Kodak Technical Pan, Super XX, and Verichrome Pan films – Were these better film stocks than what we can find today?

I ask my friend Greg why really old expired Kodak Tech Pan film fetches insane prices on eBay and his reply was, “It’s God’s film”.   He said that with the right developer, it would provide incredible grainless detail and long smooth tones and that it was better than say the ADOX CMS 20 II film which isn’t sensitive to all colors like Tech Pan was.   Greg is the one who also introduced me to Kodak Verichrome Pan which I immediatelyRead more

A Just Noticeable Color Difference

For a long time I’ve wondered what kind of image test could reveal a camera system’s ability to accurately capture color tonality and separation.  Grapes, peaches, apples, leaves on a tree, skin and all kinds of things really aren’t just one color but a whole range and often speckled with lot’s of small bits of color.  Some sensor’s like the fat pixel Kodak pro MFDB sensors do a great job with this when shot at base ISO but a lotRead more

Kodak Tri-X vs. Ilford HP5 – A photo comparison by The Darkroom Photo Lab

I thought this was a very useful film stock comparison and wanted to post it both for other and also so I can come back to it.   Personally I mostly shoot T-Max 400 and Ilford Delta 3200, but now that I’m shooting 8×10 and 11×14 I’ve started to shoot a lot more Ilford film stocks since they are available and less expensive.  What film stocks do you like? WHAT DO YOU LIKE? Kodak Tri-X 400 classic grain structure, contrast, deep blacksRead more

The Cool Science Behind Developing Photographic Film

Destin Sandlin does a really great job explaining how film works and is lab developed in this video.  Well worth a watch! Engineer Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day explains the very cool science behind developing rolls of photographic film. This has become a bit of a lost Source: The Cool Science Behind Developing Photographic FilmRead more

Kodak’s Downfall Wasn’t About Technology

Harvard Business Review article on Kodak The first digital camera was invented at Kodak.  Kodak invested big money into commercial digital cameras early on, and they even bought some on-line photo sharing businesses.  So why if they had invested significantly into technology, why did they still fail to jump the gap when it came?   This article goes into a lot of detail but clearly a lot of big companies failed to see that the internet could reach directly toRead more