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Kodak: Will Tri-X for sure disappear?

Nick Masson

New member
Does anybody know for sure if Tri-X will for sure disappear now that Kodak has filled for Chapter 11? Bankruptcy may mean the demise of a company, but of a great product? Will any other film manufacturers pick up the recipe? Should I be buying an extra freezer and filling it with what Kodak film I can find?

Very upsetting : (
-Nick
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Nobody knows for sure, but B&W film is relatively easy to manufacture and there is a market for tri-X. Considering that somebody went into the trouble of making Polaroid film again, I would be surprised if tri-X or an imitate would not exist. Polaroid film is immensely more complicated to manufacture and the market is smaller.
 

Nick Masson

New member
Do you suppose, if it were to be re-manufactured, that it will retain it's quality and tonalities? The emulsion chemistry is only a small piece to the process and quality control... Highly speculative, I know. Is today's polaroid similar in quality to that which died?
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Do you suppose, if it were to be re-manufactured, that it will retain it's quality and tonalities? The emulsion chemistry is only a small piece to the process and quality control... Highly speculative, I know. Is today's polaroid similar in quality to that which died?

Today's Polaroid is not similar in quality to the original product, but it is a different situation. For Polaroid, there is no competition if you want to use the cameras and making the film is very complex. The idea was not "make the same" but "make something that works".
For Tri-X, the business model would be "make the same". If you don't, people can still buy Ilford film for example. And manufacturing B&W film is comparatively trivial.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Nick,

I'd be more concerned about Kodak's color film, both transparencies and negative. folk are stocking up!

Asher
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
Kodak expect that the film business will survive the restructure and continue as long as it's profitable. That may be some time yet as the movie industry still uses a lot of colour stock and the latest still colour neg films are related to the movie film.

I wouldn't worry too much about Tri-X's imminent demise - and if it does go there are other films.

Mike
 
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