miércoles, 1 de septiembre de 2021

AT LAST!!!, POLYESTER BASE FOR KODAK PHOTOGRAPHIC FILMS, STARTING WITH KODAK PORTRA 800

In the motion film exhibition industry, from 90´s,  film base is made of polyester, far superior to triacetate of cellulose, as it maintains its qualities unchanged for centuries, if not millennia. Triacetate, when it is poorly washed, or if it is stored in inappropriate places (with heat, humidity or, simply, in a hermetically sealed box), can develop the much dreaded vinegar syndrome. In contrast, polyester is immune to this degradation. In addition, polyester is stronger, thinner and more transparent. Fujifilm made polyester base standard in 1965 for its Single-8 format. Polyester is also resistant to fungi.

Now, finally, Kodak takes a step forward, and begins to replace the triacetate base of photographic negatives, from triacetate to polyester, starting with one of my favorite films, the Kodak Portra 800, in 35 mm loads of 36 exposures (previously, Porta 800 was available in polyester base for 24 x 36 mm or 120 format only in big rolls).

Let's hope that soon the Kodak Ektachrome, reversal film (for slides), will also benefit from this improvement, very important, since the labs usually return the slides in hermetic boxes.



4 comentarios:

  1. Las películas FOMA de 8 mm también poliéster?

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  3. The transition to Polyester in these still films *should* be temporary, due to supply chain disruptions, from what I can gather. But we shall see...

    But for film production, polyester has much bigger issues than one might imagine: 1st, there are the problems of noise, chatter, and image instability (remember they are not making any new motion picture cameras, and the reliable use of polyester would require a major redesign on many of these cameras). Also, polyester has curl memory and light piping, which occur to varying degrees (I suspect the emulsion of the two still films you mentioned is optically dense enough to overcome the fogging issue). And then there is splicing! I know not many productions still cut their negative, but for those who do it for archival purposes, tape splices are a total non-starter! And ultrasonic splicers are virtually impossible to find (not being made anymore either).

    All of these are very real concerns, otherwise Kodak, Orwo, Fuji etc. would have happily transitioned their camera stocks to polyester long ago.

    I know it's tempting to view polyester as a panacea to the known problems of acetate decomposition, but it may not be possible to balance acetate's immediate benefits of handling and editing with the desire for extended archival stability. (Acetate is really not a bad medium when stored properly).

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