Kodak To Reportedly Stop Acetate Production For Film
In another blow to the analog film business, Kodak will no longer be making its own acetate
Film photographers are faced with yet another roadblock, as the financially beleaguered Kodak is killing off one more part of its film production process. According to a report by Rochester CBS affiliate WROC, Kodak has ended in-house production of the acetate base used in film.
Cellulose acetate is the primary component of film, the plastic base which is then treated to make it light sensitive. For more than 100 years, Kodak has made the acetate in house in bulk, providing the structural basis for the company’s film. Now, with Kodak in bankruptcy, the company is firing 60 workers and shutting down the acetate machinery. Citing the decline in interest in film photography as a primary cause, Kodak will no longer undertake the time intensive process of acetate production.
Thankfully, the company has large stockpiles of the material, and once that runs out they will source it from elsewhere. Hopefully that won’t mean much of a change for film prices down the road, as it’s assumedly more expensive for Kodak to buy it from someone else.
[via The Phoblographer]