[pure-silver] Re: Film history
- From: "janet ness" <nessj@xxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 23:02:18 -0700
Thanks, Richard, and others for the information.
Janet Ness
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Knoppow
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 8:17 AM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Film history
----- Original Message -----
From: "janet ness" <nessj@xxxxxxx>
To: "pure-silver" <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 10:50 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Film history
A friend has asked for help with dating older film. Does
anyone have any advice on where he could look for the
following information:
Re: old photo question
I've tried to find this on the net, but with no luck:
I'm looking for a guide to identifying the era of a photo
negative by the
brand...ektachrome, kodachrome, Super XX, etc.
I know most will be a very wide range of years, but others
were shorter.
Have you seen such a table?
Thanks
Steve
Any help would be appreciated, even if you know the date
range of the specific films he mentioned.
Thanks,
Janet Ness
Kodachrome was released in 1935 as 16mm motion picture
film. A revised processing method was developed a couple of
years later which made other formats possible. 35mm
Kodachrome was released in 1936. Also in 1936 Agfa released
a chromogenic color film in Germany which had incorporated
couplers. Kodchrome had the couplers in the second
developers because Kodak could not find a way of anchoring
them in the emulsion. Agfa worked out this problem, but the
film was inferior to Kodachrome in quality. In 1940 Kodak
Labs worked out a different method of anchoring the couplers
which did not infringe on the Agfa patents and allowed Kodak
to release Kodacolor in 1942. The same basic emulsion
technology was used later for Ektachrome and Ektacolor.
Kodak made films similar to these for aerial use during
WW-2. The commercial versions date from about 1949. By that
time W.T.Hanson, of Kodak labs, had worked out the colored
coupler method of self masking in negative color film
resulting in much improved color quality.
Kodak began to use X in their film names about 1940. The
first, I believe, was Background-X, an extremely fine grain,
very slow film, intended for making background prjection
originals for motion picture use. It was also popular for
general exterior work where light was plentiful. Next
probably was Plus-X, also originally a motion picture stock,
the successor to Eastman Super-Sensitive Pan. Super-XX also
dates from the early forties. Tri-X is in the 1944
Photo-Lab-Index as a sheet film. Kodak's date in the mid
1950's is for the roll film version. I think they have lost
track of their own history and have given away or destroyed
all the documents which could have helped maintain it.
Note that there were two very early color films bearing
the names Kodachrome and Kodacolor. The original Kodachrome,
which dates from the 1920's used a reseau of colored
particals, one of many films to use some variation of this
method. The original Kodacolor was a lenticular film
intended for amateur motion pictures on 16mm film.
Lenticular film works by having a striped filter over the
lens and a multiplicity of tiny cylindrical lenses embossed
on the film support side. The film is run with the support
side facing the lens. The lenticles focus the filter on the
film resulting in an image consisting of stripes of each
primary color. If everything is aligned accurately the
results are pretty good but out of focus areas tend to have
color fringes and duplicating is extremely difficult.
Paramount worked with Kodak for a time in the mid 1930's to
develop a version of the Kodacolor process suitable for
theatrical motion pictures but there were too many problems
inherent in the process and it failed. I don't know the
exact date for the first type of Kodacolor but it would have
been in the very early 1930's. It was discontinued when
Kodachrome was introduced.
I don't know if there is a time line anywhere listing all
the innovations and developments of films. Kodak has
somwhere a list of motion picture stocks with dates. I have
a copy but am not sure its on my hard disc. I have a lot of
stuff on Zip discs and no longer have a working drive for
them. But, for the films you asked about, roughly:
Plus-X, Super-XX, Tri-X all existed by 1943 and probably
date from 1940. Kodak was advertising Plus-X motion picture
stock in 1940.
Kodachrome, as 16mm film, 1935
Kodachrome in 35mm still film, 1936. Kodachrome sheet and
roll film followed shortly afterward.
Kodacolor, 1942
Ektachrome and Ektacolor, c.1950
Eastmancolor motion picture films, c.1950.
Ansco introduced a color motion picture film based on the
earlier Agfacolor also c.1950 but a little ahead of
Eastmancolor. It was rather washed out looking although I've
seem very good modern prints made from it.
Technicolor deserves a mention. After many years of work
the Technicolor company was successful in producing a three
color system for motion pictures. The camera was of the beam
splitter type photographing three strips of 35mm film
simultaneously. Prints were made by a process similar to the
Kodak Dye Transfer process used for still pictures. The beam
splitter cameras were discontinued in 1951 when Eastmancolor
negative, used in ordinary cameras, supplanted them. The Dye
Imbibition printing process was continued until c. the late
1970's when it became uneconomical.
The company was formed by the partnership of Dr. H.T.
Kalmus, Donald Comstock, and Westcott (lost his first name).
Who operated as an engineering consulting firm before
forming Technicolor. I've seen ads from them in early
amateur radio magazines offering to design and build custom
radio equipment!
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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