Thu, June 16th, 2005 by mr bill
Kodak announced the end of an era yesterday when they said they would no longer manufacture black-and-white papers after the end of the year. According to a Kodak spokesperson, demand for black-and-white paper declined about 25 percent annually. Another casuality of the digital revolution. I cut my photographic teeth on Polycontrast fiber based paper. So long, Polycontrast, it was fun while it lasted. Hello Ilford (and Bergger and Oriental, too)...
The good news is that they will still make black and white film and chemicals. My precious HC-110 is safe... for now. The entire article can be viewed here.
Old server!
June 16th, 2005 at 3:13 pm
what a shame! george eastman is rolling over in his grave right about now.
onward and upward I suppose!
June 16th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
Fuck you, Kodak. Good luck reaching your goal of cutting 15,000 people from your workforce.
By the way, nobody liked your paper. And TMAX sucks. Hopefully Ilford will pick up your slack.
June 16th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
What does Justin really feel about this issue?
June 17th, 2005 at 12:22 am
so many of those companies are bankrupt, i am not surprised at all. it is sad to see though. :(
June 17th, 2005 at 1:47 am
i miss my days in the darkroom. tmax did suck~
June 17th, 2005 at 5:23 am
Another casuality of the digital revolution. I cut my photographic teeth on Polycontrast fiber based paper. So long, Polycontrast, it was fun while it lasted
do u have more info about it?
June 17th, 2005 at 9:21 am
I'm a Oriental, Ilford and for toning Forte, man myself... but it is sad to see it go.
ps- yes, tmax does suck :)
June 17th, 2005 at 9:37 am
yeah, but tri-x is the shit.
June 17th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
I don't think George Eastman is rolling over in his grave. If nothing else, he would have been the one pushing for these changes sooner rather then later. His biggest contribution, and the core philosophy of Kodak, was bringing an expensive hobby (photography) to the masses. Digital does that in spades, B&W paper (and B&W film photography in general) does not.
I'm very sad to see the continued contraction of the whole emulsion based business, but it's the inevitable march of progress.
Besides, as noted numerous times already, there are plenty of great alternatives.
June 20th, 2005 at 4:28 pm
I was born on the same day George Eastman died and I resent that, LarimdaME. It's almost 2AM and I can't sleep.
damn geezer.