Quote Originally Posted by Brian C. Miller View Post
There is a big difference between cutting a pre-existing film, and coating an old emulsion. In this case, Kodak determined that there would be too much waste in their current cutting process for fulfilling the LF order. Yes, someone at Kodak could have done the math beforehand and determined that the minimum order would be X feet of film from the master roll. (I don't know if Eastman-Kodak or Kodak-Alaris is the one who cuts the rolls.) However, we do know that they will do it for $75,000.

Coating an emulsion is not done lightly. Has the emulsion been previously coated on their current machines? Does anybody remember how to make the emulsion? Kodak has previously been in the position where one of the key people was out on vacation, and a new emulsion couldn't be mixed until he got back.

As for interest, take a look at the number of responders to this order, and the number of people who have pledged support to the New55 Kickstarter project. Not many! Surely not enough for Kodak to coat a master roll. Remember, that's over a mile of film, and the process might have to be redeveloped. If $75,000 is too much, how can Kodak expect to find support for $1 million or more it will ask to cover the process? I haven't heard of any millionaires or Saudi princes having an LF hobby.

The Ilford custom order is just for cutting, not coating. Nobody has ponied up the money to get the R&D done for SFX on sheet film, and I doubt it will ever be done.

The solution has to work for both the manufacturer and the consumer. If it doesn't work for the manufacturer, it definitely won't be done.
The Keith told me that there was more response and more pre-orders to this and FASTER than any other order he's ever had before... It's just that once the price became 3 times what it would be for others, that the interest slowed.

Quote Originally Posted by csxcnj View Post
I might be remembering it wrong, but I believe this was to cut sheets from an ALREADY coated master roll. Stone?
Yes, the rolls existed, they just needed to be cut.

But I believe it was the "leader" and "end" that would be too long with such a short cut, it was the excess runoff after the cut amount that made it not worth it.