By the end of this year, Kodak’s Kodachrome film will be no more. Given that it uses a different chemical process to develop than normal slide film, almost no-one offers processing any more. I think the only surprise is that it took as long as it did to get the axe, but it is the end of an era.
This does not affect Kodak’s Ektachrome range of E-6 slide film, whose availability remains unchanged.
Read the article at Democrat and Chronicle
Thanks to Seth Oestreicher for the heads-up!
According to this Q&A page about their new Ektar 100 film, Kodak will discontinue their Portra Professional Ultra Color 400UC film by the end of 2008.
I don’t shoot much 35mm these days, but I thought it really sucked when they discontinued it in 120 last year, it was great in 6×6 toy cameras.
Kodak says:
Due to significantly declining sales volume, Kodak is preannouncing the discontinuance of READYLOAD Single-Sheet Packets for four films.
The items listed below will be discontinued by year-end 2008. However, inventories may run out before then, depending on demand.
Please note: This preannounced discontinuance applies to Readyload format only. Other cut sheet sizes, such as 4×5 and 8×10, are not affected. [emphasis added so no-one freaks out]
READYLOAD Discontinuances:
- KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX 100 Film
- KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 160VC Film
- KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100G
- KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100VS
- KODAK PROFESSIONAL READYLOAD Packet Film Holder
Here’s a table of projected availability of films from Polaroid. Given that people are stockpiling like crazy and that a lot of retailers won’t be re-stocking (e.g. Costco), I think this is probably very optimistic, but there it is. It also lists the latest expiration dates you’ll find for each type.
It looks like the sky really as fallen: Polaroid are getting out of the film business.
This article on Boston.com says:
The Norwood and Waltham plants make large-format films used by professional photographers and artists. Polaroid also makes professional-grade films in Mexico, and its consumer film packs come from a factory in the Netherlands. All these plants are slated for closure this year. Polaroid chief operating officer Tom Beaudoin said the company is interested in licensing its technology to an outside firm that could manufacture film for faithful Polaroid customers. If that doesn’t happen, Polaroid users would have to find an alternative photo technology, as the company plans to make only enough film to last into next year.
Fuji makes nice pack/peel-apart films (that I actually like better than Polaroid’s). But where does that leave us for Spectra and 600? Fucked!
Oh, did I mention? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!
Two more Polaroid films are on the chopping block… this times it’s the super-contrasty Type 51 and the sepia Type 56, both 4×5.
The pages linked above say:
NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS: Please be advised that Polaroid will be discontinuing the manufacture of its T51 [/T56] film within the next several months.
We realize that this is disappointing news for our loyal T51 users and we would like to emphasize that, although the circumstances made it inevitable, it was not an easy decision. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. We continue to manufacture and sell T52, T53, T54, T55, T57, T72 and T79 film.
Ugh. Stop the carnage!
Kodak’s film discontinuance notice says:
KODAK is preannouncing the discontinuance of several smaller running families of Professional film – EPR, EPN and High Speed Infrared (HIE) effective end of December 2007. Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved.
We will continue to ship product through the end of this year.
These discontinuances are effective in all countries worldwide, with one exception: KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME 64 Film / EPR will continue to ship to Japan beyond 2007.
The suggested replacement for KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME 64 Film / EPR is
KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100G or E100GX.The suggested replacement for KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME 100 Film / EPN is KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100G or
KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME 100 Plus Film / EPP.
Ektachrome 64 will probably still be available through Megaperls Webshop (at greater cost, of course), who sell Japan-only film photo products to the rest of the world.
Fucking hell, Polaroid are killing yet another range of films! This time it’s the 80 series (84, 87, 88, and 89) 3.25 x 3.38-inch peel-apart pack film—the stuff you shoot in Holgaroids, supershooters, and squareshooters. Each product page bears the following message:
Please be advised that Polaroid will be discontinuing 8[x] film within the last 3 months of 2006 due to the phasing out of components used in the production of this film.
I guess it’s time to figure out how to hack a full-frame back as a Holgaroid replacement… hopefully the 3.25 x 4.25-inch 600 series pack film isn’t going anywhere for a while. Although, with Time-Zero and type 85 pos/neg discontinued, who the hell knows?
Durst AG of Brixen, Italy, a longtime world leader in the manufacture of photographic enlargers, will cease production of enlargers on the 31st of July (i.e., Monday).
Continue reading at The Online Photographer
Read Durst’s press release
Well, the rumour that I’ve written about previously is true: Hasselblad are discontinuing the XPan panoramic rangefinder camera.
According to this article in the British Journal of Photography,
The decision follows new EU regulations—known as ROHS approvals—which come into effect on 01 July, designed to cut back on hazardous waste.
The approvals state that new electrical equipment cannot contain lead, cadmium or many other hazardous materials.
This means that lead soldering can no longer be used in the cameras’ circuit boards. The use of non-lead designs are more complex and would necessitate a total redesign of the cameras.
…
He [Hasselblad CEO Christian Poulsen] predicted supplies would run out in the next two months, but promised that support would continue for another 10 years.
While I won’t say that their reason for pulling it is outright bullshit, I will say that it certainly smells like it. I could be wrong, but I fail to see why a solder change would necessitate a redesign at all: simply put lead-free solder in the wave solderer that assembles the circuit boards and that’s that. We’re talking about solder. It carries electricity between points A and B. We’re not talking about the banning of resistors here.
The article does go on to say that Hasselblad are working on a "tilt-shift solution" and that more information will be available at the Photonika trade show this September, so maybe it’s not all crap news after all.
Read article at the British Journal of Photography’s Web site