Eastman Kodak
|
|
Template:Infobox Company Eastman Kodak Company Template:Nyse is a large multinational public company producing photographic equipment. The basis of Eastman Kodak was the Eastman Dry Plate Company founded by inventor George Eastman and businessman Henry Strong in 1881.
The developers of roll film and the first camera suitable for nonexpert use, such as the Brownie and Instamatic, the company remains the largest supplier of films in the world both for the amateur and professional markets. It has also diversified into various other imaging-related industries (such as medical imaging), and continues to work at gaining a stronger foothold in growing use of digital photography and digital imagery in general.
The company started as the Eastman company, but included one of the first simple roll film cameras known as the "Kodak" in its product line. Asked about the name, George Eastman replied, "Philologically, the word Kodak is "as meaningless as a child's first 'goo'—terse, abrupt to the point of rudeness, literally bitten off by firm and unyielding consonants at both ends, it snaps like a camera shutter in your face. What more would one ask!" The camera proved such an enormous success that the word Kodak was incorporated into the company name.
After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak left the instant camera business on January 9, 1986.
On January 13, 2004, Kodak announced it will stop producing traditional film cameras in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. By the end of 2004, Kodak will cease manfacturing cameras that use the Advanced Photo System and 35mm films. Production of film will continue. These changes reflect Kodak's new focus on growth in digital markets.
The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, USA.
| Contents |
Diversity
Eastman Kodak received a 100% rating on the first Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2002. They have maintained this rating in 2003 and 2004.
Paper longevity testing
Kodak claims that Ultima Picture Paper had been tested to last 162 years.This was disputed by Wilhelm Imaging Research, who claimed that it only lasted about 10 years. Kodak bases its estimates on typical home light levels of 120 lux for a 12 hour day, a figure based on over 150,000 measurements in consumer homes homes around the world and verified in the fading of actual display prints. The studies, spanning 18 years, were presented at IS&T's Thirteenth International Symposium on Photofinishing Technologies (IS&T, February 2004 , Volume 13 [1] (http://www.kodak.com/eknec/documents/bc/0900688a801caabc/PF13-18_ID1139_HomeEnvironmentSurvey_en.pdf) [2] (https://www.imaging.org/store/epub.cfm?abstrid=30136)). In addition, the 120 lux level has been used by photographic companies for decades. Wilhelm Imaging Research has used a 450 lux level, which is often cited as an ideal viewing condition, but is not typical of a home environment.
There are other environmental degredation factors that need to be considered when assessing the print life of papers, including heat, humidity and airborne pollutants, in addition to light. Ignoring any of these or overestimating light alone is risky and has led to embarrassing over-predictions of print lifetime, such as that seen in the rapid degradation of some early ink jet prints due to atmospheric contaminants. However, no injet company (until recently) has made any claims about gas-fastness, only about light-fastness, even though many consumers display inkjet prints without the protection of glass (Wilhelm Imaging Research does its lightfastness tests under glass). Recently inket companies like Canon and Epson have been careful to point out that their criteria is on light-fastness and are very specific that they don't guarantee gas-fastness of their papers and inks.
Limiting to light fastness ratings also ignores the fact that more than 90 per cent of consumer photographs are not displayed, but rather stored in albums or shoeboxes, where thermal degredation, particularly thermal yellowing, can be the dominant factor. It is for these reasons that Kodak has long embraced a holistic, multi-factor approach to predicting the lifetime of prints. [3] (http://www.kodak.com/eknec/documents/63/0900688a801caf63/ULTIMAWhitePaper012804.pdf) [4] (http://www.kodak.com/eknec/documents/09/0900688a80219609/ULTIMAWhitePaper_addenda_20040514.pdf)
When Henry Wilhelm claimed that Kodak's Ultima paper failed meet its 100 year lifetime with some inkjet inks [5] (http://www.photo-i.co.uk/News/Apr04/Kodak.htm), Kodak clarified their statement that "Kodak's new Ultima Picture Paper with ColorLast technology is a significant advancement in picture longevity, with over 100-year degradation resistance when used with state-of-the-art inks. These state-of-the-art inks are widely available in current consumer photo-quality printers." [6] (http://www.photo-i.co.uk/News/Apr04/Kodak.htm)
See also
Reference
- MSNBC & Reuters' "Kodak to stop selling traditional cameras" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3948032/)
- Charles Wright (November 25, 2004). Fade to black (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/11/23/1100972399569.html). The Sydney Morning Herald.
- Bugner, Douglas; LaBarca, Joseph; Kopperl, David; Phillips, Jonathan; Skye, David; Baker, Irene; Cunningham, Caryn; Miller, Paige; and Kaltenbach, Thomas (February 2004). "Survey of Environmental Conditions Relative to Display of Photographs in Consumer Home (http://www.kodak.com/eknec/documents/bc/0900688a801caabc/PF13-18_ID1139_HomeEnvironmentSurvey_en.pdf)". IS&T's Thirteenth International Symposium on Photofinishing Technologies. 13, 31-36. ISBN 0-89208-249-6.
Print Sources
- Changing focus: Kodak and the battle to save a great American company by Alecia Swasy Publisher: New York : Times Business, 1997. ISBN 0812924630
External links
- Kodak (http://www.kodak.com/)
- History of Kodak (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/aboutKodak/kodakHistory/kodakHistory.shtml)