Local Photo supply store told me Kodak has discontinued all development chemicals

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Was there today and bought the last three bottles of Tmx developer and last three bottles or HC-110 (non syrup kind). They told me that Kodak had stopped making chemicals to develop film and they would be receiving no more.

Has any heard about Kodak discontinuing the making of chemicals to deveolp film?

[j.e.simmons]

There's a thread on photrio about this. It seems that Sino Promise, which had been making the Kodak chemistry for the last several years(or having it made) has ceased production.

[Tin Can]

I have never in 25 years used any KODAK Chemistry

not counting Pro processors

I use a simple chem set and do not experiment

[Michael R]

Eastman Kodak (the company in Rochester that makes Kodak film) has been out of the processing chemical business for a very long time, so this has little to do with EK.

When Kodak Alaris was marketing/distributing Kodak chemicals, and before that, the chemicals were made by various other companies - Champion, Tetenal...

Kodak Alaris sold this and some other things to a Chinese company called Sino Promise in mid-2020. Although there were periodic hiccups/issues before that, availability has been increasingly problematic since Sino Promise took over the marketing/distribution of Kodak-branded chemicals.

There have been rumors over the past few years that Sino Promise/Kodak chemistry is basically no more, but as far as I know there still hasn't been any sort of official announcement of this. What we hear about are usually retailers/channels being told it is over.

My suggestion would be to move on. For example when it comes to B&W:

-There are various commercially available clones of XTOL
-D-76 can either be made at home or is available commercially as Ilford ID-11 which is identical
-HC-110 has equivalents (purists should note HC-110 itself has been formulated in various different ways over the decades/years)
-D-23 and many other Kodak formulas can be made at home
-Dektol can either be made at home or substituted with an array of print developers that all do the same thing
-Kodak fixers, with the exception of Flexicolor fixer, are plain old acid fixers easily replaced with any number of other fixers
-KRST is functionally/chemically no different than Harman and others

[Steven Ruttenberg]

yeah. I am also worried about the film side. I am starting to stock up as often as I can. Especially for things like Portra, E100 and Extar

[paulbarden]

I very much doubt the Film production at EK is in any way affected by what Sino Promise did (and didn't do). Eastman Kodak has made it very clear in recent times that their commitment to film is 100%, and they are working to improve the volume of product they can put out.

[Michael R]

This is true. We should not confuse Eastman Kodak with Sino Promise and the manufacture/availability of Kodak-branded chemicals.

I very much doubt the Film production at EK is in any way affected by what Sino Promise did (and didn't do). Eastman Kodak has made it very clear in recent times that their commitment to film is 100%, and they are working to improve the volume of product they can put out.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I very much doubt the Film production at EK is in any way affected by what Sino Promise did (and didn't do). Eastman Kodak has made it very clear in recent times that their commitment to film is 100%, and they are working to improve the volume of product they can put out.

Cool. Now if they could bring the prices back down that would be great. The last two years worth of price increases is nuts. They should take back the chemical side of things for developing as well. Not that "kodak" developers are the best, but I like them and until recently were not hard to get. They are stable too. I am using developer, Tmax and HC-110 that expired 3 plus years ago on film exposed 4 years ago and the results are excellent. I just bought 3 more Tmax Professional Developer and 3 more HC-110. Both new formulas. The HC-110 is different for sure, still a concentrate, but consistency of water whereas the stuff I bought long time ago and still have is like syrup. I hope the new formulas are good. I am not ready to switch or to start making my own developer just yet.

[paulbarden]

1) Kodak's film prices are never coming down, they only go up. The rest of the film manufacturers have, and continue to do the same. I like TMX and TMY a lot, but I only buy a roll or two as a "treat" once in a while. Ilford gets 90% of my film budget now.
2) There are plenty of excellent alternatives to Sino Promise chemistry, aimed to take the place of "Kodak" chemistry. Adox, for one, is doing a great job of filling that hole, and Photographers Formulary has many outstanding offerings as well. (I really like their FA-1027, which lasts for ages even after opening.) These days, I almost exclusively use PMK, but occasionally make my own D-76, Mytol, and Thornton 2-Bath - all of which are pretty simple to put together. I've even made my own PMK from scratch and it's not difficult either.
The whole DIY developer thing just isn't much of an obstacle, but some folks seem really hesitant to work with powders that have to be measured. You make your own and you know you can trust it - Kodak, not so much anymore.

[wclark5179]

Freestyle still has a good selection of products.

https://www.freestylephoto.com/

I notice a clip titled, “Understanding Color Management.”

https://www.freestylephoto.com/color...color-profiles

That was a task that the lab I used would take care of.