I keep forgetting that there is a significant percentage of "new" film shooters that didn't live through Kodak almost dying and then coming back as Alaris at a MUCH smaller scale, so I'm glad you covered this and I hope it gives people a little more insight into how precious and fragile this medium still is.

Important to note that film photography is still a niche type and is only keeping up with the trend. If they decide to expand and suddenly the hype slows down, what can they do ? They can't predict anything which is why it's so hard for film photography to stay afloat. Of course they can try to revive film photography as a common activity, that's why Ektar H35 exists. Fujifilm has already started the revival with their Instax and I believe it's doing ok because there's a multitude of models. Anyway, the more casual film photography becomes, the faster we will get cheaper film stocks.

I have shifted to Kodak for my color films. I still have about 10 Rolls of Fuji 35mm but don’t think Fuji has the same interest in film as Kodak. We need to to support the players that are really providing the film. I think Kodak, Ilford and Foma will continue to get my support.

Kodak actually DID forsee the digital revolution, they were just not equipped to compete with the big electronic companies. Kodak was actually the biggest digital camera manufacturer in the early 2000's, but since they were primarily in the chemistry business and not the electronics business, they got crushed when Sony, Canon and Panasonic entered the game. When they invented the digital camera, the predicted that it would kill the film market around 2030, and began to pivot in the late 1990's. Their business model was selling film for cameras made by others, and as such they were never a huge camera maker. They essentially had no idea how to make electronic devices at the same pace and scale as the giants. So when digital surprised everyone and came of age 20 years earlier than expected, Kodak had to suddenly change their business model from film and its high profit margins, to start making electronic cameras, at a very low profit margin. An analagous situation would be if Exxon/Mobil had to start making electric cars. They'd get killed by the car manufacturers before they could get it off the ground.

I remember when seeing the first episode of Smarter Every Day's tour of the kodak factory at Rochester. The entire process even before making the film, just making the plastic itself felt very over complicated. But then realized the method and machineries has not been innovated since decades ago when film was on the decline. And right now, when Kodak could't even meed the global demand of film, they can't possibly invest more money to reseach a more efficient way to make film, and even built those specialized machineries for this relatively "niche" hobby. Maybe someday a investor will step in who knows

Thanks Chris, thanks to you I got curious enough to have a look at their financial statement (Alaris) on their website, and yes they have been making operating losses for (at least) the last 3 years. Pumping up the price to get out of the hole for them to enable a steady supply of their film on the market is the only way to go. Like Java man said, we don't want them to close doors again, so we need to put up with the new prices !

Dude please stop zooming in and out lol. Also Great video 😂😂

Love your presentation style, you are witty, engaging and full of useful information, But above all you have a Widelux. Can’t get any better than that!

Absolutely love this type of content keep it coming!

The thing I’ve taken away from all this is: Kodak has been terrible at foreseeing the future of the market and didn’t make any wise business decisions to prepare for the potential future. They didn’t invest in the digital revolution They didn’t invest in methods to scale their film production despite sales increasing consistently YOY

you know film prices are going crazy when ppl got hyped for bnh restocking portra 800 for $22 today

On point. I don’t want to pay any more than I have to but I also understand that Kodak needs to run a business and all their equipment which has been deteriorating after years and years of no one giving a crap about film need restoration and maintenance etc etc. I think generationally we have become accustomed to being able to get whatever we want whenever we want it and to get it cheap ala Amazon prime but we all just need to take a chill pill.

I recently looked into their public financial statements (of the Kodak parent company) as an SEC accountant - which involves alaris and eastman, from what I could gather, the bulk of their "growth machine" products is not in film, its some sort of printing plates and other products. They have film under "strategic investment" type products so its not #1 in their parent or consolidated company's priorities. You can see if you look the changes year over year, what they invest in, PPE (property, plant, equipement), etc. Corporate structure might make it difficult for smaller segments like Alaris or Eastman Park to get resources devoted or attentions focused onto them. Thanks for the video, its interesting topic about Kodak and what they are like as a company and history.

Great video, just sort of wondering how long it would take them to scale up production.

One of the first digital cameras on the market was the Kodak DC-50 (and variants) in 1996 and they had digital p&s's on the market for quite a while. I still have one.

I feel like I was robbed by coming back to film so late & there is a whole in my heart that just can’t be filled. ☹️😢

I’m here just to listen to Chris’s voice.

Depends on your area. They might be out of stock online but in my local camera store I just bought a box of Kodak Gold 200 120 film

Love this one Chris! Thanks for the history lesson! 🙏

can you do video about your digital Hasselblad? Also a video about strobe lights for film. Thank you and love your work.

I just want a steady supply of Ektachrome.

kodak can still make bomb marketing campaigns, just if they could actually supply lol. imagine an ad on tv where digital photos get lose with time but the great grandchildren find the negatives and the photos with the tagline memories that outlive generations? you'd bet more people will start using film (if they could actually supply lol)

I grew up in Rochester and worked at Kodak 25 years...I miss it and hope they do well...Kodak film is the best

Error at 1:57 re 1st Kodak Camera -' Return the camera with exposed film- they take it out and scan it...' Er NO. They take it out and PRINT it . Ref the popular historic term DEVELOP AND PRINT. Scanners were first invented 1957. These days I scan negatives myself but let us not forget the art of printing is a creative art in itself. Cheers!

Also Kodak has a total of *1* manufacturing plant. Granted its a massive plant capable of producing 60,000 rolls of (35mm) film an hour (That's over 2 million photos). Which sounds like a lot till your realize its split into 10 products (Ektar, Gold, Porta 100/400 etc) and at least 5 different formats

Hey Chris, did you know your mic is the very same model used to record Michael Jackson's lead vocals on the Thriller album?

Well Done, Laddie. Good Video. :)

Great video!

The amount of work goes behind making a film, I am surprised that its not more expensive given that its a niche product globally. SmartEveryDay KZfaq channel has really nice doc about manufacturing of Kodak films.

Thanks Chris! Great video

I love Underdog Film lab. Cool to see you go there.

It's all cool info which we probably don't think about very much. Also, I'm happy to see my mountain of Kodak shares purchased at $1.70/ea do their thing. ;)

I've been from film to digital to film to digital. I will tangle my toes into the gloriously warm film lake when prices come back down again. Fingers crossed.

Fuji C200 is now made in the USA so possibly it's Kodak film designed to Fuji's specs. I've not sleeved any of it yet to see if it's the same thin stock that Kodak now uses. Hopefully it's got the Fuji colours.

In my country the 200 iso stuff was like 3 $ for 2 rolls în 2014-2015. Now it is 9 $ per roll. When I was processing film they would have it done in 30 min . Now in a week. As soon they stock up everything is taken from the shelf by a bunch of hipsters shooting expensive slide film on lomography plastic lense cameras-what a waste. Since Sony introduced the digital a7 they jumped on the old lenses on ebay making them hilarously expensive. They are not good for shooting digital due to different coating and other focal plane issues. I hope in China they will rebuild a factory or something for producing film. Ok the demand is high, but that is a business oportunity for new companies and not milking the customer dry.

I mean same thing has happened with vinyl. Vinyl has found a strong market and there has been a huge boom to the point where the machines needed to make vinyl are overwhelmed. The tech was already on the decline so now basically any plant that can print vinyl is printing vinyl with a long line of artist trying to get their album out. It is so bad that when a big artist like Adele or Swift basically force their way to the front to make sure every store is well stocked in the newest album on release, that causes others to have their delays shifted back to even farther back then what they wanted. Their is simply not enough tech to meet the demand after people thought it was a dying industry

About a year and a half ago, I walked into a photo shop in San Francisco to buy some Portra 400. The owner of the store told me: "Price hikes are coming. If I were you, I'd start stocking up." Over the next few months, I bought 25 of the Portra 400 5-roll boxes when they were each at $60. Then at the end of the year, the supply dried up, and the next time I went into that same shop, he had some boxes of Portra 400 for $130 each box. I couldn't believe that the price had doubled; I expected for them to be at $80 a box at most, but for the price to have doubled, it was shocking. I'm glad I have those boxes in the fridge while the market stabilizes.

George Eastman’s first product was the dry plate, then they started selling the Kodak and film rolls. As an unbiased Rochestarian It’s worth checking out the Eastman museum sometime.

Nice video. But tooo much zoom movemetn thue the video. It`s distract😵‍💫

I think what is also important to is that film production is just a small part of Kodak's revenue. They have a lot of other products like printing related stuff and so on. And demand of those isn't really rising. So the rise in film sale revenue only marginally helps kodak. They don't have the funds to invest large parts of theyre money in to producing more film. Its just not worth it financially. So we really have to hope that company's like Ilford or others get their feet into colour film because Kodak atleast for another 5-10 cant really produce more than they do right now.

I’m not sure if it’s been pointed out yet, but Kodak was actually one of the first pioneers in digital sensors. They made Canon’s initial dslr sensors, but didn’t get the main contract. A lot of effort went into it, but they didn’t get the contract.

Hard to get kodak UltraMAX where I live (Louisville, ky). Not that long ago I could get two 3 packs at Walgreens now I got to switch over to Fuji cause of the film shortage😭😭

While I wish Kodak the best, i'm a digital professional and film dabbler. I'd like to go more all in on film but I just can't at these prices and the unknowns of the future considering film photography is essentially dependent on one small company at this point. I also don't really want to be defined by a medium, not that that is the only reason people use it. I'm sure Kodak is doing what they need to to increase production and overcome covid and other challenges. But, I am reminded of the time I opened up one of those "panoramic" disposable cameras that only had 12 photos because it shot "double wide prints" as mentioned on the packaging. Yea its totally cropped of course which meant Kodak was charging the same price for half the film. I hope they are putting as much innovative effort into their product as they used to put into marketing...

Having worked at photolabs for a good part of two decades I have never seen the film shortage like we're experiencing now. The worldwide supply chain issues, problems getting of chemistry out of China, huge demand for disposable cameras, and small workforce just means none of the 5 suppliers for the photolab can get hold of anything. Kodak don't do themselves any favours by overreaching and filling Ilford and Agfa disposables with film. No doubt those contracts have to be met before being able to make other stocks. They're certainly making the film thinner to maximise the material. Yup that's right most Kodak film even Portra is physically thinner than just a year ago. Gold won't work in certain friction based winder mechanism cameras. It's hard to sleeve as it doesn't cut as nicely. There doesn't seem to be any real impact in image quality from making it thinner thankfully. My hope is that Ilford convert a black and white machine into making colour films so that there's an alternative that could be cheaper in the UK at least. They've got branded cameras so why not fill that with Ilford film?!? Not such a massive leap.

Making film is an extremely specialized and challenging process. The equipment that makes it isn't getting made any more, so they're pretty much stuck maintaining their current process because making a new factory would be a wild risk. I won't call film a modern fad, but it's surviving off a very niche few that like the process and that niche few could move on if it stops being cool.... god I wish they brought back Kodachrome though.

I really wanna see 126 film back. There’s a lot of great instamatic cameras still out there.

It's been exactly 30 days from the release of this video. Should we check on Jason now?

Great video

Where I live film is just really expensive, you can go into a local photo store (which has somehow survived (probably because they also sell watches)) and buy a roll of (24 exposure) ilford delta 400 for 160 Swedish crowns (which is 15,38usd) or you can drive to the neighboring city and get a (24 exposure) roll of Tmax 400 for the same price. That is all the film available where I live. Or you could of course go online and buy three rolls of AgfaPhoto APX or fomapan film for only a little bit more money and as much as I like supporting local businesses, I still order most of my film online.

They develop and and scan it in 1888? 😂 I doubt it 😅 Nice video man!

Something important that I think you missed is that Estman Kodak, the original US company, still makes all the still and cinema film. UK based Kodak Alaris only distributes the stills film. They own zero factories in the US. Eastman is the supplyer and manufacturer who is contracted via an exclusive distrobution agreement with Alaris as part of the bankruptcy. This was to appease the UK goverment and the UK Kodak employee pension fund.

With some of the early digital cameras you had to plug it get into a computer before you could see what you just shot.

Buy Ilford. ;-)

On point 👏👏👏👏

The first digital camera was developed by a Kodak employee named Steven Sasson, while he was at Kodak. To reiterate the point you made in your video above, Kodak resisted the change and while they still invested some money into the R&D/Manufacturing of this digital camera, they never took it seriously. I was an associate producer on a short form piece that Sasson was a part of when I was just out of college in 2016. Great channel, Chris, just subscribed.

An in-depth article on The Atlantic is very informative where Kodak is now and is headed. Kodak is trying to transition to a chemical company - and in some sense it has always been - and somewhat struggling to do so.

i get all of this but i’m not paying 22€ for film

All the best wishes to Kodak tbh. I'm looking down at my poor dwindling Fujifilm stocks IN JAPAN, wondering if they'll entirely disappear soon.

you should check out Robert Burley's book 'Disappearance of Darkness', amazing (film) photography on the era of film decline!

Alaris is "in charge of still photography film", yes distributing it, but it is still manufatured by Eastman Kodak.

Price elasticity could potentially be a problem for Kodak Alaris.

You should visit the Eastman Kodak house in Rochester.

Hmmm… Didn’t know Kodak scanned film back in 1888. Did they use scanners built with stone knives and bear skins?

3:29 UH OH! lolol

Kodak hasn't been a big company for a few decades ... but it was certainly once, yes, a BIG company. It shrank, but it still exists. Not so much as a film company, but as a chemicals company.

Kodak and Nikon collaborated to make one of the first pro style digital cameras.

The real problem is not the film price or it's availability. It's the lack of alternative. Who is making color film like kodak ? I mean MAKING not DISCONTINUING (gotcha Fujifilm !)

Jason is gunnah get some serious kindey stones if kodak dosen't come up with the Aerochrome :(

teach us teach

I was told the kodak shortages were caused by the computer chip shortages, resulting in a massive backorder.

There’s also this factor of rising costs of raw materials and tightening environmental regulations. Film photography after all is not environment friendly.

Just purchased 17 Kodak stocks after watching this 😂 Mmmaybe if their stocks goes up, they can afford to bring down the prices of film. Let’s do it for Jason 😂

The year 2000 CEO ran the company to the ground plus ushering digital. Kodak had the blueprint to digital XRay also they sold out cheap panic did not invest and now Fuji owns the market

Anyone else very distracted by him reaching to adjust zoom constantly?

What I think is crazy, in 2019 I bought a brick of Kodak Color Plus 200 35mm film, which is a budget film for $ 40.00 for 10 rollsI. I just checked a major online retailer in the U.S. and one roll of Kodak Color Plus 200 35mm film is $15.99. It’s hard to believe it’s increased that much.

Kodak Gold. It Just makes you happy

ayeee underdog film lab

Uh, in 1888, they did not "scan". They printed.

Go to find how many printed photo we have in albums after DIGITAL era in last 20 years????????pics always on screens with no feelings of paper in the ALBUMS as a valuable memory...Amateur photography is dead by DIGITAL,i dont know why we dont want to print digitals,maybe because we can see them on screen,we dont want to spend money,but with 35 films we had to do to be able to see the photos....

Perhaps we must all chug to resurrect our fallen color infrared comrade

profesionals was all of it. normies got a couple of point and shoots for vacation and maybe have a few laying around for birthday party. professionals got slrs running through multiple rools a day covering a sports event or studio photographers blasting through 120 film for the latest product photography to print on billboards or cinema running though hundreds of feet reshooting takes. pack film was used to make pasport photos. for the normie film ended in 1997 when the sony mavica came out, professionals didn't stop using film till the 2010s when camera cencors actually got good, and movie quality digital cameras got light enough to actually take out of the studio. it was a ton of downsizing kodak had to do to just stay alive. no professionals no film. there is no pack film anymore because passport photos are now digital, no amount of consumer demand could fill that.

What would be cool is if they can bring back aerochrome And be able to develop it in C41

And then there's Fuji... Fuji was busy downsizing, it's clear that they as a company do not care about continuing to support this market. I remember the letter that was sent to Fujifilm when they were discontinuing pack film. People wanted to buy everything needed to keep it going. Not only was Fujifilm not interested in continuing to make pack film, but they also didn't want anybody else to make it, despite there literally being no other alternative for it. That shows a clear contempt for the market and its consumers. I'm inclined to believe that the only reason stuff like Velvia 50 is still around is that there's nothing else competing with it. Why's Superia 400 still around? It's cheaper to produce (without the fourth color layer) and so it's something they can still make money on without putting that much effort into it. Let's hope somebody at Fujifilm starts caring about this market again, then maybe two things will happen: A. Kodak gets a strong competitor again, allowing film prices to come down and stocks to go up. B. Please God, allow them to bring back Provia 400, Pro 400H, 800Z, Superia/Venus 800, Superia/Natura 1600 Will any of that happen? Probably not; but it sure is nice to dream about being able to go into a drug store and buying Natura 1600.

film never died.....Plenty of other filmstock mediums out there. 35mm is for the consumer now.. shit... 120/620 really was for the consumer.. but you not ready for that.

Are you saying that the film demand today is higher than in 2013? Especially in the days where they made film for all photography? Also, you say Kodak is not that big…but it was in S&P 500! It’s not that small.

Kodak made more film cameras then I can count. How can you say they didn't make cameras?

I’ve been shooting film for the past 18 years and have seen film being so common place that it was sold at pharmacies and grocery stores. I’ve always been a Kodak shooter (mainly Tmax100) and was there when Kodak almost went out of business. Just glad that so many younger people are getting into film photography and pushing what can be done with it. (Using ‘90s/early ‘00s point and shoots for series photography work)

Film photography as hobby will defo crash in the next few years because of film being to expensive now. I see people buying 2000’s digital camera to emulate the feeling of shooting film because digital cameras are the cheaper way to go but still produces that “vintage” feel

The film is sold out right away cause literally it’s only like ten rolls available

Why do you keep moving the lense during you speaking? Stop it lol

Before 2010 Kodak was tripping over its own Ego. They slammed into the digital wall at a million miles per hour and almost did not survive. The Kodak that emerged from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy was much more humble. However like many companies that are over 100 years old, adapting to modern times has been challenging for them. Kodak was the inventor of the Digital camera but they never saw it's full potential and someone else evolved the technology and it crushed Kodak. Anyway right now Kodak has 2 major problems. First the can't get the ingredients needed to make the film because of supply chain issues. Secondly they can't package the film fast enough. While there is no easy solution for the first problem, the second problem could be helped by selling the film in 100ft bulk rolls and letting their customers roll their own film. Another major problem is they have been busy making film for their competition while ignoring their customers. Yes I am talking about Fuji C200 and Fuji disposable cameras. Kodak has many many problems and only time will tell if they are able to get from under their current troubles and grow as a company. Right now it's not looking so good.

Who’s willing to spend $130 for 5 rolls of portra 400? God only knows how much it will cost in a month or two… shout out to all the early birds who can price gouge right now, make your money bois!

Me who shoots film and digital

Why is he always zooming in and out? It's distracting

what you know is what everybody already knows. what's new?

You are inside that 99%, your version of how kodak didnt wanted to switch to difital grln film is wrong... Kodak went full into de digital market making parts for nikon and canon. They could not keeo competing because kodak was never a high end glass maker, so they opted for a different path, and thanks that we can still buy film, if kodak went fully into high end cameras like canon, it would have bankrup in de earlies 2000s

Capitalism at its worst. Keep raising prices until the customer quits buying. Short-sighted profit taking. That's not a way to built a brand, it's the way to alienate your customer. The pandemic and "supply chain issues" have given companies cover to charge whatever they want to benefit their shareholders. It's not like they're trying to cover all the R&D expenses of developing new products or technology. Porta films came out almost 25 years ago! If it wasn't for hipsters and YT, the Era of chemical photography would be over. Why is it that digital photography isn't promoted as the "green" solution? It is the Tesla. P.S. I grew up in Rochester and know a lot of Kodak retirees. I was also a commercial photographer for over 20 years. Business schools will be using EK as a case study for eons. One of the world's top 3 brands along with Disney, they rode their cash cow right off a cliff.

Wow, your rapid-fire commentary about Kodak and most of what you said is so wrong, it's hard to correct which (LOL) remark to correct first. But thanks for the super fast history tour, sort of. Kodak has always been a chemical company. That makes film. They have other businesses make their electronics with their branding and that's how it is. That's just for starters. Fast talkers are usually wrong not right. "What 99% of People DON'T Understand About Kodak" But you do, above 99% of everyone else on Earth, correct? (LOL).

Stop touching the damn camera

and what is the part you claim 99% of the people dont know? that they are not that big? yea the newbies maybe. but thats not 99% XD