Kodak

[Sal Santamaura]

...Ilford, IIRC leases it's facilites.

Correct, with 15 years remaining on the site lease.

[Roger Cole]

Even if some other company decides to enter the color film market now that competition is evaporating... well... look at how "awesome" the Impossible Project film has been with their attempts to reformulate Polaroid (I am being sarcastic - it must be difficult because they are still a long way off!)

Heck Agfa and the other companies never really got color right, only Kodak and Fuji ever perfected it.

Watch the movie companies stock up and prices go through the roof!

I think Polaroid is a lot harder to get right isn't it? And only one company ever made it.

I thought the late Agfa films were pretty good. Ultra 50 had Velvia like saturation in a neg film before Kodak and even Fuji were doing it (heck, I still haven't seen a neg film as saturated as that stuff) and Optima was pretty nice. I still have some frozen 4x5 Optima I'm going to try out.

Anyway, my first love is black and white. Sigh.

[Daniel Stone]

Ilford(or some derivative of Ilford Imaging Co.) makes color film, though its more of a "microfilm" than sheets or "standard" rollfilm

http://www.ilford.com/en/products/mi...phic/index.asp

-Dan

[Math]

One way to look at it... If Kodak is going under, that means a relatively large increase in sales for Fuji, allowing them to stay in the market and possibly introduce new products. Same for Ilford.

[Roger Cole]

One way to look at it... If Kodak is going under, that means a relatively large increase in sales for Fuji, allowing them to stay in the market and possibly introduce new products. Same for Ilford.

Well, maybe. That was something I did think of, where the market might not support two players it might support one who could do more than either could competing against the other. And prices could be constrained somewhat by digital. To some degree I and many others will pay what we have to, but that is mainly true of hobbyists, and hobbyists have limits set by personal financial situation and dedication. I'm not a pro who MUST photograph. Raise the prices too high and I'll just spend the time and money on one of my many other hobbies.

But we're talking about Kodak as if they and their film are already gone. They aren't. Ilford was on the bring too and rescued. The best result for us would be if Kodak could spin off their analog photo business to a smaller, leaner company who could profitably service the remaining market. I guess we'll see.

[matt5791]

One way to look at it... If Kodak is going under, that means a relatively large increase in sales for Fuji, allowing them to stay in the market and possibly introduce new products. Same for Ilford.

This is absolutely true. The demise of Agfa shortly after the management buyout was big help for Ilford Harman. Kodak B&W films are a big competition for Ilford.

In respect of the lease of the Harman site - it's highly unlikely the lease of the Harman site would not be renewed when it expires - besides, it's almost certainly a protected lease under the Landlord & Tenant Act so the Landlord has to legally give the tenant first option to renew - I'm just guessing here, but knowing what I know about the commercial property market in the UK, that would be a typical situation.

Matt.

[D. Bryant]

I think Polaroid is a lot harder to get right isn't it? And only one company ever made it.

I thought the late Agfa films were pretty good. Ultra 50 had Velvia like saturation in a neg film before Kodak and even Fuji were doing it (heck, I still haven't seen a neg film as saturated as that stuff) and Optima was pretty nice. I still have some frozen 4x5 Optima I'm going to try out.

Anyway, my first love is black and white. Sigh.

Kodak produced a very good instant color product until they were sued by Polaroid for patent infringement which they prevailed. I suspect Kodak could have produce a good B&W product too and may have developed one that never made it to the market.

[SamReeves]

Maybe Freestyle will buy them out? Dirt cheap?

[David Luttmann]

When these discussions come up, the word "made" is usually tossed around pretty loosely. Most of the time, people on the outside don't actually know what's still being manufactured. All we know is what the manufacturer lists in its catalog - which may or may not be updated in a timely way - and what we can actually find in retail channels. The rest is typically rumor, third- or fourth- or fifth-hand.

It's certainly not rare for a product to continue to be listed in the catalog and to be available through retail channels after production has ceased. FWIW, though, at least in Japan, Fujifilm has usually been pretty good about announcing film discontinuations in advance and tagging the corresponding catalog listings with a "remaining stocks only" mark, or something to that effect. And also FWIW, the 160NC and 160NS QL listings are not currently tagged that way.

So all we know for sure is that as of today, those QL products are still listed as current by Fujifilm Japan and are still available through the retail channel in Japan.

I recall a Fuji press release stating that they were no longer making QL. I'll see if I can find it. I love the QL system so if indeed they are still around....I'm stoked!!!

[David Luttmann]

Here's the press release:

Press Release:

Fujifilm Professional has announced that Fujifilm Japan is to cease its manufacture of Quickload films in April 2010.

Fujifilm's Senior Product Manager for Professional Film, Russ Gunn, explained the move: "It is with great sadness that we have taken the decision to withdraw our Quickload range from the market. Unfortunately the volume of Quickload sales has dropped off to such an extent that they are simply not viable products."

Gunn continued: "We need to consolidate our range of professional films in order to support our remaining lines. We remain fully committed to the continued support of photographers who appreciate the quality and flexibility of real film but sadly this means slower selling films have had to be sacrificed to enable us to continue to produce and market our more popular formats."

Fujifilm has stocks of Quickload Pro 160S, Provia 100F, Velvia 100 and Velvia 50 in storage and, depending on demand, there should be sufficient quantities to last for another 12 months.

Fans of medium and large format photography will be cheered by the news that Fujifilm is to continue its production of sheet film. From early Summer 2010 Fujifilm's ranges of 5x4in and 10x8in films will be packed as 20 sheet boxes instead of the current 10 sheet packs.

The full range of Fujifilm Professional's film stock is available to buy online via the Fujilab website.