I used to run a photo lab, and a Kodak tech rep once told me, "We know when we do things a certain way it works, but we don't always know why." In other words, one of the largest industrial firms in the world was practicing alchemy!
Awesome making film of Kodak Film :) (no pun intended) I didn't know film making was such a Huge process. Makes me appreciate my photographs in my physical albums much more precious
Just wonderful, especially seeing the final product - VP620, completed. I shot a few rolls of that product myself. I liked the music, too, almost certainly classical and likely PD. Too bad the original English audio is missing Also get a load of the workers dumping silver into a vat of nitric acid without wearing any glasses!
whoa! this is really awesome! I love film and I still shoot film, but where is the safety in that factory?!?! bare hands, no respirators, that one man touching radioactive material with his bare hands! I'm glad I didn't work in a factory in the 50's
misunderstanding what's going on. He's not handling unusually radioactive materials, he's sampling the particles pulled from the outside air onto a filter paper to ensure they're NOT abnormally radioactive such as may have been caused by A-bomb testing in Nevada, so that such particles aren't allowed to get into the film components and ruin it by exposing parts of the film.
Blind people were often employed by photo labs to load the exposed film into the processing machines... the trouble was, the couldn't tell if they'd left the darkroom lights on!
@@RobBob555 Are you serious? I presume you know "all blind people" and have given them intelligence tests? Because otherwise, your opinion is just bullshit, and it is, in fact, bullshit.
Yes - it is explained in Kodak”s print publication “Making Kodak Film” that they pioneered the employment of blind people as a special qualification, for their comfort in operating complex and dangerous machinery in total darkness.
Of course, the use of cotton bales in solvent pertains to the cellulose tri-acetate film base. Later, polyester, or “ESTAR” base was entirely polymer base, using no cellulose.
My film is 16 MM double perf. It's very hard to find it and I wish I could find a modern machine to convert single perf 1R to double perf 2R. Armed forces cameramen used black duffle bags to exchange the 53 feet of film in film magazines. You crawled inside with a Pyrex and a screwdriver. This is how films like Memphis Belle were mastered.
Sadly kodak park is now less than half that size shown in the video. The emulsion and roller buildings still exist as seen from Ridge road, and the film division still puts out an extremely limited amount of film at the elm grove location. Kodak park to my knowledge no longer produces film. With Perez out of the picture maybe kodak will return to its former glory.
They still make film. And after years of shrinking, the market for film is growing strong... you just can't get the same look with digital that you do with film (technically you can, but you're talking about messing with all sorts of settings to replicate specific chemical processes that influence the look)
Film still has a mystique about it, because Eastman Kodak was fundamentally practicing alchemy (see comment, above)! Things like whether the cattle, who get made into the gelatin that holds the emulsion to the acetate base, grazed on plants of the mustard family, actually affected the ISO of the film emulsion! Kodak was fanatical about vertical integration, owning herds and silver mines. I think the best explanation for their doom was that they were fundamentally a chemistry company for about a century, and they couldn't make the transition to making other products, or digital cameras, like Fuji has.
@@MalcolmBrenner so he was a bit batty then... sounds like the company had a mathmatical distrust and an analougue love... a bit of a fundamental science approach (maybe "alchemy" like you say).... no wonder they where so slow to develop digital cameras, i remeber being really shocked waiting for kodak to enter the market and when they did their cameras where dreadful
Incredible
That last line still rings true: "Shoot it now, while you still have the chance!"
Man, that is so true, gives me cold shivers down the back... How long will we still have it?
@@v-g-z3689 Film sales have skyrocketed since these comments
@@goldenhourkodak True! But with losses...
you can even buy 35mm at Five Below! Film doesn't appear to be going anywhere soon
I used to run a photo lab, and a Kodak tech rep once told me, "We know when we do things a certain way it works, but we don't always know why." In other words, one of the largest industrial firms in the world was practicing alchemy!
That's not alchemy, that's just ignorance.
@@RogerBarraud If you say so, but Kodak in their prime thought is was ignorance worth spending $1m a day in research funds on.
@@RogerBarraud On the contrary, how do you think we have learned new things in different fields over the years?
@@RogerBarraud Perfect, it is just ignorance.
How awarsome is this. Working blind for hours in complete darkness every day.
Awesome making film of Kodak Film :) (no pun intended)
I didn't know film making was such a Huge process. Makes me appreciate my photographs in my physical albums much more precious
Very nice thank you!
Amazing!
Super 👌
Just wonderful, especially seeing the final product - VP620, completed. I shot a few rolls of that product myself.
I liked the music, too, almost certainly classical and likely PD.
Too bad the original English audio is missing
Also get a load of the workers dumping silver into a vat of nitric acid without wearing any glasses!
That was the 50’s for you. You didn’t wear protective equipment because you were a “real man”.
Thank you
I wonder what happens with those beautiful machines
Wow! Very impressive and informative. And on a grand scale.
9:06 guy just dunks his unprotected hand into a bath of silver bromide and silver nitrate to take a sample. The balls on these guys
it's mostly water, clearly it's nothing major
whoa! this is really awesome! I love film and I still shoot film, but where is the safety in that factory?!?! bare hands, no respirators, that one man touching radioactive material with his bare hands! I'm glad I didn't work in a factory in the 50's
it was 50's before soy was invented!
misunderstanding what's going on. He's not handling unusually radioactive materials, he's sampling the particles pulled from the outside air onto a filter paper to ensure they're NOT abnormally radioactive such as may have been caused by A-bomb testing in Nevada, so that such particles aren't allowed to get into the film components and ruin it by exposing parts of the film.
Thanks Kodak, now I will take over your market to me.
I wonder if they employed quite a few blind persons for certain sections in the process?
no blind people are all stupid.. fuck them all !
Blind people were often employed by photo labs to load the exposed film into the processing machines... the trouble was, the couldn't tell if they'd left the darkroom lights on!
@@RobBob555 Are you serious? I presume you know "all blind people" and have given them intelligence tests? Because otherwise, your opinion is just bullshit, and it is, in fact, bullshit.
Yes - it is explained in Kodak”s print publication “Making Kodak Film” that they pioneered the employment of blind people as a special qualification, for their comfort in operating complex and dangerous machinery in total darkness.
it like an alien technology^^
Of course, the use of cotton bales in solvent pertains to the cellulose tri-acetate film base. Later, polyester, or “ESTAR” base was entirely polymer base, using no cellulose.
Is this why later films had more Brown shade and plastic feel ?
Is kinda interesting how plastic was made by cotton, but I didn't know polyester is made from non-cotton
What language is the narrator speaking?
Dutch 😁
God sacve the Film!
My film is 16 MM double perf. It's very hard to find it and I wish I could find a modern machine to convert single perf 1R to double perf 2R. Armed forces cameramen used black duffle bags to exchange the 53 feet of film in film magazines. You crawled inside with a Pyrex and a screwdriver. This is how films like Memphis Belle were mastered.
Sadly kodak park is now less than half that size shown in the video. The emulsion and roller buildings still exist as seen from Ridge road, and the film division still puts out an extremely limited amount of film at the elm grove location. Kodak park to my knowledge no longer produces film.
With Perez out of the picture maybe kodak will return to its former glory.
They still make film. And after years of shrinking, the market for film is growing strong... you just can't get the same look with digital that you do with film (technically you can, but you're talking about messing with all sorts of settings to replicate specific chemical processes that influence the look)
iii film is much more prevalent in movie film photography nowadays than in still photography
@@punman5392 True, professional enthusiasts like Christopher Nolan still use film for their big budget films !
2020 film has no future
"sadly" lol, people move on ....... some professionals still use it for various results, but it's just analougue nostalgia now
14 tons a week?? I wonder if it would even be worth it to try and break down old film stock to recover the silver.
I've heard that when they develop film they do recycle the silver.
Is there an English version?
its funny how things become obsolete.there was a whole industry behind films.
Film still has a mystique about it, because Eastman Kodak was fundamentally practicing alchemy (see comment, above)! Things like whether the cattle, who get made into the gelatin that holds the emulsion to the acetate base, grazed on plants of the mustard family, actually affected the ISO of the film emulsion! Kodak was fanatical about vertical integration, owning herds and silver mines. I think the best explanation for their doom was that they were fundamentally a chemistry company for about a century, and they couldn't make the transition to making other products, or digital cameras, like Fuji has.
@@MalcolmBrenner so he was a bit batty then... sounds like the company had a mathmatical distrust and an analougue love... a bit of a fundamental science approach (maybe "alchemy" like you say).... no wonder they where so slow to develop digital cameras, i remeber being really shocked waiting for kodak to enter the market and when they did their cameras where dreadful
How many of you are here after the Veritasium video?
Niederländisch oder? Kann ich verstehen.
That's an *awfully* heavy Welsh accent you have there, Owen...
;-)
hahahha
Kodak film is now kodak alaris :)
Hi Pioneerz450,
Kodak Alaris just sells the photographic film made by Eastman Kodak.
Nitrite film is very flammable so don’t do it