Kodak bankruptcy soon inevitable?

[Drew Wiley]

All kinds of photographic processes can be reinvented or revived, and some allegedly extinct forms of color photography are being currently experimented with.
As long as panchromatic sheet film is available, tricolor photography in the traditional sense is possible. But that's no practical substitute for what modern color
film does. And the need for such film is not going to simply disappear. Something practical will still be around once all this dust settles.

[Gene McCluney]

All kinds of photographic processes can be reinvented or revived, and some allegedly extinct forms of color photography are being currently experimented with.
As long as panchromatic sheet film is available, tricolor photography in the traditional sense is possible. But that's no practical substitute for what modern color
film does. And the need for such film is not going to simply disappear. Something practical will still be around once all this dust settles.

Well, the demise of Polaroid as a film-maker certainly put a crimp in certain important types of photography, and this demise was partially due to corporate manipulation, not complete lack of demand of product. Now that it is gone, re-inventing the technology is proving to be quite difficult, and those that are marketing some substitute materials: The Impossible Project, make films not even close to the pictorial quality of traditional Polaroid materials.

[Brian C. Miller]

Fuji is making instant film. Unfortunately, they decided to drop the 4x5 format, due to lack of demand. No way is Kodak going to bring back their instant film product.

It may be easier to build vacuum holders for 5-mil film base rather than invest in R&D to coat 7-mil base. Honestly, I'd buy new holders if it meant that I could use the Kodak MP film. That stuff is just too trick! Twin Lens Life did a blog post about it, and that is some good stuff! Mind-bending lattitude!

[MWitmann]

Sincerely i'm really thinking about the life of the Fuji 160NS (4x5); it could be a very good solution, if will last. Now everything depends on how Fuji will consider their future, by takig the chance of remaining the only color negative producer in a certain category, or if also they will go into the production of digital keylocks....

[Drew Wiley]

At this point it is meaningless to assume that Kodak will simply disappear. None of us knows what things will be like after reorganization, if that in fact transpires. The
overall demand for color film still represents a huge amount of profit for someone. But
declining demand can't subsidize mlultiple branches of an oversized corporation. Until
the dust settles, all this doom and gloom is highly premature. A good time to stock up
on the sheet film that is still available, for sure, but even that custom will temporarily
decrease mfg demand. Polaroid was a completely different issue, a much more defined
and vunerable niche.

[tbeaman]

Still, Polaroid's situation was similar enough to still serve as a cautionary and perhaps alarmist tale. But on the other side of the coin, we have Ilford. To me, those two serve to define the gamut of possible outcomes. I hope for an Ilford type resolution, and find a Polaroid one unlikely, but we'll probably end up with something in between.

[MWitmann]

yes, we have ilford, but my concern was related to the color negative extinction, not the BW one

[rdenney]

yes, we have ilford, but my concern was related to the color negative extinction, not the BW one

The point was not Ilford as a backup in case of the loss of Kodak, but Ilford as an example of a film company saved from dissolution and given a new life by smart investors. I'm not familiar with the Ilford story, or how they came to be part of Harman, but it seems to have worked better than the Polaroid story, which can only be described as a collapse, with only the brand name still floating around and the technology being beyond (so far, though we are hopeful) resuscitation.

The best outcome is that by some combination of events, the machinery and expertise of Kodak is preserved. Given the size of the machinery, that is going to be a challenge.

Rick "who would not want to be depending on a Kodak pension just now" Denney

[Ed Richards]

> Rick "who would not want to be depending on a Kodak pension just now" Denney

The story I heard said that Kodak did not screw the employees and loot (right size) the pension, so the employees with pensions should be OK.

[jayabbas]

And we went to the moon !! Making color film should not be relegated to antiquity, but then again many complex things have gone by the wayside never to be seen again . I do hope for a continuing production of color film as I am an analog holdout, er junkie.