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Confirmed: Kodak is no longer selling its motion picture reels (this includes Vision 3 250D, 50D, 500T, and Ektachrome) for bulk loading/still photography.
Previously, avid photographers and businesses bought 400+’ Kodak Vision 3 or Ektachrome film to bulk-load into 36exp. cartridges (I did this recently with Cinema Shorts, analog.cafe/r/new-film-cin…). The purchase could be made directly from Kodak, which was cheaper than getting it from a reseller. This gave birth to many new brands that sold film with remjet, spooled Ektachrome, and even films like Amber T800 (analog.cafe/r/amber-t800-f…), which removed remjet for standard C-41 processing — using the same process CineStill enacts to make CineStill 800T.
But last week, I came across a Reddit post (reddit.com/r/AnalogCommuni…) in which a user complained about Kodak now requiring movie production credentials.
Reflx Lab confirmed this is also their experience and added that they now have to acquire film from third parties at a higher cost.
Paul McKay of Analogue Wonderland also shared his thoughts on the news: “I think the impact would be that it dries up a lot of secondary branding in the market… That would be ultimately bad for the choice we face, but could also avoid some issues I’ve seen where folks don’t do it very well and the poor results put off casual film shooters.”
Paul and others suggest that this is the consequence of the recent Kodak Alaris acquisition (see analog.cafe/comments/4lsz).
The new Alaris brand owners have the rights for Kodak film sales to still photographers (and the resulting profits). While Eastman Kodak may’ve allowed their movie reels to be sold to still photographers and their purposes previously, this is now under tighter control to presumably guarantee compliance.
It’s still unclear how this change will affect colour film sales and prices for still photographers as a whole.
(I’ve also contacted Kodak and CineStill for a comment on this story. I will update this thread if/once they respond.)
I’ve just heard back from CineStill and Analog Amsterdam, whom I asked to comment on Eastman Kodak’s stricter rules regarding the sales of motion picture reels for bulk loading into still cameras.
CineStill respectfully declined to comment on decisions made by other manufacturers. The company has not announced price increases or difficulties acquiring films from Kodak, which I think can be interpreted as good news for all the 800T, 400D, 50D, and BwXX fans.
(Better yet, the prices on CineStill 50D film have recently decreased across various retailers; see: analog.cafe/app/film-price…)
Analog Amsterdam also replied with a positive update: “We’re currently still able to receive new shipments of film. For the time being, nothing changes.” They also promised to post any updates about changes to supplies or pricing on their website (analogamsterdam.com) and Instagram (@analogamsterdamstore).
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In other (related) news, I’ve just sold my last pack of Cinema Shorts (hand-spooled Kodak Vision 3 film; see analog.cafe/r/new-film-cin…). Let me know if you’d like me to try* to make some more!
* — given everything discussed above, this may take a bit more time/effort than before.
