Talk:Kodak

Does anyone have recent information on the relationship between Kodak and KKR? The most recent articles I could find were about the resignation of KKR-appointed members of Kodak's board in 2011. I don't see any information in news archives on what happened during and after the bankruptcy proceedings. Rocfan275 (talk) 21:43, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

I don't see KKR listed as a major holder of Kodak stock. Rocfan275 (talk) 19:32, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

My impression is that Kodak, the corporation, sold its film manufacturing operation to a separate independent entity, Alaris, with a deal to use the Kodak brand and trademark.

The article text makes it sound like Kodak is selling film through a division called Alaris, but I have seen no source for that. Anyone know which is correct? SPECIFICO talk 19:59, 22 January 2023 (UTC)

Kodak film brands have been one of the more confusing topics to follow since the bankruptcy proceedings. Kodak Alaris is an independent company which was spun off from Eastman Kodak in 2012. Kodak Alaris was given control over Kodak's consumer film and paper distribution (as shown on their website) as well as most overseas manufacturing facilities, while Eastman Kodak retained the distribution rights for motion picture film (as shown on their website) and Eastman Business Park, where most film is manufactured. Kodak Alaris has since sold most (if not all) of its own film manufacturing facilities to other companies. At least some of their consumer film is manufactured by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, as seen in this press release for the announcement of Ektachrome's return. Eastman Kodak and Kodak Alaris both sell film under the Kodak brand.

TL;DR Kodak-brand motion picture film stock is solely manufactured and distributed by Eastman Kodak. Kodak-brand consumer film is partially manufactured by Eastman Kodak and solely distributed by Kodak Alaris. Any ambiguities should be corrected in the article. Rocfan275 (talk) 01:08, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

From what I have seen, Kodak manufactures motion picture film, but all of the still film is produced and distributed by the independent Alaris entity. Is that your understanding, or if not do you have a secondary source that states that the still film is actually manufactured by the Kodak corporation? Thanks. SPECIFICO talk 01:37, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

There are an abundance of secondary sources that Eastman Kodak still manufactures still film, such as this article from WXXI last year, but otherwise yes. Rocfan275 (talk) 01:49, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

Thanks. If you are so inclined, I think it would be helpful to clarify this in the article text. My impression is still that Alaris is manufacturing still film elsewhere. I'm surprised that the mothballed US factory can be brought back after a hiatus. SPECIFICO talk 02:07, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

To clarify this: Kodak Alaris has never manufactured film and does not do so. All Film sold by Kodak Alaris is manufactured by Eastman Kodak in the US. Movie film and still film are very similar and there is no separate manufacturing, the film is basically sold in different forms. Film is never manufactured in the size it is sold, it is always manufactured with a width of a meter or more on "endless" substrate and cut into the desired format. In many cases, the same film is delivered as still and movie film, just in different formats. You can read "Made in USA" on all Kodak Alaris films sold. Kodak Alaris did manufacture photographic paper and chemicals, but they have sold that business, including the distribution and sales operations, to a company called Sino Promise. They still distribute the still films. I am sure there are sources for all of this, but I am too lazy to look them up. I can assure you that everybody involved in the industry can list those companies worldwide still making photographic film (not necessarily for photography), Kodak Alaris is not one of them.2001:BB8:2002:2400:58EF:E58D:4182:2042 (talk) 17:06, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

There is no mention here of the Kodak Komstar Microfilm/Microfiche system, and the later Optistar system, which was a document storage system based on the Komstar system, but stored the information on large, glass laserdiscs. The system contributed to the bankruptcy and downfall of Kodak, as they invested heavily into the project, but most companies were not buying the system. The Optistar system sold during the mid-to-late 1990's, and was meant for legal and financial document storage. It could format to any form type, and had a complete software package based on the Komstar indexing system that allowed also for retrieval and print by marked values on the page. Kodak stopped support and production on the Optistar system sometime around 2005, and all service was outsourced. The media also became hard to obtain, as Kodak had retained the rights to the Optistar disk design, so no third-party producers of the medium ever developed.

I worked with both systems back in the 1990's, and although the retrieval time on the Optistar was much faster than searching microfiche, any time that a disk had to be exchanged for one in the current storage in order to retrieve an older file, there had to be an operator present to remove and replace the laser disk manually, as there was a limited storage on the device, and there was no auto-loading feature outside of the actual device cabinet. The Kodak website only makes brief mention of these, but Optistar was a bit ahead of its time, although it could have been designed to be a bit better, especially when it came to the footprint of the device itself. The Optistar was smaller than a full microfiche printer and duplicator, but not by much. The storage cabinets only stored up to 50 disks, which were all in their own aluminum cases, and the disks could not be loaded into the Optistar without the aluminum casing. Some flaws in the cases caused the media to get scratched during storage and retrieval, and even removing the disk in the case from the Optistar system had to be done gingerly, or the disks would crack or even shatter. 2001:1998:3500:4A:0:0:0:544 (talk) 21:19, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

what is difference between era 2603:6011:A6F0:19A0:31E2:BFAA:443B:D228 (talk) 17:40, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Kodak battery.jpg

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Over the last few months, Kodak appears to have gotten at least some of the rights back to sell stills film without the involvment of Kodak Alaris, as shown here in a post on there official Instagram. They say that for the first time in decades they will be selling film direct to distributors, as opposed to just selling it to Kodak Alaris and then having them do the distribution. Since that Instagram post it seems like most of the other stills film stocks are now for sale from Eastman Kodak direct to retail, with the only major exception being the Portra line. The new version of the films that are distributed by Eastman Kodak directly are called Kodak Eastman on the B&H listings, different from the alaris version, which uses just Kodak. In light of this it feels like the section on Post-bankruptcy and Current products and services is out of date. It says in both sections that they only manufacture the films for alaris and this is now out of date. I fear that to make this change clear would need a fairly major update to those sections so I wanted to see what others thought and call some attention to this. Intelquackcore (talk) 02:39, 15 March 2026 (UTC)