Farewell Ektachrome

[Helen B]

Kodak has announced that they will no longer manufacture Ektachrome. It's not a big surprise, because reversal film makes up less than 10% of the colour film market, and colour negative film is technically superior for almost all purposes except for projection. Still, it is a shame.

 

[dxqcanada]

Sign of the times, and changing of technology.
I remember in the old lab days our E-6 processor ran non-stop everyday to get slides for the Hospitals in the area.
I hope Fuji continues to make film for a while ... I plan on shooting some Velvia this year.

 

[compur]

Kodak still makes Ektachrome, albeit the motion picture version:
KODAK: KODAK EKTACHROME 100D Color Reversal Film 5285/7285

But, it is Ektachrome, an E6 color reversal film available in 35mm, Super 8 and 16mm formats.

E100D movie film is reportedly identical to E100VS.

 

[Helen B]

Hmm. Do you have that from a reliable source at Eastman? Keeping 5285, for which there is a tiny market, after discontinuing the 135 version (same film, only different sprocket holes and different packaging) makes no sense in Kodak's current predicament - they have to do what is necessary to survive, and concentrate on the strong-selling films. Maybe they simply haven't announced the end of 5285 etc manufacture.

"Due to a steady decrease in sales and customer usage, combined with highly complex product formulation and manufacturing processes, Kodak is discontinuing three EKTACHROME (color reversal) Films:

KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME E100G Film
KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME E100VS Film
KODAK PROFESSIONAL ELITE Chrome Extra Color 100 Film"

Kodak would be crazy to manufacture Ektachrome and not sell it to as many customers as possible - it's the film manufacture that is difficult, not slicing it up and poking little holes in it. I tried phoning my contact in the Motion Picture division, but could not get through today - their customer service is not what it was, even for those of us who spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on their film.

 

[compur]

Well, I can't comment on Kodak's mental health but their announcement was very specific in naming 3 particular films as being discontinued and they did not name E100D as one of them. Also, the E100D web page is still there on their site while the page for the discontinued films contains a discontinuation notice.

 

[Helen B]

The Cinema and Television (used to be Motion Picture) division is separate from the Photography division, so it would be unlikely that one announcement would cover both still film and motion picture. The last announcements about the motion picture versions of E100D were in 2010, when they discontinued 35 mm (5285) on 1000 ft cores and 16 mm (7285) on 400 ft cores (that's the standard length for most 16 mm cameras of course); and last year when they discontinued Double Super 8 (that could still be made from 35 mm film). The Cinema and Television division has stated that E100D supplies will continue to be available, but they haven't said that it is still being manufactured. If it outlasts the supply of E100VS and E100G in 135 cassettes, I'm sure that there will be plenty of people willing to cut up 400 ft cores of 5285 and fill cassettes. We use E100G in sheet sizes and we have a large stock of our own (along with Fuji FP-100C45), but I guess that we'll either switch to colour neg (hooray) or to Provia when the supply of E100G sheet film dries up.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

This sucks, but again not many people shoot slide anymore. I'm surprised it held on this long. It's not like color neg which is still getting alot of use out of professionals. Slide is alright, but digital really is alot better for the times when slide would be used.

Now if Portra, 160S/400H, Ektar, and BW400CN got discontinued...i'll flip sh*t.