Kodak announces plans to sell consumer film division

[Michael Kadillak]

Hello Colleen.
What division will the x-ray film production be in?

The X ray film division was sold years ago by Kodak to Carestream Health and it is my understanding that they coat their own film here in Colorado.

When one considers the effects of taking a business unit off of one balance sheet and onto another that is relative clean and manageable, the possibilities are much more positive. Because of the risky nature of the equity markets there is significant capital chasing opportunity in the private equity sector. We should know fairly shortly what the real revenue numbers look like relative to controllable costs. If Kodak cannot announce a buyer within 3-6 months, the odds are not in their favor that they will remain a viable integrated company. George Eastman is rolling over in his grave.

[Kevin Crisp]

Do suicides roll over in their graves?

[Michael Kadillak]

Do suicides roll over in their graves?

Sure. If you are dead, what difference does it mean how you got there?

[Kirk Fry]

Besides his work was done.

[Frank Petronio]

I think George had a rotisserie installed in the casket.

I didn't realize that making movie film and still film were independent of each other, I thought they used the same manufacturing equipment at some point. In any case, why not keep all the film manufacturing together for efficiency's sake? Or is the still film made on such a small scale that it could actually be efficient as a stand alone company?

[Michael Kadillak]

I think George had a rotisserie installed in the casket.

I didn't realize that making movie film and still film were independent of each other, I thought they used the same manufacturing equipment at some point. In any case, why not keep all the film manufacturing together for efficiency's sake? Or is the still film made on such a small scale that it could actually be efficient as a stand alone company?

Movie film sales support still film as it is a much smaller market. This comes down to projections of forward markets under the assumption that at some point the downtrend will stabilize and will turn positive. I hear from the grapevine that this has already happened. Paper is the product in trouble....

[Sal Santamaura]

...I didn't realize that making movie film and still film were independent of each other, I thought they used the same manufacturing equipment at some point...

They still do.

[algarzai]

Maybe some Saudi royal will buy it as a vanity business

hmmm sounds like fun. maybe i will move the factory to Riyadh too.

[al olson]

Hmmm

It was my understanding that Ektar was developed specifically for the movie industry. The advantages being:
1) It has a much greater exposure range than the transparency films,
2) It is easier to make movie prints from negative film than transparency film,
3) It was designed for making better digital scans,
4) It has superior flesh tones,
etc.

Now for the 35mm shooters, shouldn't it be possible to buy movie film in bulk and cut it down?

If this were true, than why would Kodak not sell off larger rolls for some enterprising business to cut down to sheet sizes? Why only to the movie industry?

It seems likely that Kodak would not be selling off its coating equipment, but selling the rights, the formulas, the processes, and the technology to some (?) willing buyer. Maybe ... ... when the smoke clears some competitor will buy the rights for HSI and HIE, and maybe even for EIR.

[Ben Syverson]

Ektar for the movie industry? No, I don't think so. They wouldn't need to convince filmmakers to shoot on negative stock, as it's virtually unheard of to shoot on reversal. And filmmakers tend to prefer faster stocks. 500T is probably their biggest seller.

You can certainly shoot movie film in still cameras. I believe the B&W stocks don't have a rem-jet backing, so they should be easy to process. The color stocks do have the rem-jet, which you would have to scrub off before processing. I understand it's pretty messy.