The sixties. A decade of beat music and mop-top haircuts, of the Vietnam war and the first man on the moon. Of hippies and flower power. And of Instamatic cameras and single serving flash bulbs.
These days, (almost) every camera comes equipped with a built-in flash unit. Can you imagine having to change the bulb after each use? Half a century ago, flash bulbs weren’t as durable as they are today and had to be changed each time the flash was fired, because they simply burnt out. The above ad, which we found via Project B, advertises Kodaks ‘latest’ invention: the rotating flash cube which contains four individual flash bulbs.
In a time when technical progress meant the introduction of a higher speed film and ‘computers’ were no more than giant calculators, a flash that would last up to four shots must’ve seemed like a revolution. Or at least thats what this Kodak ad wants the viewer to believe. Also, it gives a practical introduction into shooting ‘swinging dance parties’.
BTW, you can still by Kodak film from Adorama, Amazon and B&H.
Film is one of those things that many of us embrace as part of photography culture. And with the continued growth of digital, we can tend to forget our roots. Sadly, one of those may die soon–but the Fotokemika project is trying to ensure that a factory that produced silver-rich black and white films will stay alive–as a museum! The company was privatized in the 90s and survived very well until 2012 when they stopped production of film. They were the producer of Efke film–while not the name that Kodak and Ilford had it was still well loved.
Two women are currently heading the project that sounds almost synonymous to what the Impossible Project did, and they have a list of goals including saving the equipment and the archive. They also want to prove that it is worth it for businesses to invest in the company–which will be quite a feat.
Via Believe in Film
Kodak, in its continuing story of survival, has taken new steps in their attempt to evolve. As part of its Chapter 11 plan, they have settled with the Kodak Pension Plan (KPP), the pension plan for its UK employees, to spin-off its Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses. This has left the leaders of the PI/DI business very pleased with their new owner. The new company will be named at the closing of the deal however the Kodak brand will continue to be used.
You can read more about this deal here. But we have a whole chronology of the Kodak timeline after the jump.
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Earlier in the year, we reported on Kodak’s Micro Four Thirds camera. However, it isn’t really being done by the company but instead by JK Imaging–a still very mysterious addition to the camera world. Photo Rumors spotted the camera at a recent Tradeshow in Asia. As a refresher, the new MFT mount camera has a Sony CMOS sensor and built-in WIFI. That’s really all that we have so far, but this camera looks very much like the first Olympus digital Pen camera.
We also still have no clear idea of when it will hit the market.
Editor’s Update: We updated the image to show the M43 camera, but they are also showing off a PixPro model as well.
According to PMANewsline, the further splintering of Kodak has continued. And this time, they’re parting ways with their Document Imaging business for around $210 million. Brother will also get stuck with a “deferred service revenue liability” totaling $67 million.
Now, let’s take a look at the entire timeline of what’s been happening in Kodak’s current whirlwind.
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Photo by Richard Mosse
Today’s exciting announcement from Lomography about Lomochrome Purple is bound to get some people excited and others totally confused. First off, know that it is based off of Kodak Aerochrome–an old infrared film developed for government surveillance. Since it is infrared, that means that there are no real purple fields in the Congo. So we’re here to answer a couple of big questions that you may have about the new film. Check out more information after the jump.
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