinating, and hats off to Jeff for sharing his knowledge and the whole team at kodak.
Wow, great work teasing that amazing impromptu interview out of Hunter, it was fascinating to see each little piece.
Hi mate I'm a photographer from the outback of Australia I have been photographing for the last 30 years and after watching your Kodak episodes I have been inspired to call a few old friends and get our old film cameras together and do some photography and a couple of them still have old dark rooms thank you for inspiring a few old photographers to get their old very expensive cameras out and just have some fun I have a couple of the first Kodak cameras ever mass-produced so I've ordered some 120 film
I'm so impressed by their QC operation. That kind of QC makes me respect the company and want to use the products.
Destin, thank you for posting these awesome videos. There's no way this fascinating content qualifies as "too long". Keep it up!
17:22 there's a moment where the image shows all three filters, and the original all the way on the right. that's a magical moment. thank you!
This series is so well made. Good work. I know that making sense from so much walk through is a real challenge.
Thanks again for another incredible video. This series had given me even more admiration for the magic of film.
I have followed your channels for some time and love most if not all of your content, but this deep dive into Kodak is amazing, and it made me wish I worked there. I doubt people realise what went into making the film when they shoot a picture. Aboslutely amazing series this!
I work there now and my mind got blown wide open when I first started working there at how much actually goes into it
Thanks for posting, this was fascinating. I use to work in a dark room making the negatives for a printing press and was always impressed with the quality of such large sheets of film, now I have a better understanding of why :)
The other videos are AWESOME and worth watching. Yes, they are long, but very much well worth it.
Very much living up to the namesake of the channel! As an engineer (software and electronics w factory automation, avid film photography lover), this series is fantastic, and Jeff Hansen is a humble guru.
I spent 14 years at Kodak working in systems maintenance… computers. People don’t realize the enormous amount of technical expertise that goes into every aspect of film manufacturing… I was so sad for the way that the business went … I really have enjoyed your videos.
It's bouncing back!
I read a recent story that said they're actually in demand for new workers because film is literally flying off the shelfs.
this was amazing.. mr Jeff has a great sense of humor.
i used to candidly photograph life in highschool, one 36 roll per week, Kodak color 400ISO (they would give you a free roll if you ordered a certain nr of prints).
the photos would have numbers on the back, everyone interested would write down what photos they'd like to have, i'd place the order, get my free roll and distribute the prints. this went on for years, i made zero money because i'm stupid like that :}
if something was happening and i wasn't around, a classmate would run to my desk, grab the camera and try to work it... we had lots of nice ones, and the most requested would be 'the artistic' ones, where by accident a motion blur would be just the right amount to look proper, a camera drop where the film would be partially exposed, an accidental double exposure and that sort of thing.
This video is an amazing learning tool for anyone who is or aspiring to shoot film.
You show how film reacts to light. How the cyan, magenta, and yellow control the RGB of the final image.
By understanding that, the photographer will be able to see how their film will react to a particular scene before taking the photo, resulting in fewer "bad" images.
Great video!!!
Dude- that is awesome ! I was most likely conceived in a dark room, to a father who was a camera man, ran a processing lab... That over 50 years ago, but every day since than I spend every day with image or camera.
But ! I have never seen or questioned how film was made, despite knowing about the different properties and how to get image onto film stock.
Thanks for bring my life full circle !!
So many people have never taken or developed film photography. They have only experienced the instant gratification of digital photography and don’t understand the process, the warmth, the feel and rich depth of detail that only film photography gives and digital, no matter how many pixels that their camera exposes, can ever offer. I will always prefer film!
Have now watched all videos twice. And I still learn something new. Jeff is amazing!
This series on Kodak film makes me more Conscious about the work that goes into this film. And makes me want to shoot better pictures.
To all the good at Kodak!
Thanks for making the film.
Incredible set of videos. Congrats!!! Waiting for the third part.
This was awesome, I love all form of photography! My dad had one of those sorts of automatic cameras which still used film and I was allowed to use it when we went on a holyday. I greatly enjoy adjusting all the settings for each shot. Unfortunately, it broke, and we bought digital camera which for me took all the fun out of photography. However just this winter I finally bought my first DSLR and fell in love with taking pictures again. If I remember correctly my mother had an ancient camera, this video series got me fired up to search it and give a new life to that piece of awesome technology.
A playlist with all the kodak videos, on both channels, would help.
Love all this extra content. It's also so important to document and preserve all this stuff.
Fantastic, its so nice to see a channel that really takes the time to show and tell the whole story
I’m working in clean room for biotech, I’m relating to their work. And I love photography so love to see this! Thank you
I forgot to tell you how much I actually learnt from your videos so I think I might have a new way of using film things that my old teachers used to teach me that digital can not reproduce that'll be good to try those things today we used to cook film and it go very deep almost 3D feel it all comes down to that silver I spent so many hours in a dark room I probably have a heap of silver in my blood thanks again mate
I like the TiX clock on your office wall. They are a unique way to tell time.
Light waves. Absolutely amazing. Might be worthwhile doing an additional video on how the film reacts to different light waves lengths and why.
Destin, great suppliment to your top quality video series on Film. 👏What my mind Keeps pulling back to, is the WHOLE mile-long drying process, except at the endpoints, appears to be no-contact. it's all air floated. Is that correct?
Thank you for showing how Proper QA/QC needs to be if a company is truly dedicated to quality before sales. (As good Quality Drives Sales, to a point in my mind.)
You again, deliver on your channels promise - I got smarter today, Thank you. -Matt
I'm curious about how they monitored the film back in the day when they were still making infrared sensitive film, like Aerochrome or some B&W films, since the infrared light they use to monitor normal film will instantly ruin the infrared film.
I'm just guessing, but if its IR sensitive, wouldn't that mean it is not sensitive to most visible wavelengths? You would then use something like a sodium bulb or a laser to get one of those wavelengths and scan with that.
@@thekodanator Well, as far as I know (and had one time hands-on experience), they do sensitive to visible light too, at least the B&W ones. These films are just normal B&W film, but over sensitive to IR (usually, films are over sensitive to UV, that's why there are plenty of UV filters for camera). They were meant to use for aerial photo reconnaissance or traffic surveillance cameras, because IR can punch through fog and haze, makes photos clearer. Even today, Ilford in UK, and the factory in Belgium that produces film for Rollei, still makes this kind of B&W film.
If you use these B&W films without IR filter, the photos you'll get are just simply normally B&W photos. Only when you use in combination with the IR filter, which will cut out the visible light (up to what wavelengths it rated for), then the photos will come out completely different. On the other hands, if you use the IR filter with the standard films, the photos will be super underexposed, or not exposed at all.
Actually, some compact cameras read the DX code (the bar code on the film cannisters that tell camera what speed are they) with IR scanner instead of electrical contacts, could cause some film stocks to fog up.
Anyway, technically, those B&W films I mentioned prior are "near infrared" sensitive, so the manufacturers could use even longer wavelengths infrared, maybe I guess? But there were films that sensitive well into infrared wavelengths like Efke IR820, so I'm not sure how they monitored production back in the day.
When IR films were manufactured, the scanners would have been turned off. I was told a different sampling pattern was employed to verify film quality for those types of film.
All the ultra large format shooters out there drooling over that huge sample of film 🤤
Long form in depth video rock; luv them; thank you thank you....
I wanted to see more of the chemistry... But I enjoy anyway.
I’m here for all the aspects of film. LET’S GOOO!
Love this series. Made me finally pull the trigger and buy a film camera again
I had heard that Kodak only makes movie film now. Watching the video on your main channel confused me because they were packaging 35mm print canisters.
This video explains what's going on.... Kodak Alaris - the company that sells print film - contracts back with Kodak to acctually make the product!
This whole series has been fascinating!
I’ve been waiting so long for these follow up videos, thank you Destin!!
Enjoyed this stream, thank you
same here. loving the bonus content
Interesting at 19:16 they're developing at 98F when their chemical specs always say do 100F +/- 0.25F..
Back in the day I had a color darkroom in my basement. There were many chemicals that worked at 98°. Some at up to 102. Just depends on the mix.
I noticed the Dev step is labeled "ECP". This suggests this line is running the ECP print film process, and a document I found about ECP-2D specifies that the developer be 98.0 ± 0.2 °F. Presumably if we were looking at a C-41 line it'd be running at its usual 100F target.
@@BMCha1 Thank you. That makes much more sense. For some reason based on the video I assumed it was C-41.
I shot a roll of Ektachrome last fall and it was great fun to see real photos like that again. I 'm glad film is finding its place again. Although I think the camera makers might want to consider building some new film cameras since sooner or later we will start running out of ones to sell on E bay.
I have never had a bad roll of Ektachrome. Hunter, I personally thank you! Jeff, thank you for bringing Ektachrome back! Was it worth it? I can say that is a definitive YES!!! (Please bring aerochrome back!)
I would LOVE to work there, in quality control. It can look boring to a lot of people, but that specific role tics every box in my mind. :)
Im a simple man. New video from Smarter Every Day? I click.
14:30 something interesting here. Kodak is forced to rely on producing a high quality product. Because if it isn't, they will go out of business (again). Many companies these days, aren't concerned with high quality, because they don't get punished for it. Or they can make it up with other areas of their portfolio
Again, thank you for sharing all this awesome info! Keep up the great work.
I love analogue stuff so much!!! It feels more real than digital!
Love it keep it up man!
Another amazing video Destin!
Could U do a series about Fuji instax or Polaroid film?
One thing I don't miss about film cameras is that when I would get my photos back from the developer there'd be little stickers with tips on how to not have blurry washed out pictures. Yep, thanks. I tried my best. Sorry I'm not a pro. People don't know how good they have it now.
Smarter Every Day 2, why not Smarter Every Night XD
That was a great little extra bit. Really wanted to see the upgrading part he said he would show you! 275-C?
Hello Dustin, Did you asked if they are going to resume production of the marvelous Kodachrome (25 and 64) !?!
Nice to see a real life example of subtractive and additive colors.
Those scanners are Sick! B)
Great stuff. Given what they charge for the stuff these days I'm glad that they're looking after it!
This series is so great
Those Kodak QC techs must have strict vision testing when they are hired. Do they also have to undergo regular vision assessments during their employment?
Ok how often is Jeff doing this tour or is he just a natural Talent for this stuff?
Thank you so very very much sir love your content 🙏😎🇺🇲🤙
There is no tension between manufacturing and quality control, not in well run manufacturing. Quality really is free. Problems found by customers cost a lot, sometimes the whole business. Finding and fixing them at source is always cheaper and makes the process more efficient too.
The coolest Kodak fact that I know is that they accidentally discovered the USA was starting to test nuclear weapons due to their quality control showing the effects of radiation on their film during production.
makes me really curious how the process would differ at fujifilm or ilford, or did they come up with the same
When there is a bad section they cut out the spliced together section that is made before it even gets coated....... basically they cut out the bad stuff splice it and keep running or end the run clean the machines and start again.....but that is a super big hassle
How much leader is used to thread the coating process? This is such great content!!
Leader rolls are about 5300/5600 feet long
Question, how can the roller leave a marker on the film if the roller has air between itself and the film?
There are tons of places the rollers make contact with the bottom of the support. I just changed the bearing on about 100 of them last week.
7:38 "your highness" on poster
When the Kodak part 3 available please?
I think your right. There is always tension between the testing lab and production. But it does seem much better there.
Fascinating process!
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Thank you so much for tackling this topic 😱😱 I'm a young photographer and in a digital age, understanding the science behind color and film and the amazing people doing amazing work really helped my understanding photography and color theory even more. Plus you made photography sooo much cooler 😎😱😱 love it ❤️
Noob question: isn’t the film exposed to light? I watched all the videos but I might have missed something. This is after the coating with chemicals has been applied but wasn’t it supposed to be in total darkness?
Good question! I believe that when this was filmed the production line was stopped and so they could have the lights on without damaging the film.
In the video on the main channel there are moments when the lights turn off as they restart the line.
The film backing is always running through the plant, so they don't have to "re-thread" that film. When they want a film the start coating with the light sensitive emulsion. They then roll that up and put it away without it having been exposed to light. All the Film you say with the lights on was just the plastic backing with no coating applied. The coating looks white in color when it's there.
The "film" you see in the videos here were called the "leader", which is just there so you don't have to thread in the "real" film (with the emulsion) each time. Just coat it/attach it and the leader pulls it through the machines.
I would love to do what these guys do. It seems so cool!
Good ol Jeff. What a wealth of knowledge and skill. Hope he catches his breath someday.
So is Kodak Alaris basically the licence holder for distribution of photo films vs actually manufacturing them? I know they were segmented in the bankruptcy but unsure whether they actually make it / own the patents or are just perpetual licence holders for distribution.
Alaris sold chemicals business to a Chinese company so confused as to whether Alaris actually manufactured them or just held the licenses
Also… Alaris are the ones that set retail prices. I would be interested in knowing whether Eastman Kodaks manufacture prices have gone up or whether it’s Alaris trying to offset losses from Kodak Moments.
I might have to do some research and do a video on this!
Great are the works of Kodak they are ponded by all who delight in them
Very cool processes
I hope the art of film photography never stops.....as Destin said there isn't the same inherent quality to the perfections and inprofections of film vs digital.......to us humans super super sharp vibrant colors aren't what we normally see with our eyes.....we have poor eyesight compared to a digital camera so film quality has a more natural look like what our eyes are capable of seeing which is more normal to us therefore more lifelike and real
Really? When I shot film, it was mostly slide film and not print. Prints always looked too dull to me. Setting up the projector always gave me a much better FEEL as to what I originally shot. I get the same feeling from seeing my digital shots on a computer monitor or large screen TV.
When I print my digital shots today, I get a much better vibe from them than I ever did from print film or even prints from my slides. When I print my digital images they are mostly at 4 x 6 and I paste them onto card for individualized greeting cards. I get many complements about those.