Kodak Chemicals coming back under Photo Systems inc.

[Alan Klein]

Would this include XTOL?

[paulbarden]

Photo Systems Inc. manufactured photographic chemistry for Kodak Alaris, the film licensee that continues to operate today. Subsequently, when Kodak Alaris sold its chemical business to Sino Promise, we continued manufacturing chemistry for them.

What I take from the above statement is that Photo Systems Inc. was the entity responsible for manufacturing all of the bad chemistry sold under the Kodak brand a few years ago. Bad Dektol, bad D-76, bad Xtol - I bought 'em all. (and returned many packages of each to the retailer I got 'em from)

So, I have zero interest in finding out how well (or how poorly) Photo Systems Inc. produces this next iteration of chemistry under the Kodak name. I wouldn't trust them to get it right this time. I've been making my own developers for three years now, and I see no reason to go back to packaged chemistry. Not from "Kodak" anyway.

[Michael R]

Would this include XTOL?

Yes.

[Michael R]

Indeed that's kind of the elephant in the room - the announcement lifts the veil somewhat on who was making the Kodak-branded chemicals following Champion and Tetenal, which unfortunately seems to indicate Photo Systems Inc. was doing the work during which time we had the various service bulletins about XTOL, brown Dektol, HC-110 precipitates etc. So I'm kind of in the same boat as you, at least for now - ie I moved on.

The other thing is they'll need to re-establish some retailer relationships if they want more sales. The one physical darkroom retailer left where I live outright stopped carrying any Kodak-branded chemistry around 2020-2021, so there are certain Kodak-branded chemicals (a difficult to screw up chemical such as stop bath, for example) I simply can't purchase anymore - can't buy online due to shipping restrictions so brick-and-mortar would be the only option.

I really hope they have their sh*t together. There's a lot of ground to make up.

What I take from the above statement is that Photo Systems Inc. was the entity responsible for manufacturing all of the bad chemistry sold under the Kodak brand a few years ago. Bad Dektol, bad D-76, bad Xtol - I bought 'em all. (and returned many packages of each to the retailer I got 'em from)

So, I have zero interest in finding out how well (or how poorly) Photo Systems Inc. produces this next iteration of chemistry under the Kodak name. I wouldn't trust them to get it right this time. I've been making my own developers for three years now, and I see no reason to go back to packaged chemistry. Not from "Kodak" anyway.

[Neal Chaves]

now if they could bring back the syrupy HC 110, all will be better in the world, but that's dreaming I guess

Just buy Ilfotec HC and use the same times and dilutions as for the original HC110. Not only will your results be the same, but you will gain some insight into how the branding game is played.

[Sal Santamaura]

What I take from the above statement is that Photo Systems Inc. was the entity responsible for manufacturing all of the bad chemistry sold under the Kodak brand a few years ago. Bad Dektol, bad D-76, bad Xtol - I bought 'em all. (and returned many packages of each to the retailer I got 'em from)...

Multiple threads on forums included images of the bad packets; all said "Made in Germany." I conclude PSI was not involved with those, and that Sino Promise transferred production to PSI as part of recovering from the problem.

I just read this announcement on John Sexton’s news letter. I would welcome the return of t-max rs!...

TMAX-RS does not appear to be among the products that, at least initially, will be offered:

https://kodak.photosys.com/collectio...al#col-sorting

[Oren Grad]

Threads merged.

[Michael Kadillak]

The cold hard reality as to what happened internally and externally with Kodak photographic Chemicals over the last few years (ie. the good, bad and ugly) is unadulterated speculation because were were not integrally involved in the business. We have zero clue as to where the ball got dropped. Similarly the decision to acquire the brand name (better to reboot fresh than keep the Kodak Name?) is also a wet finger in the air. All we in fact do know is there is a new offering for photographic chemistry coming with the Kodak name affixed to it. I strongly suspect that there will be a number of upbeat individuals that will be willing to put their unbridled optimism to the test in assessing the product first hand and we should be able to use these results to see if it passes muster. Yes, I am one of those individuals that mixes everything myself, but I respect others that would rather have all of the necessary ingredients compiled for them for a one stop iteration. Fingers crossed that this business venue exceeds all expectations.

[MikeH]

Fingers crossed that this business venue exceeds all expectations.

+1

[Bormental]

I am actually way more excited about the return of Kodak Flexicolor line of chemistry. There was never any shortage of B&W developers. PSI has always sold Xtol and HC-110 in their own packaging branded as LegacyPro. This announcement changes absolutely nothing. You simply get "Kodak" printed on the products that are already on the retail shelves. But losing Flexicolor was quite scary, because we are left with just a single source (!) of C-41 chemistry, and that's Fuji Hunt 5L kit. At least in the USA.