Tag: Kodak

The first digital camera

Back in December 2025, BBC featured A ‘toaster with a lens’: The story behind the first handheld digital camera:

In 1975, a young engineer in the company that made Kodak film took the first picture on a handheld digital camera. Photography would never be the same again.

In a short summary, the first digital camera was invented at Kodak by Steve Sasson. Not because Sasson was asked to do it, but because, as a new hire, his first assignment was to checkout these new CCD chips. The bulky black and white camera took 100×100 pixels picture stored onto a cassette tape, to view the tape was read back for the image to be displayed on a TV. And business people always so this as a shift in the business if it every took. But in 1975 this was definitely not ready for anything, It needed hundred times more pixel to match even Instamatic 110 — which was the smallest format, before Kodak Disc.

Kodak had the future in their hands, but didn’t know what to do. It’s not that they did nothing, but what advance they had, they lost it as the competition caught up. After producing the first DSLRs with Nikon and Canon, making a good number of point and shoot cameras, and creating with Olympus the Four-Third format, they lost to the market and filed for bankruptcy in 2012, at which point they sold of a lot of business divisions, including the sensors.

After having emerged from bankruptcy over a decade ago, Kodak remains one of the few film manufacturers left in the world, while a lot of Kodak branded products are just that: branded. Fortunately Kodak seems to want continuing making film in a market that has completely shrunk, and for which its main competitor, Fujifilm, mostly withdrew.

RIP Portra and T-Max

In the continuation of Eastman Kodak bringing back the films from Kodak Alaris into their own umbrella, the latest “victims” are Portra and T-Max. While the brand will not be continued, both line will be renamed.

Long live to Ektacolor Pro and Ektapan (via Petapixel, as I’m not on the Eastman Kodak mailing list).

Ektacolor Pro will be in 160, 400 and 800 ISO, much like Portra. The 800 ISO film will cost more. Ektapan will be in 100, 400 and 3200 ISO, like T-Max. Both will be available in 135 and 120. Not sure yet about sheet film.

Now the only thing that is missing is that 800 ISO colour film that is found in the disposable cameras.

Previously: Ektachrome, Ektar, Tri-X, Kodacolor, Gold 200 and Ultramax 400.

February 2026 links

Film

Keeping up with the Kodak(ians) — What has been happening with Kodak, a tl;dr.

Film recipes

Realaty Film Simulation Recipe — Another film recipe based on Reala Ace.

Canon

Everything You’ll Ever Need to Know About Canon Lens Mounts and Compatibility — Notable omission in the article is the older FL mount.

DIY

BeerPAN 35mm SLR Makes Panoramic Film Photography Accessible — A prototype of a Panoramic film SLR camera. Interesting beast.

This 3D-Printed Camera Can Make You Fall in Love With Panoramic Analog Photography — Another 3D printable panoramic film camera.

This 6×17 Camera Could Revolutionize Panoramic Film Photography — Same camera as above.

Ektachrome 100

Kosmofoto tells us Kodak Ektachrome E100 added to Eastman Kodak’s in-house distribution.

The legendary slide film, discontinued and then revived, is now being folded back to Eastman Kodak. This comes after Ektar 100 and Tri-X 400. It’s looking like the whole range of Kodak product is being repatriated from Kodak Alaris. It feel reassuring after learning that Kodak Alaris was being bought by private equity. The were just the exclusive distributor of Eastman Kodak in a deal with the Kodak UK pension, but now it seems that the deal changed and Eastman Kodak is getting it back.

November 2025 Links

Film news

DPReview just confirmed that Eastman Kodak has resumed direct sales of consumer film after more than a decade — This following the release of Kodacolor and the repackaing of both Gold 200 and Ultramax 400.

Trying Aerocolor — Erica Fustero tries Kodak Aerocolor that is sold only by the brand respooling it, even though most of them don’t say it. It’s a 100 ISO colour negative.

Fujifilm

The Complete History of Fujifilm X and GFX Cameras — An almost up to date timeline of the Fujifilm X and GFX line.

Leica

Pope Francis’ One-of-a-Kind Leica Sold for Nearly 100x Its Estimated Value — It’s not a camera that will shoot a lot if at all. It should be noted it’s a film Leica M, not a digital one. It’s serial number 5000000 (five million) so is the Noctilux 50mm f/1.2. It sold for €6,500,000 (instead of the €60,000 estimated)

Pope Francis’s Leica M-A set sells for 100 times its estimate at Leitz Photographica Auction — Same thing but this article also mention the bsck-up Leica M3 of the one gifted in 1958 to Queen Elizabeth II by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. It sold for only €156,000.

A closer look at some of Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite cameras — The Queen used many cameras. Including one similar to the M3 mentioned above.

Other

Digicams: The Cameras of the Modern Digital Rebellion — About that trend of using old digicams…

October 2025 Links

Kodak Colour Negative Film and Colour Print Making Materials & Processes – researched by Michael Talbert — A collection of material about early Kodak film processes. We learn that Kodachrome initially cost US$3.50 a roll in 1936 (this included processing) which is US$54 in 2009… and learn how complicated its development process was. And from there many other links. A rabbit hole.

The Leica M EV1 Just Entered a Spec War It Can’t Win and Destroyed Its Own Value Proposition — The headline itself is what I thought of this camera.

Flashes and Strobes

Photo Strobe Trigger Voltages — A list of flash strobes and their trigger voltage. It’s important to match it with your camera as some might have more than 100V.

Sam’s Strobe FAQ — Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Electronic Flash Units and Strobe Lights (Archived) — Tips on repairing electronic flash units.

More film: Lomography LomoChrome Classicolor 200

A day after Kodacolor 100 and 200 are announced, Lomography comes out with a new 200 ISO colour negative. LomoChrome Classicolor 200 is a “limited edition”. Not sure why limited edition, I suspect they might have obtained a limited stock of something no longer produced. CN100 is thought to be a Kodak stock that is not available under a different brand.

It will be sold for CA$13.90 which is higher than of the Kodacolor 200 listed at CA$16.00.

via Kosmo Foto

And the Kodacolor announcement was such a big deal that non photography outlets talked about it.

Kodacolor is back

The year is 2025 and Kodak announces Kodacolor. Like this was 1942.

Old is new again.

This news has been all around the internet, Kosmofoto has some details: Kodak launches new films called Kodacolor 100 and 200.

The short version is Kodak, not Kodak Alaris, will be selling a C-41 colour negative film, 100 and 200 ISO, in 135 rolls of 36 exposure, called Kodacolor. We see them listed at US$9.75. At the moment it is unclear which stock these two films are made of.

Kodacolor was the name for the 1942 colour negative film Kodak release to the market. It was the first colours negative for colour printing and had a speed of 25 ASA and later 32 ASA. It was discontinued in 1963 to be replaced by Kodacolor X, at 64 and later 80 ASA, and then in 1974 by Kodacolor II which used C-41 process to replace the C-22 process previously used. That latter version was 80 and then later 100 ASA. The last version of Kodacolor was Kodacolor Gold…

Update: I see the Kodacolor 100 and 200 listed for CA$15.75 and CA$16.00 respectively.