I hope this isn't bad news for film photography

[Mr Badger]

Just spotted this article and I'm hoping it's not bad news for future Kodak film supplies and the development of new products. https://www.thephoblographer.com/2017/11/10/eastman-kodaks-revenue-will-lay-off-400-workers/

 

[Peter B]

It doesn't look like being too bad for film, although how can you tell nowadays? The interesting thing for me is that I was never a big Kodak film fan, but in these limited times I'm rooting for them to survive!

 

[Mr Badger]

At the moment, value for money, sharpness and lack of grain wise, I don't think there's anything to touch Kodak Ektar 100 for use on a sunny day, unless you want the additional expense of using what few colour slide films are available. Their Tmax 400 B&W film seems to be well thought of by 35mm users, and there's a couple of rolls of it in my fridge waiting for me to try. A lot of people seem quite fond of Portra 400 too, but I prefer Portra 800. If you've not tried those recently, perhaps some of them a go and see what you think, Peter? I know I'd miss Kodak like mad if they disappeared or stopped making any of the above colour films. Hopefully, though, any difficulties one company is facing won't affect the other.

 

[excalibur2]

At the moment, value for money, sharpness and lack of grain wise, I don't think there's anything to touch Kodak Ektar 100 for use on a sunny day, unless you want the additional expense of using what few colour slide films are available. Their Tmax 400 B&W film seems to be well thought of by 35mm users, and there's a couple of rolls of it in my fridge waiting for me to try. A lot of people seem quite fond of Portra 400 too, but I prefer Portra 800. If you've not tried those recently, perhaps some of them a go and see what you think, Peter? I know I'd miss Kodak like mad if they disappeared or stopped making any of the above colour films. Hopefully, though, any difficulties one company is facing won't affect the other.

H'mm not worried about the price of Portra 800 then? Have you tried pushing Portra 400 to 800 ISO? ..and if you are going to push Portra 800 to 1600 ISO for colour shots in doors in low light with no flash..surely a cheap digi camera like the Nex 3 would be better...might be seen as traitorous talk but makes sense to me as a filmie, anyway I've decided to use my Nex 3 for those situations.

 

[Mr Badger]

It's the colour rendition I like on Portra 800, I find the 400 rather muted for my taste. I know P 800 isn't cheap, but I'd rather have something I like than something I'm a bit 'meh' about.

 

[Peter B]

If you've not tried those recently, perhaps some of them a go and see what you think, Peter? I know I'd miss Kodak like mad if they disappeared or stopped making any of the above colour films. Hopefully, though, any difficulties one company is facing won't affect the other.

I was really always a slide guy for colour, although I'd use colour neg film where prints were expected. Fuji Reala was my favourite and it was at its best when printed locally by a small business who used Fuji chemicals, and I could have it back in an hour -- the good old days indeed! We took a dislike to "Big Yellow" from the outset, and used Agfa slide film as it came in sensible plastic mounts, not these "silly cardboard" one from Kodak. From there I moved on to Fuji for all colour when I was paying for it, then moved to the Fuji S2 Pro as my first proper dslr, then to Canon with the fullframe 5D, but also picked up a Fuji S5 Pro as I just liked the photos from it.

Mono was strictly Ilford for years, with the occasional trial of other makes, but never really Kodak. It was the old ethos of sticking with a film and developer combo and really getting to know them, but there were just too many developers out there that promised greater things.

I recently defrosted my film fridge as it was solidly iced up, and I still have a couple of rolls of Kodak Tech Pan and HIE, plus a pack of 5x4 Readyload film that I bought out of interest,( all well ood), so some dalliance with Big Yellow after all.

 

[Mr Badger]

My Dad always used Kodachrome 64 slide film for our holiday photos, so I suppose I grew up used to Kodak's colours. So it followed that when I started getting interested in photography as I entered my teens I used Kodak film (both slide and print). I remember Fuji film becoming available and tried their print film a couple of times, but preferred Kodacolor. If I shot slide film it was usually Ektachrome as I found stumping up for a roll of processed-paid Kodachrome was a bit of a hit on my 'Saturday job' wages! I tried Fuji slide film shortly before I changed to digital and liked the results, but not as much as Kodachrome, as I wasn't into landscape stuff.

Having said that, with the demise of Poundland Agfa 200, and after comparing the look of different 400 ISO films on Flickr, I've just stocked up with a dozen rolls of Fuji Supera Xtra 400 for everyday autumn/winter darker conditions type use. I also use Fuji Acros 100 and Ilford XP2 B&W film, so I'm not a total Kodak devotee.

Anyway, back towards topic, give some Ektar 100 a try when summer returns and let me know what you think. It's a fairly well colour-saturated film when the sun is out, but somehow manages to stay short of being garish, and its really fine grained; so if you want something with a bit of 'pop' that gives slide film type results at print film money then give a roll of it a try.