On Friday, February 8, 2019, 7:38:12 PM EST, Robert Shanebrook
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
In September 2003 Kodak announced they would not longer be investing in the
improvement of camera films. I retired in October 2003.
...
The films introduced since 2003 were small refinements on the existing films
that were previously under development or resuming a former film.
...
Sadly, Kodak's institutional knowledge is reduced to very few people. I
don't think they have the resources to make improvements. However, I
am not aware of any serious shortcomings in their ability to make emulsions or
coat film. They are extending the life of existing film products.
Good Grief!! As a ‘civilian’ in these matters, I have always assumed that the
primary problem for the future of film was the aging of highly sensitive
production equipment that was too costly to replace given the reduced market. I
thought that the knowledge base was readily available.
Here’s a related question: If a small team of scientists and engineers had
access to, say, Tri-X Pro (current version), D76, the user instructions Kodak
provides, and a basic understanding of the end purpose of film, do you think
that they could reverse engineer the film?
And suggested by that question: To what extent did film manufacturers “look
under the hood” of their competitors products? (For example, what did Ilford
know about Kodak’s T-grain once it was out in the late 80’s?)
Myron
