Kodak bankruptcy? YES - Chapter 11

[Dr Mordrid]

Closed at $0.78 today, and they've apparently hired a law firm that handles corporate bankruptcies. No surprise given the move to digital imaging, even in formerly reliable markets like medical x-rays where large sheets of film are being replaced by sensors.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/story/2011-09-30/kodak-stock-plunge/50620334/1

[UtwigMU]

Just yesterday I took a roll of B&W Ilford to fotostudio for development. Found my old mechanical camera and decided to shoot a roll and see what comes up. Will get CD with Scans on Tuesday.

[Elie]

To be honest, it was a matter of time, Kodak couldn't survive. This is a classic case of not being able to adapt to change, well look what happened.

Oh well.

[Brian Ellis]

Eastman has gone West, man!

I have in my collection a Kodak Six-20 Popular Brownie box camera and a Brownie 8 mm Camera 2 (double 8).

Their popular-sized B/W films (roll films and 35 mm) were adequate but they never were able to compete with Ilford. For reprographic use, their large sheet films were poor, compared with Dupont. When I directed a printed circuit factory in a former life, we were pestered by Kodak but these thin-emulsion films never had the same contrast and had more pinholes. Where Kodak won out was in Kodachrome, despite its complex processing chemistry. No other transparency film has ever been able to match it, not even Ektachrome. It's a pity that Kodachrome was never available in sizes larger than 35 mm or in cut film, but I speculate the processing would have priced it out of the market (they would have had to build some monstrous machines to handle non-perforated film).

Chemical photography is nevertheless still better than even the best digital. In B/W, Ilford Pan-F is still an order of magnitude better than a 24 Mpx sensor in resolution and has twice the contrast range. Even their fast films (HP-5 Plus) are better.

[VJ]

Well, I don't think it is a matter of being with the times, just look at some of their achievements in the digital realm:

1986 Kodak scientists invented the world's first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels, capable of producing a photo-quality 5×7 inch print.
1976 The Bayer Pattern color filter array (CFA) is invented by Eastman Kodak researcher Bryce Bayer. The order in which dyes are placed on an image sensor photosite, is still in use today. The basic technology is still the most commonly used of its kind to date.
1975 The invention of the digital camera by Steven Sasson, then an electrical engineer at Eastman Kodak.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak#21st_century

So, they were really early pioneers. But as often the case in IT/technology: it is not the pioneers that win, but the early followers (Apple is the best example of a company that knows what things to focus on, but they rarely come up with something completely new).

[Brian Ellis]

From 2¼ years ago:

http://www.forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?t=68347&highlight=kodachrome

[Dr Mordrid]

And now I have shot maybe 20 rolls 35mm film this year, a pittance compared to a couple years ago, and as others have noted nothing touches Ilford for B&W film. Been using it since I was a teenager.

120/220 is another matter; digital still can't touch what comes out of the Mamiya for some things, but its digital back still gets the most use for practical reasons. If I won the lottery and could afford the DM-56 DM 56mp back ($26,000) then 120/220 might get retired too. 16bpp with a 12 stop dynamic range, it has.

[TransformX]

Chemical photography is nevertheless still better than even the best digital. In B/W, Ilford Pan-F is still an order of magnitude better than a 24 Mpx sensor in resolution and has twice the contrast range. Even their fast films (HP-5 Plus) are better.

For home photography, mega pixels are pretty much meaningless sensor wise since most cameras are limited by their lenses.

[VJ]

Yup... and it seems interesting to put link to a great resource on that topic:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

[Dr Mordrid]

And every day science is closing in on the optical metamaterial superlens - one with a negative diffraction index. They already exist for acoustics. RF and IR. Once those hit for photography glass & plastic are headed the way of film.

[Brian Ellis]

Modern Nikon, Canon and Asahi interchangeable fixed focal length lenses are really superb for 24 Mpix use. (They should be at 4-5 digits before the decimal point!!!) Even the zooms are pretty good but should be limited to 3:1 ratio. As a rule, for point and shoot cameras, the lenses are well matched to the px count.

[KRSESQ]

The handwriting was probably on the wall all the way back in the '90's when Kodak eliminated their Super8-sound film format due to declining use (I, apparently, was the only remaining user). One would think that at that time they would have embraced digital imaging more aggressively. Describing their digital efforts as half-hearted is being generous. One can only guess that the powers-that-be hoped the digital fad would burn out and film would prove its superiority. But they just couldn't compete with digital's convenience. Neither could Polaroid, which is a little surprising since the number one selling point for digital is "point, click, view" with printing relegated to "optional" status.

[Brian Ellis]

Kodak denies it plans to file for bankruptcy protection

Eastman Kodak has said it has "no intention of filing for bankruptcy".

The struggling US camera and printing group's comments came after it confirmed it had hired a law firm well-known for handling bankruptcy protection cases, Jones Day.

The company currently has a market value of $210m. This compares with $31bn at its height in February 1997.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15141421

[Dr Mordrid]

Their creditors will decide that more than they will, and if their stock doesn't rise above $1 they could be delisted. Meanwhile they'll probably be looking for a merger partner.

[Umfriend]

Do they have creditors then?