Kodak Ektachrome and the Future of Film Photography

What does Kodak's financial trouble and the delay of Ektachrome say about the future of film photography?

[Analogfotografie]

I think that producing film in the future will strongly depend on new technology options. Producing film on this old machines that were build to fulfill a 100 times higher demand can not be cost efficient in any way. Adox today uses machines that formerly have been used for testing purposes and they are more than big enough to produce enough material for a worldwide market. What we need now more than ever before are good ideas, new concepts to apply the emulsions onto the base material. We need the possibility for smaller facilities that can react quickly to market demands. Maybe coating film the old way is not the only way to go in 2018? I strongly believe that something similar to inkjet technology could be a solution. But I am far from being an engineer so that's just a wild guess. Another problem is the fact that the diversity of professional grade film stocks demanded by the film community is still as widespread as 20 years ago. This also limits the possible sales for one individual stock. BTW: Kodak needs better skills in communication. The film community is starving for any information but all they supply is silence. They would do good to let us participate along the process. No matter if it is about success or fails. I believe most people within the film community have a quite good understanding for the difficulties involved in the return of Ektachrome.

[CaptTerrific]

Ilford is alive and well, don't worry :D

Best way to ensure we keep getting professional grade film, in B&W at least, is to keep buying it!

[Goodspeed]

To keep film around, consumers has to “vote with their wallets”. Anny company will keep there product line as long as consumers… well consume it.
In the 1980s in Sweden white (bleached) coffee filters turned out to be an environmental hazard, because of the toxic waste produced in paper factories during the chlorine bleaching process. The factories didn’t want to end production but a nation of educated consumers “voted with their wallets” and didn’t buy white coffee filters. So production was ended because no one bought the product.
Maybe the same principle can be applied in reversed. The more people going into film photography and consuming film the stronger the market becomes.

[coreyburns]

The best way to keep film alive is to put your money where your mouth is and shoot film over digital as much as possible. Keep going to your local camera shops and pay the extra $2.50 on a box of five roles instead of buying from Amazon and B and H. If you support the local "infrastructure" of film we are more likely to keep Kodak and Fuji afloat. If you have the option to get film developed locally, do it! Especially if it is C-41 process; pay the extra $.50 a role to have your local film shop run the role instead of sending it out through Walgreens, CVS, or Walmart. Keeping film alive, in my opinion, is similar to keeping small businesses alive. You may have to put up with your cooky local camera shop owner and continue paying the extra pocket change for something but by doing so you help ensure that there is a future for film and help your local economy. Johnson Camera in Syracuse is an hour away from where I live and I make the commute just to help support a local business that is in turn supporting my desire to shoot film.

Support local camera shops, quality Youtubers, spend the extra dollar, and we can save film.

[DmitryKoupriyanov]

I wonder how much of those losses are from producing products like their phone, which seems like no one wants. Unless those are different divisions.

[teleaddict]

Kodak's problem is they need to stop messing around in areas where they are doomed to failure. Like the mobile phone market and now I hear they are into TVs. These are areas which they can never dominate due to the big names like Apple and Samsung. They are a company that don't seem to know what to stamp their name on. When people hear the name Kodak they think of film. Kodak was never into anything else but film before digital came along. Now is the time to dedicate themselves to film again. Film is booming, but no one is grasping this. Fuji is getting out of the game, which will leave Kodak to dominate this market. It's a great opportunity in this time of resurgence. They need to bring back films that have long been discontinued, but scale production down to meet todays demands. It's still a niche market but there's so many people now wanting to shoot film, it will be a missed opportunity if they don't do this.

[stibisecurity]

From a new to film guy's perspective, the number of film stock options is insane! Discontinuing some is sad, but may be necessary to keep the rest alive. Will Ektachrome ever be profitable for Kodak? I imagine the sales of slide film to be less than 1/10th of colour negative. Spending that much on a new film that probably won't be the first choice of any photographers is just irrational. Maybe the state of film is much better than we think, that’s why they are doing it.
One thing is for sure, we should buy less out of date film, and more new stock! Come on people shooting 10 years expired Kodak Gold is only exciting once! Every time you shoot expired, one fresh tears apart!

[RobertNuttmann]

1.  I listened to the podcast The Kodakary about a month ago that said the film would be out in early 2018.  
2.  A friend of mine had a business reason to tour the Kodak film factory in Nov 17.  They showed him a film production line where they said Ektachrome was being made.  He also says he was shown a film production line where Kodachrome was being tested.  And this is a 50 something business guy who I have known for years.  
3.  Fujifilm cut their prices over the holiday season on several types of film.  On B&H the price reduction on Superia 400 was quite a lot.  They also cut Velvia and another slide film.  My guess is that Fujifilm did this to hurt Kodak, their major competitor.  
4.  I have been watching youtube film related videos since about 2013.  Back in 2013 there were only a few.  Today there are many hundreds of film related videos.  
5.  My favorite lab in 2013 would turn around my film orders when I mailed them in within 48 hours after they got it.  Last month it took them almost two weeks.  This is a well known large film lab in CA.  I have had to find other labs as I don't want to wait that long.  

I don't have a crystal ball but think film will be around for a while and Kodak will be making film for a while.  All of the above 5 points indicate that Ektachrome will be out soon.  I am ready to place my order.  Perhaps we will really get lucky and Kodachrome will come back.  Fuji is not loosing money.  As long as people keep buying their film they will keep making it.  My evidence with youtube videos and length of time to get film developed says film use is going up.  So if I was to guess I would say you will be able to buy Ektachrome this quarter.  In the mean time I will continue to enjoy Ektar and Portra.  Plus some Velvia.

[michaelparry]

I sure hope Kodak does bring back the Ektachrome. I have shot hundreds of rolls of Kodak Ektachrome and Kodachrome in the past. I did retire my film camera several years ago, but I just pulled it out of retirement and want to get back to expose the Kodak transparency film. I am also concerned if it will happen. If it does, we all need to push those film photographers to at least try it and try to support the investment.

[petepictures]

I've listened the podcast on FPP about the  Ilford factory, they  seems to be doing well only because their facility to make film is much smaller than Kodak's and Fuji's

[jameslane]

Well, this is kinda shit for me when I want to start moving away from digital to film for my landscape work...

I think the best way to keep film going is channels like yours, Ben Horne etc to get more people interested. Probably make it a mantra for a sign off in your videos?

Like your recent video, taking photos of strangers in the street with your medium format cameras (probably use the TLR as it's still eye-catching but easier to carry around). People will be curious and ask you what is that and you can engage them in conversation about how cool film is etc and they can get interested too and buy a 35mm or something

[FrankWalsh]

I have to start by saying I love film. Now, let's be real. The "resurgence of film" is no more real than the resurgence of vinyl for music from a commercial perspective. We are in an echo chamber and there are so few places that still handle film that OF COURSE they are seeing strong business. So does that mean the death of professional grade film? I suppose it depends on how you define it. It does mean the death of mass produced film supported by giant companies. The industry will be dominated by small batch processors and as a result, consistency may or may not be what it was in the golden days. Automation and control is so inexpensive that there is really no reason you can't produce small batches with high consistency. Kodak has never recovered from its mismanagement, and probably never will, but I certainly hope that the film formulas and production survive in some form or another.

[EDHBlvd]

If they bring it out, I’ll buy 10 rolls just to help show people will come. I too am worried we are in 2018 with no serious update from Kodak.

[MORCOPOLO]

I like shooting movie film so I hope that it will always be available.

[petepictures]

In this respect we have more questions than answers. Don't forget the  processing of colour film has become the bigger issue. Very few labs are left and their machines don't have much spare parts for service. I am quite confident B&W film will stay, especially for us who process at home. For colour maybe another 5 years. I will certainly buy some Ektachrome in S8mm if it comes. ECN-2 negative film is so tough and expensive to process here in South Our local economic stagnation doesn't help the issue either.

[buggie]

I really hope things stay the way they are now at the least.. I'd be really sad to let go of my Rollei. Please Kodak, Fujifilm, Ilford and others, keep the 120 dream alive.

[burntoutelectronics]

The fact they are not releasing it in 120 is the soul reason i still have thirty rolls of e100s in 120 in the fridge

[OperationBlueprint]

That's a shame about the huge loss of staff at Kodak. I'd love to shoot some Ektachrome. I think Ilford will be around forever if we all keep supporting.

[erichartke]

I have read that their value has actually increased from last year and they are also making huge investments so I will remain positive and keep supporting them using their great products.

[appleshampoo]

Artschools encourages people to try out film and I see that a lot of young people are interested in it even though they have never lived in the pre digital Era. Don't know if that will be enough and I'm afraid it isn't. I think more and more stocks will be discontinued.