8mm Forum: Is all Kodak SP created equal?

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Topic: Is all Kodak SP created equal?

Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted June 27, 2008 12:17 PM

It's an interesting question, as most Kodak SP prints that i have, have aged very well. Then, there are certain Kodak SP prints that are all faded, no matter how many copies I find, (The Golden Seal, on optical sound, for instance, which was an earlier Kodak SP release).

But hen my print of "Battlestar Galactica" has survived completely unscathed, no color loss at all.

So thwe argument may come down to nothing more than not the color stock, but the infamous problem of lab procesing?

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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John Whittle
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 791
From: Northridge, CA USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted June 27, 2008 03:13 PM

Well maybe, but emulsion mixing is more an art than a science so no two batches will be identical. We have to have different color printer settings for each emulsion number. Then there's the problem of chemistry. Kodak sold their color developing agent CD-2 for Eastmancolor positive, but there were other companies that made competing products like Code 2 from Hunt Chemical and AGFA had a product as well, I think. I don't remember Fuji selling chemistry in the US since they made all there products to run through the Eastman chemistry (Eastman color positive/negative and Ektachome ME-4).

Ektachome seems much more stable (and this would lend creditbilty to your observation) since many labs only bought the Eastman kits to mix. Major labs would mix from bags and again would sub the Code 3 for the CD-3 which is the color developer agent for ME-4.

Kodak might have some records since they ran lab surveys (sent out IB strips for labs to develop and return--little one foot pieces of film with a gray step record on the film) so they could judge just what the various results were around the country.

As strange as it may seem, sometimes local water supplies could influence processing results in just one locality.

John

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007

posted June 27, 2008 04:20 PM

...due to pH factor, or hardness? (Fascinating problem.)

Osi, I have at least a half dozen or more SP prints, all of which are faded. But your collection being more extensive than mine, you've gotten lucky a few times more than I!

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John Whittle
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 791
From: Northridge, CA USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted June 27, 2008 05:43 PM

Ph wasn't much of a problem within limits since it's easy to control and one of the main things that the control department watches during the day. However hardness (i.e. dissolved minerals) would pose problems, even some piping could cause trouble (those extra copper ions floating around). It was interesting how east coast (US) labs tended to print "cooler" prints than the west coast labs.

John

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted June 27, 2008 07:50 PM

Define cooler, John.

(fascinating posts)

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007

posted July 03, 2008 01:05 PM

More to the blue side (if I may butt in).

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