This is for doomsday soothsayers from Kodak Professional Newsletter email: "New Black and White Films Kodak commits to the future of traditional B&W silver based film emulsion in order to continue to offer photographers the film they love. Kodaks’ “Project Guardian” has resulted in the development of new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to take new improved Kodak B&W film into the future. A new improved T-Max 100, 400, and 3200 as well as Plus X Film will become available in June 2002 on a product roll over basis followed by new improved Tri-X later this year. The new production ensures the continuance of B&W with improved product quality and consistency similar to what you enjoy with our high tech Portra and E100 Film Families. The new films will offer better film handling characteristics; new finishing coatings with harder, better drying characteristics from improved processing. All will be easily recognised in distinctive new packaging. To achieve these benefits film development times are slightly longer and Kodak New Zealand is carrying out extensive pre-release processing with laboratories to ensure you can have total confidence in the performance of these new films on release. For more technical details you can go to: www.kodak.com/go/bwfilms"

-- sait (akkirman@clear.net.nz), May 15, 2002

Answers

I saw this announcment the other day, and my take on it was "Kodak is changing their films" --how did you read that to be "film is dead"?

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), May 15, 2002.

To paraphrase Sam Clemens (aka, Mark Twain): "The announcement of my death was premature."

-- Albert Knapp MD (albertknappmd@mac.com), May 15, 2002.

Uh, Oh. Better stock up on Plus-X and Tri-X. No telling how they'll screw them up. T-Max, they can change all they want, fo all I care.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), May 15, 2002.

If they want to do something constructive, they can bring back Panatomic-X.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), May 15, 2002.

I'm so glad I shoot Illford Hp5+

-- John Elder (celder2162@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

Besides bringing back Panatomic-X......bring back Medalist J surface fiber paper!!! When Big Yellow Father started pushing the RC papers and did away with all their really good fiber papers I switched to Agfa and Ilford papers. Some of middle age geezers still prefer fiber for 35 as well as 4x5. FWB

-- F. William Baker (atelfwb@aol.com), May 15, 2002.

Bring back Super-XX too!

-- Kelly Flanigan (zorki3c@netscape.net), May 15, 2002.

Sait,

Kodak could modify their film for environmental reasons. Chemicals are polluting.

So? Film is not dead, it is evoluting. Darwin is not dead!!!

Xavier.

-- Xavier d'Alfort (hot_billexf@hotmail.com), May 16, 2002.

>>Kodak could modify their film for environmental reasons. Chemicals are polluting

He, I have an idea, lets make a digital film

:-)

-- ReinierV (rvlaam@xs4all.nl), May 16, 2002.

I was actually trying to be sarcastic at the expense of all those people who think film will be extinct in a few years time !! Some of you guys take things a bit too literallly at times. No wander Phil the Great has a good time on this forum. Personally I think film will be with us for a long time yet. Happy shooting.

-- sait (akkirman@clear.net.nz), May 16, 2002.

I wish Kodak would bring back their Ektalure GD fibre base paper! I'm hoarding my last half dozen sheets for portraits. With my luck, it will be fogged by the time I get to it. Aside from the Ektalure, I generally use Ilford papers. I stocked up on 100' rolls of TX when I heard about the plans to "change" it, just in case the change wasn't a positive one.

-- Ben Hughes (ben@hughesbros.com), May 16, 2002.

Ben, if you haven't tried it, give Polymax Fine-Art Fibrebase in the G surface a try. It is a paper Kodak introduced in limited quantities about three years ago and you may have to get your dealer to special order it. It is a multigrade fibre paper - but with NO whiteners at all and a creamy yellow paper base. According to Kodak it is a reformulation of a paper from the 30's and 40' and it is really nice for portraits. I stumbled on it in the first year it came out when Edmonton (where I live) was one of the test markets. We got a shipment of paper, in yellow boxes that just said Kodak Special Paper. I kept one unopened for interests sake.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), May 16, 2002.

Ben/Bob, If you like Ektalure, you should try Bergger's Variable CB Style. It's not an Ektalure replacement, but it has an ivory base and a really beautiful, delicate semi-matte surface.

-- Steve Wiley (wiley@accesshub.net), May 16, 2002.

Have a look at this. Don't get too freaked out by the discontinued films. Some are being pointlessly rebranded for no good reason I can see (eg Tri-X will become 400TX), except some pony-tailed suit has too much time on his hands. Shove 'em out to the golf course. At least they can't foul things up there! :o)

-- Tim Franklin (tim_franklin@mac.com), May 16, 2002.

>Some are being pointlessly rebranded for no good reason I >can see (eg Tri-X will become 400TX), >-- Tim Franklin (tim_franklin@mac.com), May 16, 2002

GHH!! I hate suits! The 'Tri-X' label is probaly the most recognized b/w film name on the planet and what does Kodak do? They change it. That's about as stupid as Apple dropping the 'Macintosh' moniker and changing it to 'Granny Smith'.

Idiots.

feli

-- feli (feli2@earthlink.net), May 16, 2002.

The film is dead, LONG LIVE THE FILM!!!

-- Doug Landrum (dflandrum@earthlink.net), May 16, 2002.