1 hour getting smarter about manufacturing Kodak Film

[Robert W]

This video is an hour long. What it shows is the complete manufacturing, packaging and engineering at the Kodak Factory at Rochester New York. OF 35mm Film and the canisters.
Folks, I owned a machine shop. I made some very important and very intricate parts for machines and at times made machines for customers. This is very detailed. It is very complicated. It also is amazing. I enjoy engineering and manufacturing of machines. So of course if you want to watch it in segments, that works too.

 

[miketx]

Few people use film anymore.

 

[Robert W]

Few people use film anymore.

Film is still used by the Movie industry but surprise!!! Film is gaining in affection and more are back to using film.

 

[miketx]

Film is still used by the Movie industry but surprise!!! Film is gaining in affection and more are back to using film.

I'm talking about photography where digital leads. I cannot see why anyone would go back to film.

 

[Moonglow]

I'm talking about photography where digital leads. I cannot see why anyone would go back to film.

I enjoyed standing in a dark room winding film around spools to develop the negatives.

 

[Robert W]

I'm talking about photography where digital leads. I cannot see why anyone would go back to film.

Destin asked about this and Kodak reported to him that though in the past the use of film cut back a lot, now it is recovering.

 

[JGalt]

I'm talking about photography where digital leads. I cannot see why anyone would go back to film.

Probably the same reason Walmart is carrying reissues of vinyl records. Like analog vinyl, film has a certain "warmth" to it. I tried using a film camera a few month ago since I had one that I bought at a garage sale a couple years ago, for pretty cheap. You can pick up cameras that used to cost hundreds of dollars for $5 if you get lucky. The problem is finding 35mm film. Drug stores don't carry it anymore. Walmart was supposed to have some, but they were out. There's a lot of it on Ebay, but it's pricey.

Luckily I found a shitload of it at an Amish dent and bent store for $1.00, so I bought it all out. I messed around with it for awhile, but it takes more time than I wanted to spend in order to master the darned thing. Plus the fact that getting a roll developed these days costs about $15. Film cameras give you more control over the image exposure and shutter speed, than digital cameras.

 

[Robert W]

Who can see an Ansel Adams using a digital phone with camera? Film has decades of experience using it. I like my cell camera a lot. But I also took thousands of film photos for appraisals and was an early user if digital photo for my customer. A problem with the digital is the printers along with the ink too.

They are manufacturing film on 7 very fast precision machines that consume film at 12,000 feet a shot.

 

[Dekster]

I took a photography class in which we learned to develop our own film as part of the class. I'm old school lazy---I prefer digital cameras

 

[Robert W]

I took a photography class in which we learned to develop our own film as part of the class. I'm old school lazy---I prefer digital cameras

While some will stop because I told them it about film, if you are at all interested in how things are made, check out the video. They have some terrific machines at Kodak and some that punch holes take months just to make accurate.

 

[Dekster]

While some will stop because I told them it about film, if you are at all interested in how things are made, check out the video. They have some terrific machines at Kodak and some that punch holes take months just to make accurate.

I find machinery fascinating, but especially the ones in the food production industry. Won't be long until AI controls all that stuff from beginning to end.


As for Kodak, that is a company that was the gold standard in film. I don't think I ever had a bad roll of film from them. It is unfortunate that they have struggled to turn a corner on finding an evolved place in the marketplace for products. I am not sure that relying upon nostalgia is really going to be sustainable for them.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Film cameras give you more control over the image exposure and shutter speed, than digital cameras.

Nothing to do with film vs. digital.

In the old days, film cameras came in a wide variety of levels of sophistication, as to digital cameras today.

Any modern DSLR will offer a lot more control than an old film-based box camera with a single-speed shutter, a fixed aperture, and a fixed-focus lens. Likewise, an old SLR will give you a lot more control than a modern, cheap, point&shoot digital.

 

[Robert W]

I find machinery fascinating, but especially the ones in the food production industry. Won't be long until AI controls all that stuff from beginning to end.


As for Kodak, that is a company that was the gold standard in film. I don't think I ever had a bad roll of film from them. It is unfortunate that they have struggled to turn a corner on finding an evolved place in the marketplace for products. I am not sure that relying upon nostalgia is really going to be sustainable for them.

Destin, the presenter of the video was pretty surprised film is making a come back. He had to find an old camera at a yard sale to use the film in. When I moved to Idaho, I had a crew clean up for me and in that stuff was some damned excellent cameras. Can you imagine Ansel Adams taking photos of nature with a cell phone?

 

[Dekster]

Destin, the presenter of the video was pretty surprised film is making a come back. He had to find an old camera at a yard sale to use the film in. When I moved to Idaho, I had a crew clean up for me and in that stuff was some damned excellent cameras. Can you imagine Ansel Adams taking photos of nature with a cell phone?

Yep. Ansel could have photoshopped it as well and gotten it even closer to what AI is going to be doing inside a generation. One thing about film perhaps better than digital is be able to prove a photo's authenticity because it isn't as good.

 

[Robert W]

Yep. Ansel could have photoshopped it as well and gotten it even closer to what AI is going to be doing inside a generation. One thing about film perhaps better than digital is be able to prove a photo's authenticity because it isn't as good.

I do not believe I am qualified to be accurate about film vs cell phones or digital cameras. I tend to be very technical and not willing to opine on issues I feel I lack qualifications.
I have taken thousands of film photos in the work as an appraiser. We used so much film we were regulars where we got it developed. And would attach the photos to the appraisals. When I went digital, my software printed the photos and I did not need to go have pictures developed. I welcomed the digital age in fact.

 

[Dekster]

I do not believe I am qualified to be accurate about film vs cell phones or digital cameras. I tend to be very technical and not willing to opine on issues I feel I lack qualifications.
I have taken thousands of film photos in the work as an appraiser. We used so much film we were regulars where we got it developed. And would attach the photos to the appraisals. When I went digital, my software printed the photos and I did not need to go have pictures developed. I welcomed the digital age in fact.

I am of the opinion that filter lenses and key lighting and the such with traditional film is just analog photoshop. I lot of the technique is in the developing with old school photos.

Anyway, I would like to see Kodak find relevance. I am not sure how they will do it, but apparently the institutional investors see value in the company since that is where a lot of their stock is ending up.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Film cameras give you more control over the image exposure and shutter speed, than digital cameras.

The Nikon on the left is digital. The Kodak on the right uses film.

Which of the two do you think gives me more control over the exposure, or any other parameters of a given shot?

 

[JGalt]

The Nikon on the left is digital. The Kodak on the right uses film.

Which of the two do you think gives me more control over the exposure, or any other parameters of a given shot?

View attachment 878670

Probably this one that I gave $5 for at a garage sale...

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Probably this one that I gave $5 for at a garage sale...

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What's the shutter speed range on it? My D3200 goes from 30 seconds to 1⁄4000 of a second. The sensor ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 to 128,000, and can be changed for each shot. Can you do that with film? (OK, I know that with some very high-end medium-format cameras, such as Hasselblads, there's as a removable film back. You can have several backs, loaded with different film, and swap them in and out from one shot to the next. Or large-format sheet film cameras, where you just load one sheet of film at a time.)

 

[JGalt]

What's the shutter speed range on it? My D3200 goes from 30 seconds to 1⁄4000 of a second. The sensor ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 to 128,000, and can be changed for each shot. Can you do that with film? (OK, I know that with some very high-end medium-format cameras, such as Hasselblads, there's as a removable film back. You can have several backs, loaded with different film, and swap them in and out from one shot to the next. Or large-format sheet film cameras, where you just load one sheet of film at a time.)

I'm not knocking digital cameras, I've used them since 1999 to post pictures in Ebay auctions. I'm just saying there's been a recent resurgence of film photography for nostalgia's sake.

Now go tuck your $549.95 Nikon in for the night and sing it a sweet lullaby.