I keep forgetting that there is a significant percentage of "new" film shooters that didn't live through Kodak almost dying and then coming back as Alaris at a MUCH smaller scale, so I'm glad you covered this and I hope it gives people a little more insight into how precious and fragile this medium still is.
Important to note that film photography is still a niche type and is only keeping up with the trend. If they decide to expand and suddenly the hype slows down, what can they do ? They can't predict anything which is why it's so hard for film photography to stay afloat. Of course they can try to revive film photography as a common activity, that's why Ektar H35 exists. Fujifilm has already started the revival with their Instax and I believe it's doing ok because there's a multitude of models. Anyway, the more casual film photography becomes, the faster we will get cheaper film stocks.
Sure shooting film has it niche. Although that said, there are a large portion of professionals that do shoot on film because film can be cheaper than digital. The cost of buying a new digital medium format camera can be upwards of 3x to 8x the price of buying a medium format film camera. There is no option for anything larger than 645 medium format when shooting digitally. Essentially 6x6 / 6x7 / 6x9 / 4x5 / and anything larger do not exist in the form of a digital sensor. Digital resolution is a lie made to sell cameras, what matters more is the size of your image plane.
Instax has never truly gone away or dipped in popularity due to its mega high sales in Japan. Fuji are certainly pulling away from regular film stock and have been for the last decade. So much of their money being poured into the X and GFX series of cameras.
I have shifted to Kodak for my color films. I still have about 10 Rolls of Fuji 35mm but don’t think Fuji has the same interest in film as Kodak. We need to to support the players that are really providing the film. I think Kodak, Ilford and Foma will continue to get my support.
Super wrong! Fuji has major interest in film. Film is a significant percentage of their photographic ventures. And that is even excluding Instax. Without Fuji film photography would die. And very quickly too. They also manufacture the best slide film bar none. Provia is probably the greatest colour film of all. Fuji is a big and robust company, but slander like this could still in the long run silently hurt their business and make them pull out. Then we are left with very few or no choices.
@@karimbutt177 They have always done that. They are doing it because they need to oblige to environmental regulations due to hysteric (compared the lenience towards other manufacturers of goods) focus on anything self described as chemical (all manufacture is really). And recently because of shortages and interrupted transport lines due to Covid and Putin. Some of the product like Velvia 100 is still in other markets. Other films overlapped with more or less clearly equal or slightly better films from other manufacturers. Again other films like Fujicolor 100 and Superia Premium 400 is only in Japan. It’s impressive in itself that film has still climbed in popularity during the last three years. They have reintroduced Acros and there is a possibility that they will reintroduce more in the future.
I remember when seeing the first episode of Smarter Every Day's tour of the kodak factory at Rochester. The entire process even before making the film, just making the plastic itself felt very over complicated. But then realized the method and machineries has not been innovated since decades ago when film was on the decline. And right now, when Kodak could't even meed the global demand of film, they can't possibly invest more money to reseach a more efficient way to make film, and even built those specialized machineries for this relatively "niche" hobby. Maybe someday a investor will step in who knows
Kodak actually DID forsee the digital revolution, they were just not equipped to compete with the big electronic companies. Kodak was actually the biggest digital camera manufacturer in the early 2000's, but since they were primarily in the chemistry business and not the electronics business, they got crushed when Sony, Canon and Panasonic entered the game. When they invented the digital camera, the predicted that it would kill the film market around 2030, and began to pivot in the late 1990's. Their business model was selling film for cameras made by others, and as such they were never a huge camera maker. They essentially had no idea how to make electronic devices at the same pace and scale as the giants. So when digital surprised everyone and came of age 20 years earlier than expected, Kodak had to suddenly change their business model from film and its high profit margins, to start making electronic cameras, at a very low profit margin. An analagous situation would be if Exxon/Mobil had to start making electric cars. They'd get killed by the car manufacturers before they could get it off the ground.
was about to rectify this too, I used a Kodak DCS 200 in the early 90's at the studio I was working for. I was really skeptical at the time (and I'm still :D), but yeah, Kodak was definitely into that too early on
Thanks Chris, thanks to you I got curious enough to have a look at their financial statement (Alaris) on their website, and yes they have been making operating losses for (at least) the last 3 years. Pumping up the price to get out of the hole for them to enable a steady supply of their film on the market is the only way to go. Like Java man said, we don't want them to close doors again, so we need to put up with the new prices !
I mean yeah, it's the cost of doing business and I think a lot of the film community just needs to realize that, hey, this is what it is for now, and if we quit on Kodak, they'll surely die off again. Just gotta get film to be more casual so the cost goes down
On point. I don’t want to pay any more than I have to but I also understand that Kodak needs to run a business and all their equipment which has been deteriorating after years and years of no one giving a crap about film need restoration and maintenance etc etc. I think generationally we have become accustomed to being able to get whatever we want whenever we want it and to get it cheap ala Amazon prime but we all just need to take a chill pill.
Kodak, is indeed, still a recovering business. I remember when people wanted to boycott them at the begining of this year, and I was like "do you want them to fade out again?". The pain from the film community is valid, but things will eventually get better
I recently looked into their public financial statements (of the Kodak parent company) as an SEC accountant - which involves alaris and eastman, from what I could gather, the bulk of their "growth machine" products is not in film, its some sort of printing plates and other products. They have film under "strategic investment" type products so its not #1 in their parent or consolidated company's priorities. You can see if you look the changes year over year, what they invest in, PPE (property, plant, equipement), etc. Corporate structure might make it difficult for smaller segments like Alaris or Eastman Park to get resources devoted or attentions focused onto them. Thanks for the video, its interesting topic about Kodak and what they are like as a company and history.
One of the first digital cameras on the market was the Kodak DC-50 (and variants) in 1996 and they had digital p&s's on the market for quite a while. I still have one.
The thing I’ve taken away from all this is: Kodak has been terrible at foreseeing the future of the market and didn’t make any wise business decisions to prepare for the potential future. They didn’t invest in the digital revolution They didn’t invest in methods to scale their film production despite sales increasing consistently YOY
If you look at business history it's actually very very difficult for companies to predict the future and adapt. Most don't. There's a reason disruption is a thing and new companies are started which his a good thing honestly. Nothing lasts forever or we'd all still be shopping at Sears and Montgomery Ward.
@@willstith1 I agree its hard for companies to predict the future. But, the smart decision all businesses make is to hedge against future risks. In this case, even if Kodak didn't believe digital would take off, the smart business move should have been to hedged against that technological risk. So when it came apparent Digital was the future, Kodak wasn't left playing catchup as bad as they were
@@foxtrotyankee6131 Of course it would have been smart to hedge against future risks but you have to realize looking back with hindsight is easy for us to do now. Think about Kodak in the 80s or whenever the guy who invented the digital camera who was working at Kodak at the time came to management and says hey in 20 years this new tech will destroy your current business model so you should dump all your R&D into this brand new technology. That's probably not going to fly at most businesses because they aren't oracles they cannot predict the future. Putting money into digital back then would have been taking money from somewhere else since they aren't perpetual money generating machines. Anyways it's very easy for us 30 years later to criticize and say hey why didn't you do x, y, and z when these executives at companies are actually pretty intelligent and it happens in basically every sector. Businesses die. Eventually Amazon will die. Eventually Facebook will die. This is a good thing. I'm actually impressed with companies like Fuji that are able to successfully transition away from their core business into other sectors.
kodak can still make bomb marketing campaigns, just if they could actually supply lol. imagine an ad on tv where digital photos get lose with time but the great grandchildren find the negatives and the photos with the tagline memories that outlive generations? you'd bet more people will start using film (if they could actually supply lol)
Error at 1:57 re 1st Kodak Camera -' Return the camera with exposed film- they take it out and scan it...' Er NO. They take it out and PRINT it . Ref the popular historic term DEVELOP AND PRINT. Scanners were first invented 1957. These days I scan negatives myself but let us not forget the art of printing is a creative art in itself. Cheers!
Love your presentation style, you are witty, engaging and full of useful information, But above all you have a Widelux. Can’t get any better than that!
George Eastman’s first product was the dry plate, then they started selling the Kodak and film rolls. As an unbiased Rochestarian It’s worth checking out the Eastman museum sometime.
Connaître le raison des chose, as it were. Kodak’s branding and packaging historically is not to be matched. Typography, structure/design/function, etc.- superior. The aesthetic consistency across the brand’s history is remarkable, I always think about as an archivist anyway. I am not a photographer. I love especially all the varieties of Kodak packaging for 35 mm slides. Anyway thanks for the informational Vids, helps with my connoisseurship!
I mean same thing has happened with vinyl. Vinyl has found a strong market and there has been a huge boom to the point where the machines needed to make vinyl are overwhelmed. The tech was already on the decline so now basically any plant that can print vinyl is printing vinyl with a long line of artist trying to get their album out. It is so bad that when a big artist like Adele or Swift basically force their way to the front to make sure every store is well stocked in the newest album on release, that causes others to have their delays shifted back to even farther back then what they wanted. Their is simply not enough tech to meet the demand after people thought it was a dying industry
Fuji C200 is now made in the USA so possibly it's Kodak film designed to Fuji's specs. I've not sleeved any of it yet to see if it's the same thin stock that Kodak now uses. Hopefully it's got the Fuji colours.
The amount of work goes behind making a film, I am surprised that its not more expensive given that its a niche product globally. SmartEveryDay RUclips channel has really nice doc about manufacturing of Kodak films.
I've been from film to digital to film to digital. I will tangle my toes into the gloriously warm film lake when prices come back down again. Fingers crossed.
While I wish Kodak the best, i'm a digital professional and film dabbler. I'd like to go more all in on film but I just can't at these prices and the unknowns of the future considering film photography is essentially dependent on one small company at this point. I also don't really want to be defined by a medium, not that that is the only reason people use it. I'm sure Kodak is doing what they need to to increase production and overcome covid and other challenges. But, I am reminded of the time I opened up one of those "panoramic" disposable cameras that only had 12 photos because it shot "double wide prints" as mentioned on the packaging. Yea its totally cropped of course which meant Kodak was charging the same price for half the film. I hope they are putting as much innovative effort into their product as they used to put into marketing...
In my country the 200 iso stuff was like 3 $ for 2 rolls în 2014-2015. Now it is 9 $ per roll. When I was processing film they would have it done in 30 min . Now in a week. As soon they stock up everything is taken from the shelf by a bunch of hipsters shooting expensive slide film on lomography plastic lense cameras-what a waste. Since Sony introduced the digital a7 they jumped on the old lenses on ebay making them hilarously expensive. They are not good for shooting digital due to different coating and other focal plane issues. I hope in China they will rebuild a factory or something for producing film. Ok the demand is high, but that is a business oportunity for new companies and not milking the customer dry.
Personally preffer shooting on my EOS Rebel Ti, since it uses some of the same decent lenses as my EOS Rebel T6. Still need to send my stuff in for development though since all the local places are long dead, and work up the confidence to dust off my Grandfather's Pentax k1000 and actually try shooting fully manual without the benefit of 5 point autofocus and Apature priority mode...
Also Kodak has a total of *1* manufacturing plant. Granted its a massive plant capable of producing 60,000 rolls of (35mm) film an hour (That's over 2 million photos). Which sounds like a lot till your realize its split into 10 products (Ektar, Gold, Porta 100/400 etc) and at least 5 different formats
Having worked at photolabs for a good part of two decades I have never seen the film shortage like we're experiencing now. The worldwide supply chain issues, problems getting of chemistry out of China, huge demand for disposable cameras, and small workforce just means none of the 5 suppliers for the photolab can get hold of anything. Kodak don't do themselves any favours by overreaching and filling Ilford and Agfa disposables with film. No doubt those contracts have to be met before being able to make other stocks. They're certainly making the film thinner to maximise the material. Yup that's right most Kodak film even Portra is physically thinner than just a year ago. Gold won't work in certain friction based winder mechanism cameras. It's hard to sleeve as it doesn't cut as nicely. There doesn't seem to be any real impact in image quality from making it thinner thankfully. My hope is that Ilford convert a black and white machine into making colour films so that there's an alternative that could be cheaper in the UK at least. They've got branded cameras so why not fill that with Ilford film?!? Not such a massive leap.
@Phillip Banes XP2 says it's made in the UK so Ilford already seem to make a colour base film. I still hope they can install machinery to make C41 colour neg.
@Phillip Banes I think it's a large enough window to bring in an affordable film and a keen market that it would make sense. Especially with them releasing a colour single use camera that they currently have to fill with Kodak film. Fingers crossed. It may to be too cheap for overseas customers but we're currently having to pay extra in the UK for imported film stock. I hope in 2yrs time there will be just as many options and maybe a few more varieties than now. Film users could lose interest or faith if they don't see stock on the shelves or if their favourite film totally disappears (Superia 400 was mine).
@Phillip Banes working at the photo lab in Brighton for the last 15+ years single use cameras have never been so popular with young people. You couldn’t be more environmentally harmful hahaha. I’m very aware at how awful photography is for the environment and the lab tries its very best to make less of an impact. We sell a 36 HP5 for £11 which is about average for UK prices I’d say. Most of the basic C41 is £14 and will only go up. Portra is now £19.50 a roll. I remember getting 3 pack of Superia 400 for £12 about 20 years ago. Heady days. If Ilford or anyone were able to release a film a decent film at £12 they would clean up.
I think what is also important to is that film production is just a small part of Kodak's revenue. They have a lot of other products like printing related stuff and so on. And demand of those isn't really rising. So the rise in film sale revenue only marginally helps kodak. They don't have the funds to invest large parts of theyre money in to producing more film. Its just not worth it financially. So we really have to hope that company's like Ilford or others get their feet into colour film because Kodak atleast for another 5-10 cant really produce more than they do right now.
Making film is an extremely specialized and challenging process. The equipment that makes it isn't getting made any more, so they're pretty much stuck maintaining their current process because making a new factory would be a wild risk. I won't call film a modern fad, but it's surviving off a very niche few that like the process and that niche few could move on if it stops being cool.... god I wish they brought back Kodachrome though.
I’m not sure if it’s been pointed out yet, but Kodak was actually one of the first pioneers in digital sensors. They made Canon’s initial dslr sensors, but didn’t get the main contract. A lot of effort went into it, but they didn’t get the contract.
Where I live film is just really expensive, you can go into a local photo store (which has somehow survived (probably because they also sell watches)) and buy a roll of (24 exposure) ilford delta 400 for 160 Swedish crowns (which is 15,38usd) or you can drive to the neighboring city and get a (24 exposure) roll of Tmax 400 for the same price. That is all the film available where I live. Or you could of course go online and buy three rolls of AgfaPhoto APX or fomapan film for only a little bit more money and as much as I like supporting local businesses, I still order most of my film online.
Is it that expensive? Here in Norway a roll of Porta costs 160kr. There’s many photo stores at least in the bigger cities all with online stores. With lots of film, when in stock.
@@dre400 Yeah if I go to Sockholm or another big city I can also buy cheap film, it is just were I live in particular nobody sells film. And ordering online is fine, I just can't get it localy unless I want to pay a stupidly high price. Also I just realised it is easy to misunderstand my original comment, what I meant was that for slightly more than the price of *one* roll of film locally I can get *three* rolls of film online.
About a year and a half ago, I walked into a photo shop in San Francisco to buy some Portra 400. The owner of the store told me: "Price hikes are coming. If I were you, I'd start stocking up." Over the next few months, I bought 25 of the Portra 400 5-roll boxes when they were each at $60. Then at the end of the year, the supply dried up, and the next time I went into that same shop, he had some boxes of Portra 400 for $130 each box. I couldn't believe that the price had doubled; I expected for them to be at $80 a box at most, but for the price to have doubled, it was shocking. I'm glad I have those boxes in the fridge while the market stabilizes.
Part of that might simply also sellers buying film at whatever price they can get their hands on. Was in my LFS a month back to get a roll of test film and the 24 shot Gold was more expensive than the 36. Store clerk told me that they were buying it up everywhere they could just to make sure they could provide people with a good selection of film and maintain continuous stock as much as possible, even if that had to come at a premium.
Kodak hasn't been a big company for a few decades ... but it was certainly once, yes, a BIG company. It shrank, but it still exists. Not so much as a film company, but as a chemicals company.
It's all cool info which we probably don't think about very much. Also, I'm happy to see my mountain of Kodak shares purchased at $1.70/ea do their thing. ;)
An in-depth article on The Atlantic is very informative where Kodak is now and is headed. Kodak is trying to transition to a chemical company - and in some sense it has always been - and somewhat struggling to do so.
The real problem is not the film price or it's availability. It's the lack of alternative. Who is making color film like kodak ? I mean MAKING not DISCONTINUING (gotcha Fujifilm !)
Something important that I think you missed is that Estman Kodak, the original US company, still makes all the still and cinema film. UK based Kodak Alaris only distributes the stills film. They own zero factories in the US. Eastman is the supplyer and manufacturer who is contracted via an exclusive distrobution agreement with Alaris as part of the bankruptcy. This was to appease the UK goverment and the UK Kodak employee pension fund.
Hard to get kodak UltraMAX where I live (Louisville, ky). Not that long ago I could get two 3 packs at Walgreens now I got to switch over to Fuji cause of the film shortage😭😭
What I think is crazy, in 2019 I bought a brick of Kodak Color Plus 200 35mm film, which is a budget film for $ 40.00 for 10 rollsI. I just checked a major online retailer in the U.S. and one roll of Kodak Color Plus 200 35mm film is $15.99. It’s hard to believe it’s increased that much.
There’s also this factor of rising costs of raw materials and tightening environmental regulations. Film photography after all is not environment friendly.
And then there's Fuji... Fuji was busy downsizing, it's clear that they as a company do not care about continuing to support this market. I remember the letter that was sent to Fujifilm when they were discontinuing pack film. People wanted to buy everything needed to keep it going. Not only was Fujifilm not interested in continuing to make pack film, but they also didn't want anybody else to make it, despite there literally being no other alternative for it. That shows a clear contempt for the market and its consumers. I'm inclined to believe that the only reason stuff like Velvia 50 is still around is that there's nothing else competing with it. Why's Superia 400 still around? It's cheaper to produce (without the fourth color layer) and so it's something they can still make money on without putting that much effort into it. Let's hope somebody at Fujifilm starts caring about this market again, then maybe two things will happen: A. Kodak gets a strong competitor again, allowing film prices to come down and stocks to go up. B. Please God, allow them to bring back Provia 400, Pro 400H, 800Z, Superia/Venus 800, Superia/Natura 1600 Will any of that happen? Probably not; but it sure is nice to dream about being able to go into a drug store and buying Natura 1600.
Well, Fujifilm has already started to shift. 1. They brought back Across. 2. I bought a roll of C200, manufactured in 2022, that is made in Japan. They probably saw what is happening with Kodak and what to be back. I don't know 😅.
@@thomasa.243 They are completely inscrutable. I won't make fun of them or anything if they want to get back into the market. They as a business saw film was dying and wanted to pull out for the sake of money, they're jumping back in for the same reason. Whatever reason they come back back, I can't say no to it. I am excited to see what they have in store, if they are going to start supporting the market properly again.
@@LaskyLabs indeed they are. I guess the problem with this market is that Fuji has probably decided to abandon film some 10 years ago. From a business standpoint it made sense back then. However, the last 2 years or so, film is getting popular again. They are like: "Sh..." but all the chemicals, etc. are no longer available 😅. I personally see them coming back although the emulsions will be different and it might take a few more years...
Are you saying that the film demand today is higher than in 2013? Especially in the days where they made film for all photography? Also, you say Kodak is not that big…but it was in S&P 500! It’s not that small.
Film photography as hobby will defo crash in the next few years because of film being to expensive now. I see people buying 2000’s digital camera to emulate the feeling of shooting film because digital cameras are the cheaper way to go but still produces that “vintage” feel
I actually made a few of the same comments as you on some other channels. The shift will be to digital cameras with dials like the X100 etc. I actually bought an X100 for 350.00 a couple of years ago but sold it. I have noticed that these are becoming more expensive and the quantity is not as plentiful. I think the Film hype will return to a small niche market in the next few years. We may see color film start to dwindle, but a plenty of black and white stocks available.
Just purchased 17 Kodak stocks after watching this 😂 Mmmaybe if their stocks goes up, they can afford to bring down the prices of film. Let’s do it for Jason 😂
The year 2000 CEO ran the company to the ground plus ushering digital. Kodak had the blueprint to digital XRay also they sold out cheap panic did not invest and now Fuji owns the market
Go to find how many printed photo we have in albums after DIGITAL era in last 20 years????????pics always on screens with no feelings of paper in the ALBUMS as a valuable memory...Amateur photography is dead by DIGITAL,i dont know why we dont want to print digitals,maybe because we can see them on screen,we dont want to spend money,but with 35 films we had to do to be able to see the photos....
The first digital camera was developed by a Kodak employee named Steven Sasson, while he was at Kodak. To reiterate the point you made in your video above, Kodak resisted the change and while they still invested some money into the R&D/Manufacturing of this digital camera, they never took it seriously. I was an associate producer on a short form piece that Sasson was a part of when I was just out of college in 2016. Great channel, Chris, just subscribed.
profesionals was all of it. normies got a couple of point and shoots for vacation and maybe have a few laying around for birthday party. professionals got slrs running through multiple rools a day covering a sports event or studio photographers blasting through 120 film for the latest product photography to print on billboards or cinema running though hundreds of feet reshooting takes. pack film was used to make pasport photos. for the normie film ended in 1997 when the sony mavica came out, professionals didn't stop using film till the 2010s when camera cencors actually got good, and movie quality digital cameras got light enough to actually take out of the studio. it was a ton of downsizing kodak had to do to just stay alive. no professionals no film. there is no pack film anymore because passport photos are now digital, no amount of consumer demand could fill that.
Wow, your rapid-fire commentary about Kodak and most of what you said is so wrong, it's hard to correct which (LOL) remark to correct first. But thanks for the super fast history tour, sort of. Kodak has always been a chemical company. That makes film. They have other businesses make their electronics with their branding and that's how it is. That's just for starters. Fast talkers are usually wrong not right. "What 99% of People DON'T Understand About Kodak" But you do, above 99% of everyone else on Earth, correct? (LOL).
Capitalism at its worst. Keep raising prices until the customer quits buying. Short-sighted profit taking. That's not a way to built a brand, it's the way to alienate your customer. The pandemic and "supply chain issues" have given companies cover to charge whatever they want to benefit their shareholders. It's not like they're trying to cover all the R&D expenses of developing new products or technology. Porta films came out almost 25 years ago! If it wasn't for hipsters and YT, the Era of chemical photography would be over. Why is it that digital photography isn't promoted as the "green" solution? It is the Tesla. P.S. I grew up in Rochester and know a lot of Kodak retirees. I was also a commercial photographer for over 20 years. Business schools will be using EK as a case study for eons. One of the world's top 3 brands along with Disney, they rode their cash cow right off a cliff.
@@Blanktarn I guess without seeing their books, we won't know whether it's a "necessity" to have astronomical price increase. They're certainly not spending on R&D. The Portra emulsinos were introduced over 20 years ago. What I do know is that "Kodak" sells a luxury product. Like Leica. No one "needs" film. It's time the romance with chemical photography ends.
I’ve been shooting film for the past 18 years and have seen film being so common place that it was sold at pharmacies and grocery stores. I’ve always been a Kodak shooter (mainly Tmax100) and was there when Kodak almost went out of business. Just glad that so many younger people are getting into film photography and pushing what can be done with it. (Using ‘90s/early ‘00s point and shoots for series photography work)
Before 2010 Kodak was tripping over its own Ego. They slammed into the digital wall at a million miles per hour and almost did not survive. The Kodak that emerged from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy was much more humble. However like many companies that are over 100 years old, adapting to modern times has been challenging for them. Kodak was the inventor of the Digital camera but they never saw it's full potential and someone else evolved the technology and it crushed Kodak. Anyway right now Kodak has 2 major problems. First the can't get the ingredients needed to make the film because of supply chain issues. Secondly they can't package the film fast enough. While there is no easy solution for the first problem, the second problem could be helped by selling the film in 100ft bulk rolls and letting their customers roll their own film. Another major problem is they have been busy making film for their competition while ignoring their customers. Yes I am talking about Fuji C200 and Fuji disposable cameras. Kodak has many many problems and only time will tell if they are able to get from under their current troubles and grow as a company. Right now it's not looking so good.
film never died.....Plenty of other filmstock mediums out there. 35mm is for the consumer now.. shit... 120/620 really was for the consumer.. but you not ready for that.
Who’s willing to spend $130 for 5 rolls of portra 400? God only knows how much it will cost in a month or two… shout out to all the early birds who can price gouge right now, make your money bois!
You are inside that 99%, your version of how kodak didnt wanted to switch to difital grln film is wrong... Kodak went full into de digital market making parts for nikon and canon. They could not keeo competing because kodak was never a high end glass maker, so they opted for a different path, and thanks that we can still buy film, if kodak went fully into high end cameras like canon, it would have bankrup in de earlies 2000s
I keep forgetting that there is a significant percentage of "new" film shooters that didn't live through Kodak almost dying and then coming back as Alaris at a MUCH smaller scale, so I'm glad you covered this and I hope it gives people a little more insight into how precious and fragile this medium still is.
Important to note that film photography is still a niche type and is only keeping up with the trend. If they decide to expand and suddenly the hype slows down, what can they do ? They can't predict anything which is why it's so hard for film photography to stay afloat. Of course they can try to revive film photography as a common activity, that's why Ektar H35 exists. Fujifilm has already started the revival with their Instax and I believe it's doing ok because there's a multitude of models. Anyway, the more casual film photography becomes, the faster we will get cheaper film stocks.
perfect analysis
Sure shooting film has it niche. Although that said, there are a large portion of professionals that do shoot on film because film can be cheaper than digital. The cost of buying a new digital medium format camera can be upwards of 3x to 8x the price of buying a medium format film camera. There is no option for anything larger than 645 medium format when shooting digitally. Essentially 6x6 / 6x7 / 6x9 / 4x5 / and anything larger do not exist in the form of a digital sensor. Digital resolution is a lie made to sell cameras, what matters more is the size of your image plane.
Instax has never truly gone away or dipped in popularity due to its mega high sales in Japan. Fuji are certainly pulling away from regular film stock and have been for the last decade. So much of their money being poured into the X and GFX series of cameras.
Regardless of prices, "use it or lose it"
I have shifted to Kodak for my color films. I still have about 10 Rolls of Fuji 35mm but don’t think Fuji has the same interest in film as Kodak. We need to to support the players that are really providing the film. I think Kodak, Ilford and Foma will continue to get my support.
Super wrong!
Fuji has major interest in film.
Film is a significant percentage of their photographic ventures.
And that is even excluding Instax.
Without Fuji film photography would die. And very quickly too.
They also manufacture the best slide film bar none.
Provia is probably the greatest colour film of all.
Fuji is a big and robust company, but slander like this could still in the long run silently hurt their business and make them pull out.
Then we are left with very few or no choices.
@@Frisenette well then why is Fujifilm continuing to discontinue their film stocks except Instax?
@@karimbutt177 They have always done that. They are doing it because they need to oblige to environmental regulations due to hysteric (compared the lenience towards other manufacturers of goods) focus on anything self described as chemical (all manufacture is really).
And recently because of shortages and interrupted transport lines due to Covid and Putin.
Some of the product like Velvia 100 is still in other markets.
Other films overlapped with more or less clearly equal or slightly better films from other manufacturers.
Again other films like Fujicolor 100 and Superia Premium 400 is only in Japan.
It’s impressive in itself that film has still climbed in popularity during the last three years.
They have reintroduced Acros and there is a possibility that they will reintroduce more in the future.
Dude please stop zooming in and out lol. Also Great video 😂😂
I remember when seeing the first episode of Smarter Every Day's tour of the kodak factory at Rochester. The entire process even before making the film, just making the plastic itself felt very over complicated. But then realized the method and machineries has not been innovated since decades ago when film was on the decline. And right now, when Kodak could't even meed the global demand of film, they can't possibly invest more money to reseach a more efficient way to make film, and even built those specialized machineries for this relatively "niche" hobby.
Maybe someday a investor will step in who knows
I guess someone has to pull a Impossible Project move with them someday. Are they having the same issue with Polaroid?
Kodak actually DID forsee the digital revolution, they were just not equipped to compete with the big electronic companies. Kodak was actually the biggest digital camera manufacturer in the early 2000's, but since they were primarily in the chemistry business and not the electronics business, they got crushed when Sony, Canon and Panasonic entered the game. When they invented the digital camera, the predicted that it would kill the film market around 2030, and began to pivot in the late 1990's. Their business model was selling film for cameras made by others, and as such they were never a huge camera maker. They essentially had no idea how to make electronic devices at the same pace and scale as the giants. So when digital surprised everyone and came of age 20 years earlier than expected, Kodak had to suddenly change their business model from film and its high profit margins, to start making electronic cameras, at a very low profit margin. An analagous situation would be if Exxon/Mobil had to start making electric cars. They'd get killed by the car manufacturers before they could get it off the ground.
was about to rectify this too, I used a Kodak DCS 200 in the early 90's at the studio I was working for. I was really skeptical at the time (and I'm still :D), but yeah, Kodak was definitely into that too early on
thx
Thanks Chris, thanks to you I got curious enough to have a look at their financial statement (Alaris) on their website, and yes they have been making operating losses for (at least) the last 3 years. Pumping up the price to get out of the hole for them to enable a steady supply of their film on the market is the only way to go. Like Java man said, we don't want them to close doors again, so we need to put up with the new prices !
I mean yeah, it's the cost of doing business and I think a lot of the film community just needs to realize that, hey, this is what it is for now, and if we quit on Kodak, they'll surely die off again. Just gotta get film to be more casual so the cost goes down
On point. I don’t want to pay any more than I have to but I also understand that Kodak needs to run a business and all their equipment which has been deteriorating after years and years of no one giving a crap about film need restoration and maintenance etc etc. I think generationally we have become accustomed to being able to get whatever we want whenever we want it and to get it cheap ala Amazon prime but we all just need to take a chill pill.
Kodak, is indeed, still a recovering business. I remember when people wanted to boycott them at the begining of this year, and I was like "do you want them to fade out again?". The pain from the film community is valid, but things will eventually get better
I feel like I was robbed by coming back to film so late & there is a whole in my heart that just can’t be filled. ☹️😢
I recently looked into their public financial statements (of the Kodak parent company) as an SEC accountant - which involves alaris and eastman, from what I could gather, the bulk of their "growth machine" products is not in film, its some sort of printing plates and other products. They have film under "strategic investment" type products so its not #1 in their parent or consolidated company's priorities. You can see if you look the changes year over year, what they invest in, PPE (property, plant, equipement), etc. Corporate structure might make it difficult for smaller segments like Alaris or Eastman Park to get resources devoted or attentions focused onto them. Thanks for the video, its interesting topic about Kodak and what they are like as a company and history.
One of the first digital cameras on the market was the Kodak DC-50 (and variants) in 1996 and they had digital p&s's on the market for quite a while. I still have one.
Depends on your area. They might be out of stock online but in my local camera store I just bought a box of Kodak Gold 200 120 film
The thing I’ve taken away from all this is: Kodak has been terrible at foreseeing the future of the market and didn’t make any wise business decisions to prepare for the potential future.
They didn’t invest in the digital revolution
They didn’t invest in methods to scale their film production despite sales increasing consistently YOY
If you look at business history it's actually very very difficult for companies to predict the future and adapt. Most don't. There's a reason disruption is a thing and new companies are started which his a good thing honestly. Nothing lasts forever or we'd all still be shopping at Sears and Montgomery Ward.
@@willstith1 I agree its hard for companies to predict the future. But, the smart decision all businesses make is to hedge against future risks. In this case, even if Kodak didn't believe digital would take off, the smart business move should have been to hedged against that technological risk. So when it came apparent Digital was the future, Kodak wasn't left playing catchup as bad as they were
@@foxtrotyankee6131 Of course it would have been smart to hedge against future risks but you have to realize looking back with hindsight is easy for us to do now. Think about Kodak in the 80s or whenever the guy who invented the digital camera who was working at Kodak at the time came to management and says hey in 20 years this new tech will destroy your current business model so you should dump all your R&D into this brand new technology.
That's probably not going to fly at most businesses because they aren't oracles they cannot predict the future. Putting money into digital back then would have been taking money from somewhere else since they aren't perpetual money generating machines.
Anyways it's very easy for us 30 years later to criticize and say hey why didn't you do x, y, and z when these executives at companies are actually pretty intelligent and it happens in basically every sector. Businesses die. Eventually Amazon will die. Eventually Facebook will die. This is a good thing.
I'm actually impressed with companies like Fuji that are able to successfully transition away from their core business into other sectors.
They have.
Production has increased like 800% since 2011
@@ReclusiveEagle I've heard the bottleneck isn't production of film it's finishing it and getting it into canisters.
I grew up in Rochester and worked at Kodak 25 years...I miss it and hope they do well...Kodak film is the best
How is the experience. I wish to work as a materials engineer there some day
kodak can still make bomb marketing campaigns, just if they could actually supply lol. imagine an ad on tv where digital photos get lose with time but the great grandchildren find the negatives and the photos with the tagline memories that outlive generations? you'd bet more people will start using film (if they could actually supply lol)
I’m here just to listen to Chris’s voice.
you could always call me xD
you know film prices are going crazy when ppl got hyped for bnh restocking portra 800 for $22 today
ouch
Error at 1:57 re 1st Kodak Camera -' Return the camera with exposed film- they take it out and scan it...' Er NO. They take it out and PRINT it . Ref the popular historic term DEVELOP AND PRINT. Scanners were first invented 1957. These days I scan negatives myself but let us not forget the art of printing is a creative art in itself. Cheers!
Absolutely love this type of content keep it coming!
THANKS, GENE!
Ditto! ✌🏼
Love your presentation style, you are witty, engaging and full of useful information, But above all you have a Widelux. Can’t get any better than that!
George Eastman’s first product was the dry plate, then they started selling the Kodak and film rolls. As an unbiased Rochestarian It’s worth checking out the Eastman museum sometime.
Connaître le raison des chose, as it were. Kodak’s branding and packaging historically is not to be matched. Typography, structure/design/function, etc.- superior. The aesthetic consistency across the brand’s history is remarkable, I always think about as an archivist anyway. I am not a photographer. I love especially all the varieties of Kodak packaging for 35 mm slides. Anyway thanks for the informational Vids, helps with my connoisseurship!
I just want a steady supply of Ektachrome.
I mean same thing has happened with vinyl.
Vinyl has found a strong market and there has been a huge boom to the point where the machines needed to make vinyl are overwhelmed. The tech was already on the decline so now basically any plant that can print vinyl is printing vinyl with a long line of artist trying to get their album out.
It is so bad that when a big artist like Adele or Swift basically force their way to the front to make sure every store is well stocked in the newest album on release, that causes others to have their delays shifted back to even farther back then what they wanted.
Their is simply not enough tech to meet the demand after people thought it was a dying industry
Fuji C200 is now made in the USA so possibly it's Kodak film designed to Fuji's specs. I've not sleeved any of it yet to see if it's the same thin stock that Kodak now uses. Hopefully it's got the Fuji colours.
The amount of work goes behind making a film, I am surprised that its not more expensive given that its a niche product globally. SmartEveryDay RUclips channel has really nice doc about manufacturing of Kodak films.
I've been from film to digital to film to digital. I will tangle my toes into the gloriously warm film lake when prices come back down again. Fingers crossed.
While I wish Kodak the best, i'm a digital professional and film dabbler. I'd like to go more all in on film but I just can't at these prices and the unknowns of the future considering film photography is essentially dependent on one small company at this point. I also don't really want to be defined by a medium, not that that is the only reason people use it. I'm sure Kodak is doing what they need to to increase production and overcome covid and other challenges. But, I am reminded of the time I opened up one of those "panoramic" disposable cameras that only had 12 photos because it shot "double wide prints" as mentioned on the packaging. Yea its totally cropped of course which meant Kodak was charging the same price for half the film. I hope they are putting as much innovative effort into their product as they used to put into marketing...
In my country the 200 iso stuff was like 3 $ for 2 rolls în 2014-2015. Now it is 9 $ per roll. When I was processing film they would have it done in 30 min . Now in a week. As soon they stock up everything is taken from the shelf by a bunch of hipsters shooting expensive slide film on lomography plastic lense cameras-what a waste. Since Sony introduced the digital a7 they jumped on the old lenses on ebay making them hilarously expensive. They are not good for shooting digital due to different coating and other focal plane issues. I hope in China they will rebuild a factory or something for producing film. Ok the demand is high, but that is a business oportunity for new companies and not milking the customer dry.
Personally preffer shooting on my EOS Rebel Ti, since it uses some of the same decent lenses as my EOS Rebel T6.
Still need to send my stuff in for development though since all the local places are long dead, and work up the confidence to dust off my Grandfather's Pentax k1000 and actually try shooting fully manual without the benefit of 5 point autofocus and Apature priority mode...
Also Kodak has a total of *1* manufacturing plant.
Granted its a massive plant capable of producing 60,000 rolls of (35mm) film an hour (That's over 2 million photos).
Which sounds like a lot till your realize its split into 10 products (Ektar, Gold, Porta 100/400 etc) and at least 5 different formats
And that doesn't include movie film.
Having worked at photolabs for a good part of two decades I have never seen the film shortage like we're experiencing now. The worldwide supply chain issues, problems getting of chemistry out of China, huge demand for disposable cameras, and small workforce just means none of the 5 suppliers for the photolab can get hold of anything.
Kodak don't do themselves any favours by overreaching and filling Ilford and Agfa disposables with film. No doubt those contracts have to be met before being able to make other stocks. They're certainly making the film thinner to maximise the material. Yup that's right most Kodak film even Portra is physically thinner than just a year ago. Gold won't work in certain friction based winder mechanism cameras. It's hard to sleeve as it doesn't cut as nicely. There doesn't seem to be any real impact in image quality from making it thinner thankfully.
My hope is that Ilford convert a black and white machine into making colour films so that there's an alternative that could be cheaper in the UK at least. They've got branded cameras so why not fill that with Ilford film?!? Not such a massive leap.
@Phillip Banes XP2 says it's made in the UK so Ilford already seem to make a colour base film. I still hope they can install machinery to make C41 colour neg.
@Phillip Banes I think it's a large enough window to bring in an affordable film and a keen market that it would make sense. Especially with them releasing a colour single use camera that they currently have to fill with Kodak film. Fingers crossed. It may to be too cheap for overseas customers but we're currently having to pay extra in the UK for imported film stock. I hope in 2yrs time there will be just as many options and maybe a few more varieties than now. Film users could lose interest or faith if they don't see stock on the shelves or if their favourite film totally disappears (Superia 400 was mine).
*may not be too cheap
@Phillip Banes working at the photo lab in Brighton for the last 15+ years single use cameras have never been so popular with young people. You couldn’t be more environmentally harmful hahaha. I’m very aware at how awful photography is for the environment and the lab tries its very best to make less of an impact. We sell a 36 HP5 for £11 which is about average for UK prices I’d say. Most of the basic C41 is £14 and will only go up. Portra is now £19.50 a roll. I remember getting 3 pack of Superia 400 for £12 about 20 years ago. Heady days. If Ilford or anyone were able to release a film a decent film at £12 they would clean up.
I think what is also important to is that film production is just a small part of Kodak's revenue. They have a lot of other products like printing related stuff and so on. And demand of those isn't really rising. So the rise in film sale revenue only marginally helps kodak. They don't have the funds to invest large parts of theyre money in to producing more film. Its just not worth it financially. So we really have to hope that company's like Ilford or others get their feet into colour film because Kodak atleast for another 5-10 cant really produce more than they do right now.
Great video, just sort of wondering how long it would take them to scale up production.
Making film is an extremely specialized and challenging process. The equipment that makes it isn't getting made any more, so they're pretty much stuck maintaining their current process because making a new factory would be a wild risk. I won't call film a modern fad, but it's surviving off a very niche few that like the process and that niche few could move on if it stops being cool.... god I wish they brought back Kodachrome though.
I’m not sure if it’s been pointed out yet, but Kodak was actually one of the first pioneers in digital sensors. They made Canon’s initial dslr sensors, but didn’t get the main contract. A lot of effort went into it, but they didn’t get the contract.
Where I live film is just really expensive, you can go into a local photo store (which has somehow survived (probably because they also sell watches)) and buy a roll of (24 exposure) ilford delta 400 for 160 Swedish crowns (which is 15,38usd) or you can drive to the neighboring city and get a (24 exposure) roll of Tmax 400 for the same price. That is all the film available where I live.
Or you could of course go online and buy three rolls of AgfaPhoto APX or fomapan film for only a little bit more money and as much as I like supporting local businesses, I still order most of my film online.
Is it that expensive? Here in Norway a roll of Porta costs 160kr. There’s many photo stores at least in the bigger cities all with online stores. With lots of film, when in stock.
@@dre400 Yeah if I go to Sockholm or another big city I can also buy cheap film, it is just were I live in particular nobody sells film.
And ordering online is fine, I just can't get it localy unless I want to pay a stupidly high price.
Also I just realised it is easy to misunderstand my original comment, what I meant was that for slightly more than the price of *one* roll of film locally I can get *three* rolls of film online.
About a year and a half ago, I walked into a photo shop in San Francisco to buy some Portra 400. The owner of the store told me: "Price hikes are coming. If I were you, I'd start stocking up." Over the next few months, I bought 25 of the Portra 400 5-roll boxes when they were each at $60. Then at the end of the year, the supply dried up, and the next time I went into that same shop, he had some boxes of Portra 400 for $130 each box. I couldn't believe that the price had doubled; I expected for them to be at $80 a box at most, but for the price to have doubled, it was shocking. I'm glad I have those boxes in the fridge while the market stabilizes.
$130!? holy crap. wild....
Part of that might simply also sellers buying film at whatever price they can get their hands on. Was in my LFS a month back to get a roll of test film and the 24 shot Gold was more expensive than the 36. Store clerk told me that they were buying it up everywhere they could just to make sure they could provide people with a good selection of film and maintain continuous stock as much as possible, even if that had to come at a premium.
I love Underdog Film lab. Cool to see you go there.
The best!
They develop and and scan it in 1888? 😂 I doubt it 😅
Nice video man!
I really wanna see 126 film back. There’s a lot of great instamatic cameras still out there.
All the best wishes to Kodak tbh. I'm looking down at my poor dwindling Fujifilm stocks IN JAPAN, wondering if they'll entirely disappear soon.
oh that must be so sad to witness a slow fadeout of Fujifilm on its home turf
Well Done, Laddie. Good Video. :)
Kodak hasn't been a big company for a few decades ... but it was certainly once, yes, a BIG company. It shrank, but it still exists. Not so much as a film company, but as a chemicals company.
It's all cool info which we probably don't think about very much. Also, I'm happy to see my mountain of Kodak shares purchased at $1.70/ea do their thing. ;)
can you do video about your digital Hasselblad? Also a video about strobe lights for film. Thank you and love your work.
Hey Chris, did you know your mic is the very same model used to record Michael Jackson's lead vocals on the Thriller album?
It's been exactly 30 days from the release of this video. Should we check on Jason now?
An in-depth article on The Atlantic is very informative where Kodak is now and is headed. Kodak is trying to transition to a chemical company - and in some sense it has always been - and somewhat struggling to do so.
The real problem is not the film price or it's availability. It's the lack of alternative. Who is making color film like kodak ? I mean MAKING not DISCONTINUING (gotcha Fujifilm !)
Love this one Chris! Thanks for the history lesson! 🙏
My pleasure!
Something important that I think you missed is that Estman Kodak, the original US company, still makes all the still and cinema film. UK based Kodak Alaris only distributes the stills film. They own zero factories in the US. Eastman is the supplyer and manufacturer who is contracted via an exclusive distrobution agreement with Alaris as part of the bankruptcy. This was to appease the UK goverment and the UK Kodak employee pension fund.
Hard to get kodak UltraMAX where I live (Louisville, ky). Not that long ago I could get two 3 packs at Walgreens now I got to switch over to Fuji cause of the film shortage😭😭
Kodak and Nikon collaborated to make one of the first pro style digital cameras.
Nice video. But tooo much zoom movemetn thue the video. It`s distract😵💫
Price elasticity could potentially be a problem for Kodak Alaris.
it honestly could be, but I'm no economist xD
With some of the early digital cameras you had to plug it get into a computer before you could see what you just shot.
you should check out Robert Burley's book 'Disappearance of Darkness', amazing (film) photography on the era of film decline!
What I think is crazy, in 2019 I bought a brick of Kodak Color Plus 200 35mm film, which is a budget film for $ 40.00 for 10 rollsI. I just checked a major online retailer in the U.S. and one roll of Kodak Color Plus 200 35mm film is $15.99. It’s hard to believe it’s increased that much.
B & H? Yeah they’re getting raked over the coals for it.
I bought 10 rolls of colour plus for £25 back in early 2019
5 months later they announced an increase in prices of 40%.
If they want me to sell a kidney they better bring back aerochrome.
There’s also this factor of rising costs of raw materials and tightening environmental regulations. Film photography after all is not environment friendly.
Buy Ilford.
;-)
ay true
Kodak Gold. It Just makes you happy
Thanks Chris! Great video
Glad you liked it!
i get all of this but i’m not paying 22€ for film
I was told the kodak shortages were caused by the computer chip shortages, resulting in a massive backorder.
Great video!
Alaris is "in charge of still photography film", yes distributing it, but it is still manufatured by Eastman Kodak.
And then there's Fuji...
Fuji was busy downsizing, it's clear that they as a company do not care about continuing to support this market.
I remember the letter that was sent to Fujifilm when they were discontinuing pack film. People wanted to buy everything needed to keep it going.
Not only was Fujifilm not interested in continuing to make pack film, but they also didn't want anybody else to make it, despite there literally being no other alternative for it.
That shows a clear contempt for the market and its consumers.
I'm inclined to believe that the only reason stuff like Velvia 50 is still around is that there's nothing else competing with it. Why's Superia 400 still around? It's cheaper to produce (without the fourth color layer) and so it's something they can still make money on without putting that much effort into it.
Let's hope somebody at Fujifilm starts caring about this market again, then maybe two things will happen:
A. Kodak gets a strong competitor again, allowing film prices to come down and stocks to go up.
B. Please God, allow them to bring back Provia 400, Pro 400H, 800Z, Superia/Venus 800, Superia/Natura 1600
Will any of that happen? Probably not; but it sure is nice to dream about being able to go into a drug store and buying Natura 1600.
Well, Fujifilm has already started to shift.
1. They brought back Across.
2. I bought a roll of C200, manufactured in 2022, that is made in Japan.
They probably saw what is happening with Kodak and what to be back. I don't know 😅.
@@thomasa.243 They are completely inscrutable. I won't make fun of them or anything if they want to get back into the market. They as a business saw film was dying and wanted to pull out for the sake of money, they're jumping back in for the same reason.
Whatever reason they come back back, I can't say no to it.
I am excited to see what they have in store, if they are going to start supporting the market properly again.
@@LaskyLabs indeed they are. I guess the problem with this market is that Fuji has probably decided to abandon film some 10 years ago. From a business standpoint it made sense back then. However, the last 2 years or so, film is getting popular again. They are like: "Sh..." but all the chemicals, etc. are no longer available 😅. I personally see them coming back although the emulsions will be different and it might take a few more years...
@@thomasa.243 One day we'll get fresh Superia 800 and 1600 again...
@@LaskyLabs Probably. But it will also most probably be different 🙈
You should visit the Eastman Kodak house in Rochester.
I wish I could get a tour of the facility to show how film is made :P
teach us teach
you reach, I teach
Are you saying that the film demand today is higher than in 2013? Especially in the days where they made film for all photography?
Also, you say Kodak is not that big…but it was in S&P 500! It’s not that small.
Hmmm… Didn’t know Kodak scanned film back in 1888. Did they use scanners built with stone knives and bear skins?
Jason is gunnah get some serious kindey stones if kodak dosen't come up with the Aerochrome :(
Film photography as hobby will defo crash in the next few years because of film being to expensive now. I see people buying 2000’s digital camera to emulate the feeling of shooting film because digital cameras are the cheaper way to go but still produces that “vintage” feel
I actually made a few of the same comments as you on some other channels. The shift will be to digital cameras with dials like the X100 etc. I actually bought an X100 for 350.00 a couple of years ago but sold it. I have noticed that these are becoming more expensive and the quantity is not as plentiful. I think the Film hype will return to a small niche market in the next few years. We may see color film start to dwindle, but a plenty of black and white stocks available.
Anyone else very distracted by him reaching to adjust zoom constantly?
Just purchased 17 Kodak stocks after watching this 😂 Mmmaybe if their stocks goes up, they can afford to bring down the prices of film. Let’s do it for Jason 😂
The year 2000 CEO ran the company to the ground plus ushering digital. Kodak had the blueprint to digital XRay also they sold out cheap panic did not invest and now Fuji owns the market
3:29 UH OH! lolol
Go to find how many printed photo we have in albums after DIGITAL era in last 20 years????????pics always on screens with no feelings of paper in the ALBUMS as a valuable memory...Amateur photography is dead by DIGITAL,i dont know why we dont want to print digitals,maybe because we can see them on screen,we dont want to spend money,but with 35 films we had to do to be able to see the photos....
What would be cool is if they can bring back aerochrome And be able to develop it in C41
The first digital camera was developed by a Kodak employee named Steven Sasson, while he was at Kodak. To reiterate the point you made in your video above, Kodak resisted the change and while they still invested some money into the R&D/Manufacturing of this digital camera, they never took it seriously. I was an associate producer on a short form piece that Sasson was a part of when I was just out of college in 2016. Great channel, Chris, just subscribed.
profesionals was all of it. normies got a couple of point and shoots for vacation and maybe have a few laying around for birthday party. professionals got slrs running through multiple rools a day covering a sports event or studio photographers blasting through 120 film for the latest product photography to print on billboards or cinema running though hundreds of feet reshooting takes. pack film was used to make pasport photos. for the normie film ended in 1997 when the sony mavica came out, professionals didn't stop using film till the 2010s when camera cencors actually got good, and movie quality digital cameras got light enough to actually take out of the studio.
it was a ton of downsizing kodak had to do to just stay alive. no professionals no film. there is no pack film anymore because passport photos are now digital, no amount of consumer demand could fill that.
Wow, your rapid-fire commentary about Kodak and most of what you said is so wrong, it's hard to correct which (LOL) remark to correct first. But thanks for the super fast history tour, sort of.
Kodak has always been a chemical company. That makes film. They have other businesses make their electronics with their branding and that's how it is. That's just for starters. Fast talkers are usually wrong not right. "What 99% of People DON'T Understand About Kodak" But you do, above 99% of everyone else on Earth, correct? (LOL).
On point 👏👏👏👏
Kodak made more film cameras then I can count. How can you say they didn't make cameras?
Capitalism at its worst. Keep raising prices until the customer quits buying. Short-sighted profit taking. That's not a way to built a brand, it's the way to alienate your customer. The pandemic and "supply chain issues" have given companies cover to charge whatever they want to benefit their shareholders. It's not like they're trying to cover all the R&D expenses of developing new products or technology. Porta films came out almost 25 years ago! If it wasn't for hipsters and YT, the Era of chemical photography would be over. Why is it that digital photography isn't promoted as the "green" solution? It is the Tesla.
P.S. I grew up in Rochester and know a lot of Kodak retirees. I was also a commercial photographer for over 20 years. Business schools will be using EK as a case study for eons. One of the world's top 3 brands along with Disney, they rode their cash cow right off a cliff.
I think the whole point of this video is to explain that, Kodak has no choice in whether prices go up. It is a necessity to keep afloat.
@@Blanktarn I guess without seeing their books, we won't know whether it's a "necessity" to have astronomical price increase. They're certainly not spending on R&D. The Portra emulsinos were introduced over 20 years ago. What I do know is that "Kodak" sells a luxury product. Like Leica. No one "needs" film. It's time the romance with chemical photography ends.
Perhaps we must all chug to resurrect our fallen color infrared comrade
Uh, in 1888, they did not "scan". They printed.
I’ve been shooting film for the past 18 years and have seen film being so common place that it was sold at pharmacies and grocery stores.
I’ve always been a Kodak shooter (mainly Tmax100) and was there when Kodak almost went out of business. Just glad that so many younger people are getting into film photography and pushing what can be done with it. (Using ‘90s/early ‘00s point and shoots for series photography work)
ayeee underdog film lab
Before 2010 Kodak was tripping over its own Ego. They slammed into the digital wall at a million miles per hour and almost did not survive. The Kodak that emerged from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy was much more humble. However like many companies that are over 100 years old, adapting to modern times has been challenging for them. Kodak was the inventor of the Digital camera but they never saw it's full potential and someone else evolved the technology and it crushed Kodak.
Anyway right now Kodak has 2 major problems. First the can't get the ingredients needed to make the film because of supply chain issues. Secondly they can't package the film fast enough.
While there is no easy solution for the first problem, the second problem could be helped by selling the film in 100ft bulk rolls and letting their customers roll their own film. Another major problem is they have been busy making film for their competition while ignoring their customers. Yes I am talking about Fuji C200 and Fuji disposable cameras.
Kodak has many many problems and only time will tell if they are able to get from under their current troubles and grow as a company. Right now it's not looking so good.
Great video
thanks!
film never died.....Plenty of other filmstock mediums out there. 35mm is for the consumer now.. shit... 120/620 really was for the consumer.. but you not ready for that.
Who’s willing to spend $130 for 5 rolls of portra 400? God only knows how much it will cost in a month or two… shout out to all the early birds who can price gouge right now, make your money bois!
You are inside that 99%, your version of how kodak didnt wanted to switch to difital grln film is wrong... Kodak went full into de digital market making parts for nikon and canon. They could not keeo competing because kodak was never a high end glass maker, so they opted for a different path, and thanks that we can still buy film, if kodak went fully into high end cameras like canon, it would have bankrup in de earlies 2000s
The film is sold out right away cause literally it’s only like ten rolls available
Why do you keep moving the lense during you speaking? Stop it lol
Why is he always zooming in and out? It's distracting
Me who shoots film and digital
what you know is what everybody already knows. what's new?
Stop touching the damn camera