Kodak bankruptcy soon inevitable?

[Vaughn]

Kodak stock up 46%. Dang, wish I could predict the future...that would have been an easy way to make a few buck!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16498261

[MWitmann]

i'll add also that almost daily i read new threads about new discontinued product or services: "no more E-6 developing ehere and there", "discontinued ilfochrome" etc

As i've stated, i'm mainly intrested in color photography: i've invested many $$$ in order to start this LF color adventure and now i have to sell even my pants in order to invest in refrigerators and stocks? Or give up on my interests and consider that "it's ok, the BW still on the market", i really don't think that this would be a solution or a comfort.

And i really don't want to feel that kind of peak, as somebody else stated, "I am at the point where I might give up photography".

[joolsb]

Kodak stock up 46%. Dang, wish I could predict the future...that would have been an easy way to make a few buck!

Reading the report, it makes one wonder what is going to happen to the film division as the company transforms itself into a 'digital player'...

'"As we complete Kodak's transformation to a digital company, our future markets will be very different from our past, and we need to organise ourselves in keeping with that evolution," chief executive Antonio Perez said.'

Hmmmm.

[Gary Tarbert]

i'll add also that almost daily i read new threads about new discontinued product or services: "no more E-6 developing ehere and there", "discontinued ilfochrome" etc

As i've stated, i'm mainly intrested in color photography: i've invested many $$$ in order to start this LF color adventure and now i have to sell even my pants in order to invest in refrigerators and stocks? Or give up on my interests and consider that "it's ok, the BW still on the market", i really don't think that this would be a solution or a comfort.

And i really don't want to feel that kind of peak, as somebody else stated, "I am at the point where I might give up photography".

Holy Foxtrot!! What are you talking about , Keep shooting until you can't ,Not when it get's a little tougher!!Ilfochrome wasn't the be all and end all anyway , Fujiflex is a viable alternative (better shadow detail)And fridges are still cheaper than high megapixel digital backs last time i checked, I know you are fairly new and it must appear that the glass is half empty , But trust me the glass is half full , If in in 10 years time their is no colour film available in the world , You would have 10years experience with LF that you would not have if you gave up now . Cheers Gary

[Allen in Montreal]

Allen,

Stockpiling chemicals is not a sound strategy, as chemicals expire,but formulas do not. A far better strategy would be to switch to published formulas and compound your own solutions from bulk chemicals. With a little ingenuity you can make everything you need from a few, widely available chemicals. Save your shelf/freezer space for film and/or paper, if that's important to you.

Jay,

True, but, in the early 90's a large camera store in Montreal went bust. On the final day of the bankruptcy sale I bought out all the darkroom supplies.
Over 16 years later, everything from Kodak is still good! The bags of Selectol Soft are starting to brown slightly. I am still using supplies from that haul and they are all fine.

I am harsh on Kodak management, but they make good stuff that is made to last!


I now have about 20 bags to make 5 liter X-tol, when that runs out, I will re-evaluate.
I have about a dozen bottles of HC-110, I am still using some from the early 90s haul, as Drew says, if never opened, it can last forever!

One less thing to change for the next decade at least.

[MWitmann]

Holy Foxtrot!! What are you talking about , Keep shooting until you can't ,Not when it get's a little tougher!!Ilfochrome wasn't the be all and end all anyway , Fujiflex is a viable alternative (better shadow detail)And fridges are still cheaper than high megapixel digital backs last time i checked, I know you are fairly new and it must appear that the glass is half empty , But trust me the glass is half full , If in in 10 years time their is no colour film available in the world , You would have 10years experience with LF that you would not have if you gave up now . Cheers Gary

Probably you're right, the glass is half full, but considering that not everyone is able to invest K$ in stocking, i will try to convince myself about the half full . I saw several users stating that " i've just put an order of 2K of film", but this kind of insurance is for the elite. I was thinking more about being able to shoot when and how much i want to, depending also on my available funds, and not to sell my house for stocking, in order to invest in refrigerators and film.

My point was mainly about how everything tend to turn in something like "let's stock and be happy for the remaining period of available film" instead of be relaxed; and not acting like a moribund that tries to convince his self that "will be ok anyway".

[Mark Woods]

There are other processes that will allow you to make the emulsion, as was mentioned before.

[Drew Wiley]

Why not just roll over and die? It's just too much of a hardship to drive down the
street and see a refrigerator on someone's lawn that says, "Working/Free", or to eat
one more frozen pizza from the frig you've already got? Heck, I've always found it
sensible to keep some extra film around. Distribution has always been flaky at times. This is nothing. Quite a few of us remember when the Hunt bros got a monopoly on the silver market and the price of paper skyrocketed. Then Oriental
Seagull disappered roughly at the same time Brilliant did. Then Ilford got in trouble
and it looked like Galerie was going extinct. Quite a few printmakers thought it was
the end of the world. Same thing happened with color photog once dye transfer was discontinued - some quit photography, some figured out that it was possible to do
superb work in Ciba, some reinvented DT, and some moved on to digital printing.
Evolution at work. Keep adapting or go extinct. It's always been like that.

[jm51]

i'll add also that almost daily i read new threads about new discontinued product or services: "no more E-6 developing ehere and there", "discontinued ilfochrome" etc

As i've stated, i'm mainly intrested in color photography: i've invested many $$$ in order to start this LF color adventure and now i have to sell even my pants in order to invest in refrigerators and stocks? Or give up on my interests and consider that "it's ok, the BW still on the market", i really don't think that this would be a solution or a comfort.

And i really don't want to feel that kind of peak, as somebody else stated, "I am at the point where I might give up photography".

There was lf colour photography before the invention of colour film so there will still be lf colour photography should colour film become extinct.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ser...J8Gj8QOevNiuBA

[Brian C. Miller]

JM, there's a limit to what can be done.
Sure, we could do color photography with three RGB plates (Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii). It would take some work, but, yes, it can be done.
Could we do Autochromes? Unlikely, as the process, not even in general, has been restarted. I think one guy is trying, but that's it.
Could we do Kodachromes? Not without the budget and backing of a real film manufacturer, and the product would be really expensive.