This isn't a regular post, but I thought if today's announcement from Kodak was enough to warrant a double take from me it might be something readers would be interested in knowing. In this post truth era when I saw this my first instinct went something like "yeah, right", but the words are right from the horse's mouth and up there from the world to see at Kodak.com. In short, those words are:
"KODAK EKTACHROME. We're Bringing it back."
Kodak made the announcement today at CES 2017 in Las Vegas and there are a few more details available in their accompanying press release such as:
- Ektachrome will be in development over the next 12 months with initial availablility expected in the last quarter of 2017
- It will be manufactured by Kodak factory in Rochester
- Plans are to release Ektachrome as a Super 8 motion picture film and additionally in 35mm cassette format for still photography.
The decision to bring back Ektachrome seems largely to intended as a compliment to Kodak's efforts to revive Super 8 film making by offering a film stock that can viewed directly in a projector. With the dwindling lineup of reversal films being offered by Fuji this, along with the progress still being made in the heroic efforts to revive Ferrania, can only be good news for fans of E-6 colour photography. Even more, for any photographer who has seen a treasured emulsion disappear, it's affirmation that a favourite film, though possibly somewhat transformed, can indeed come back from the dead.
