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KODAK PROFESSIONAL BW400CN Discontinued


Keith (M)

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Press release from Kodak:-

 

Due to a steady decline in sales and customer usage, Kodak Alaris is discontinuing KODAK PROFESSIONAL BW400CN Film. Product should continue to be available in the market for up to six months, depending on demand.

We empathize with the Pro photographers and consumers who use and love this film, but given the significant minimum order quantity necessary to coat more product combined with the very small customer demand, it is a decision we have to make.

 

Another nail in the film coffin (or at least, Kodak's).

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Very lazy from Kodak, they just shoved a discontinuation notice on the promotion page of the film it appears.

 

Top line:

Kodak Alaris is discontinuing KODAK PROFESSIONAL BW400CN Film.

 

Then further down they tell us how great it was???

 

World’s finest-grained chromogenic film

Incredibly sharp

Convenience of C-41 processing

Smooth, neutral tones with great highlight and shadow detail

BW400CN Film.

Seeing is believing.

 

The previous reversal film discontinuation was handled properly.

KODAK PROFESSIONAL Color Reversal Films

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There are essentially two 'Kodak' film companies, Eastman Kodak (EK) which is running the film coating lines and Kodak Alaris (KA) which is buying the film and selling it. It appears that EK is making KA buy a lot each time they set up a specific coating run ("but given the significant minimum order quantity necessary to coat more product....") EK's coating facility is on a massive scale (billions of feet) and can't efficiently/profitably do small runs (like Ilford can do.) And I don't think Fuji was ever set up to do such massive amounts of coating like EK (their motion picture film sold well but anything like the volume that EK was producing.) With Kodak films it appears to be more of an issue of the scale of manufacturing versus shrinking demand that's creating the problem.

 

The good news is that it appears the motion picture industry will promise to continue buying film from EK. Without Hollywood, we'd be looking at nothing to buy. But right now the existing Kodak emulsions are incredibly high quality films and are readily available. So keep on using what's still being offered. And speak with your wallet. Buy fresh film :)

 

The most recent news (4 August):

 

After extensive discussions with filmmakers, leading studios and others who recognize the unique artistic and archival qualities of film, we have in place a plan that will enable us to continue production of film stock," Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke says. The company once famous for “Kodak moments” will make about 450M linear feet of film — about 1/28 its output in 2006 as Hollywood has shifted to digital recording and projection. Kodak was about to go to zero — with plans to close the last remaining film production plant, in Rochester, NY — before directors including Quinton Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Judd Apatow, and J. J. Abrams, and several studios lobbied for a reprieve. (Abrams is shooting Star Wars Episode VII on film.) Kodak relented after Warner Bros, Universal, Paramount, Disney, and Weinstein Co. committed to buy a set amount of film stock for several years."

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I agree it's a shame as it's my favourite B&W film.

Time to buy up and stock the fridge!

Any idea how long it should last if stored properly?

 

If you freeze it rather than just put it in the fridge it should be good for many years beyond the printed use by date. At least ten years, probably a great deal longer. The limiting factors are the amount you can reasonably store and the future availability of chemicals and/or (in)convenient processing.

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If you freeze it rather than just put it in the fridge it should be good for many years beyond the printed use by date. At least ten years, probably a great deal longer. The limiting factors are the amount you can reasonably store and the future availability of chemicals and/or (in)convenient processing.

 

Thanks for that - I'm off to stock up tomorrow.

I think C-41 processing should be available for a while yet (I hope).

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I think C-41 processing should be available for a while yet (I hope).

 

Absolutely. I just meant that the film, frozen, might last far enough into the future for that to become relevant. The other limiting factor, of course, is fogging due to cosmic radiation but, again, that probably isn't really a practical concern if you are not planning to stockpile decades worth of film.:)

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First time I use this emoticon -> :mad:

 

I like this film. Curiously, the best place to buy over here is at the chemists. People appear to decide, they need some black-and-white film when buying toothpaste.

Obviously not enough of them.

 

Stefan

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This is good news.

 

On the recent Ilford factory tour they did say the problem they could foresee with XP2 was the continued availability of some of the chemicals needed to make it (can't remember what they were), but other than that it was still a popular film.

 

Steve

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Never shot it and now never will. The guy over on APUG who tested all the films recorded the highest resolution of any 400 speed with this stuff so it would have been interesting to shot it and see if that translated into interesting results. As it happens the discontinuation of Neopan 400 was and is a much sadder event for me because I blooming love the stuff, it has just the right tonality and balance of grain/sharpness/resolution etc. for me but is now gone. Sorry if the next thing I say upsets some people but there was very little scuttlebutt on the net when Fuji killed off neopan 400 yet all the film related forums are awash with threads about a Kodak film that hardly anyone liked and even less cared about, this is perverse. Its that K word, nothing absolutely nothing in the film world gets people more worked up than a doom and gloom story about Kodak.

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I would be very pleased if Ilford reintroduced a processing kit, like the one they offered in the early days of XP1. It was simple and cost effective.

 

For XP2 I use the Tetenal Colortec C-41 kit. Until recently I'd never processed colour before at home, having sent the films to labs, and it was a revelation just how easy it is. There is a 30C option for the temperature which extends the processing time into something manageable, and means the chemicals can be heated easily. The XP2 can go in the same tank as a roll of Ektar or Portra and comes out perfectly each time. If you haven't tried it before all you may need beyond your B&W kit is a washing up bowl, a fish tank heater, and three storage bottles.

 

Steve

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I made the same discovery about c-41 using the Unicolor presskits. As long as you pay attention to the temperature (and that really only applies to the developer, the blix and stabiliser being far less picky) it is dead easy. But developing XP2 in Rodinal is even easier and far cheaper. I never did try the BW400CN, as I scan my negatives and the colour of the base of the kodak film adds a little awkwardness.

 

Chris

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Like many I grew up with Kodak and shot most of their products in colour and B&W before partially migrating to Ilford last year. Given this latest Kodak announcement the attached photo is definitely one of my last on BW400CN film. Sad but true.:mad:

 

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I made the same discovery about c-41 using the Unicolor presskits. As long as you pay attention to the temperature (and that really only applies to the developer, the blix and stabiliser being far less picky) it is dead easy. But developing XP2 in Rodinal is even easier and far cheaper. I never did try the BW400CN, as I scan my negatives and the colour of the base of the kodak film adds a little awkwardness.

 

Thanks for this. Do you know - when developing XP2 in a standard B&W developer, is the resulting image based on the dye in the film, or is it based on the exposed silver, like a normal film? That seems to me to be an important question from the perspective of subsequent printing.

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For a quality print you need to develop XP2 in a standard C41 process. This film has been made for printing on classical B&W photo paper.

But also for scanning the film is very easy hence you can use ICE. The disadvantage is that the film is a bit soft in contrast and real sharp like a Silver halide film XP2 is not.

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