Eastman Kodak Co., of Rochester, New York, is an American film maker and camera maker. For at least three quarters of the 20th century it played the dominant role in worldwide photography business.
|1899 offers (Image rights)|
In 1879 George Eastman, amateur photographer and employee of a bank in Rochester, had invented an emulsion-coating machine for mass production of dry plates and got a patent on it in England. In 1881 he and Rochester's local buggy whip manufacturer Henry A. Strong founded the Eastman Dry Plate Company in the town in the north of the state of New York (USA).
In 1883, a year after having solved troubles with bad quality gelatine that spoiled film plates, the company moved to a four-story building which later got the address 343 State Street, longtime headquarters address of the company. In 1884 Eastman and Strong transformed their partnership to a corporation for which they gathered the first shareholders. In 1885 the American Film was introduced, a paper roll film which needed a special development process, made usable with the new Eastman-Walker rollfilm holder. This was used later in the first two Kodak cameras. However Eastman knew that he needed a transparent film for the future, and hired the chemist Henry H. Reichenbach as research scientist. The transparent roll film would be delivered in 1889.
Eastman's goal in life was to simplify and to popularize photography. The first step towards that goal was the "Kodak" camera he introduced in 1888 which had a built-in 100-exposure paper roll film costing $25, a huge amount. The box camera had to be sent back to the factory once all the exposures had been used. The customers got their cameras back with new film roll loaded into it, and the image prints. In 1890 a Kodak folding camera with built-in 48 exposure film roll followed. After years of advertising the brand Kodak the company was renamed Eastman Kodak Co. In 1900 Eastman had reached his goal, offering the Brownie rollfilm camera which cost only $1 including a 6 exposure film. Further film rolls cost just 15 cents. The Brownie camera series was continued until 1970.
Through the early twentieth century, Kodak produced an increasingly large range of cameras, in an increasing range of film formats - becoming the dominant supplier of both cameras and film.
| industrial centre of Rochester, N.Y., |
with Kodak headquarter buildings (left)
image by Ricky Rosario (Image rights)
Kodak used to have autonomous branches in other countries, which developed their own lines of products, as Ford did for cars. The German branch Kodak AG, which made the famous Retina models, is discussed in a separate page, as is Kodak Ltd. (UK).
At its peak Kodak's international plants were:
With exception of the Mexican plant all these international branches made cameras. Most U.S. plants outside Rochester specialized in producing basic materials like gelatine (Peabody/Massachusetts), plastics (Longview/Texas), chemicals (Batesville/Arkansas), polyester fibre (Columbia/S.C.), and basic materials for film making and others (Kingsport/Tennessee). Some of the films and plates were made in Windsor/Colorado.
At its peak, the company was huge and made everything connected with photography: cameras, lenses (including some of the best lenses of the mid-20th century, see Kodak lenses), film, and processing chemicals and equipment, in addition to photographic materials used in the graphic arts industry (for example, for printing). It also conducted important photographic research and development. 60,000 people were working for Kodak in Rochester. In 1966 the company had 100,000 employees worldwide.
The most popular Kodak cameras were the ones for 126 film cartridges. The first of these cameras was launched in 1963. By 1976, 60 million Instamatic cameras had been sold, six times more than all competitors put together had sold of this camera type, and also six times more than Kodak's previous big success, the Brownie Star camera series (10 million Starflex, Starmite, and Starflash sold, made from 1957 to 1962). Another huge success was achieved with Kodak's type 110 pocket film cartridges and pocket cameras which were introduced in 1972. But this time other companies took a larger share of the market by abandoning their own miniature film formats and introducing smart pocket cameras for 110 film instead. Kodak's decline began when it flopped with another miniature film format, the disc film, in the 1980s.
In the late 1970s, Kodak developed instant cameras and a new Instant Picture system, in competition with Polaroid. This led to lawsuits, resulting in a loss for Kodak. Damages of over $900 million were awarded to Polaroid.
In 1975 electronics engineer Steven Sasson developed Kodak's first digital still camera (for 0.1 megapixel black&white exposures), based on CCD technology. Kodak didn't pay much attention to this invention as their main focus was film. In 1994 they helped Apple develop and market the Quick Take 100 and 150 digital cameras while Kodak's focus in the digital camera section was aimed at reporters and journalists (Kodak DCS series). Consumer digital cameras were marketed from 1995 on under the brand Kodak (Kodak DC40). In August 2006 they abandoned the production of digital cameras by outsourcing the production to Flextronics, an all-and-everything OEM manufacturer in Singapore.
By the 1980s, Kodak's dominant position in photography had begun to erode for a variety of reasons, including more aggressive marketing from Fuji and the rise of sophisticated 35mm point and shoot cameras from Japanese manufacturers. Years of steady profits had led to a conservative, risk-averse management style. During the 2000s, mass photography shifted overwhelmingly to digital cameras, which put sales of Kodak's traditional film, paper, and chemistry into a steep dive. Despite shedding many products (such as black & white enlarging paper and Kodachrome film), by 2011 the company had become a consistent money-loser. A last-ditch effort to sell off the company's war chest of patents (many involving digital imaging) did not meet with much success; and on January 19th, 2012 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In January of 2013, JK Imaging Ltd. is licensing the Kodak brand for consumer digital camera products. In April of 2013, the personalized imaging and document imaging businesses divisions were acquired by Kodak's UK Pension Plan (KPP). The acquisition will be under the name Kodak Alaris. They will be using the Kodak branding for consumer and professional films along with retail photo kiosks and paper products. Eastman Kodak emerged out of bankruptcy protection in August 2013 and concentrates its business on commercial printing and packaging services.
Becoming the only super power in a market of popular and professional products was not just based on product quality. Advertising the big brand was always a not underestimatable factor of Kodak's success.
- ↑ Headquarter, image by THEjdawg, license: image used with permission, all rights reserved.
- ↑ motto logo, image by Mario Groleau, license: Creative Commons (not for commercial use).
- ↑ Polaroid corp. v Eastman Kodak Co.
- ↑ "Embattled Kodak enters the electronic age" by By Thomas Moore, originally published 1983 in Fortune magazine; online copy published January 8, 2012 by CNN Money
- ↑ Kodak's petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed 19 January 2012, posted to Scribd by the New York Times "DealBook."
- ↑  at Kodak News Releases
- ↑ Kodak sells two businesses to its own UK pension plan, in $650m deal at British Journal of-Photography
- ↑ U.K. Kodak Pension Plan Completes Acquisition of Eastman Kodak Company's Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging Businesses at PR Newswire - Sept 2013.
- ↑ Kodak gets court approval to emerge from bankruptcy protection at British Journal of-Photography
For much of its history, Kodak operated on what has been called the "razor blade" business model. Camera manufacture was not Kodak's primary source of profits; instead, affordable cameras generated an ongoing, steady demand for photographic consumables: film, chemistry, and print paper.
See the article Kodak film for a listing of the company's main film brands.
110 film models
35mm film models
- Fling 35, Fun, FunTime, FunSaver, Funsaver Telephoto, Funsaver Portrait, MaxHQ , Black & White, Flash, Power Flash
- Panoramic models
- Waterproof models
- Fun Aquatic, FunSaver Weekend 35, Sport
APS film models
- Kodak Advantix disposable series
See the Instamatic page.
- No. 2 Bullet Camera
- No. 2 Bullet Improved Camera
- No. 2 Bullet Kodak Camera
- No. 2 Bullet Special Camera
- No. 2 Bulls-Eye and Bulls-Eye Special, all models
- No. 2 Falcon Kodak Camera
- No. 2 Flexo Kodak Camera
- No. 2 Folding Bulls-Eye Camera
- No. 2 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera
- No. 2 Stereo Kodak
- Stereo Kodak Model 1
- Pocket Kodak Camera
| 102 film with geared spool|
image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights)
- No. 4 Bulls-Eye Camera
- No. 4 Bulls-Eye Special Camera
- No. 4 Bullet Camera
- No. 4 Bullet Special Camera
- No. 4 Folding Hawk-eye Camera (Model 1, 2, 3, 4)
- No.4 Panoram, original + models B, C & D
- No. 2 Eureka Camera
- No. 2 Eureka Camera Junior
- No. 4 Eureka Camera
- No. 5 Cartridge Kodak
- No. 1A Autographic Kodak
- No. 1A Autographic Kodak Jr.
- No. 1A Autographic Kodak Special
- No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak
- No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak-RR
| No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak|
image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights)
- No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak Special
- No. 1A Gift Kodak
- No. 1A Kodak Junior
- No. 1A Kodak Special III
- No. 1A Pocket Kodak
- No. 1A Special Kodak
- No. 1A Speed Kodak
- Kodak No. 2A Folding Autographic Brownie
- Kodak No. 2A Folding Pocket Brownie
- Cartridge Hawk-Eye 2A
- No. 2A Beau Brownie
- No. 2A Brownie camera
- No. 2A Brownie Special
- Kodak No. 2A Brownie Model B
- Kodak No. 2A Cartridge Premo Model B
- No. 2A Hawk-eye
- The Brownie
- No. 1 Brownie
- No. 3 Autographic Kodak Camera
- No. 3 Autographic Kodak Special Model A
- No. 3 Folding Hawk-eye Camera (Models 1-9)
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model A
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model AB
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model AB-EX
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model ABX
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model B
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model B-2
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model B-3
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model B-4
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model C
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model C-2
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model C-3
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model C-4
|image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights)|
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model C-5
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model D
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model E
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model F
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model G
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera Model H
- No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Deluxe Camera
- No. 3 Kodak Series III Camera
- No. 3 Pocket Kodak Series III Camera
- No. 3 Pocket Kodak Special Camera
- No. 3 Special Kodak Camera
- Six-Three Kodak No. 3 Camera
- No. 3 Cartridge Kodak Camera
120 film, folder
- No. 1 Autographic Kodak Jr.
- No. 1 Pocket Kodak
- No. 1 Pocket Kodak Junior
- No. 1 Pocket Kodak Series II - Pocket Kodak No. 1 series II with autographic 120 film
- No. 1 Pocket Kodak Special
- No. 1A Pocket Kodak Junior
- No. 1A Pocket Kodak series II
- No. 1A Pocket Kodak Special
- No. 1A Pocket Kodak
- Kodak No. 2 Folding Pocket Brownie
- Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie
- Kodak No. 2 Folding Cartridge Premo
- Kodak No. 2 Hawkette
- No. 2C Pocket Kodak
- No. 2C Pocket Kodak Special
- No. 3 Pocket Kodak Special
- No. 3A Pocket Kodak
- Kodak No. 120
120 film, box
- Brownie Junior 120
- Hawk-eye No. 2 & 50th Anniversary version
- Kodak Boy Scout Brownie
- No. 2 Beau Brownie (Art Deco fancy camera)
- No. 2 Brownie Camera
- No. 2 Brownie Junior UK model
- No. 2 Brownie Special
- No. 2 Brownie Special Century of Progress-World s fair souvenir
- Portrait Brownie No. 2
- No. 0 Folding Pocket Camera (Model A, B)
- No. 3A Folding Cartridge Premo Camera
- No. 3A Folding Pocket Brownie Camera
- No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak
- No. 3A Autographic Kodak Junior
- No. 3A Autographic Kodak
- No. 3A Autographic Kodak Special (1916: Kodak's first rangefinder camera)
- No. 3A Panoram
- Kodak 3A Folding Autographic Brownie
- Kodak No. 3A Folding Hawk-Eye Model 3
- Kodak Stereo Hawkeye
- 3B Quick Focus Kodak Camera (Models A, B, C)
- No. 2 Stereo Brownie Camera
| No. 4A Folding Kodak|
image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights)
- No. 4A Folding Kodak
- No. 4A Speed Kodak
- Kodak Baby Brownie
- Kodak Baby Brownie Special
- Kodak Baby Hawkeye
- Boy Scout Kodak
- Kodak Brownie No. 0
- Kodak Brownie 127
- Kodak Brownie Auto 27
- Kodak Brownie Fiesta
- Kodak Brownie Holiday (Kodak Brownie Bullet)
- Kodak Brownie Reflex
- Kodak Brownie Starflash
- Kodak Brownie Starflex
- Kodak Brownie Starlet (Kodak Rio-400)
- Kodak Brownie Starluxe
- Kodak Brownie Starmite & Starmite II
- Kodak Brownie Super 27
- Kodak Bullet
- Kodak Coquette
- Kodak Hawkeye Ace (and Ace De Luxe)
- Kodak Petite
- Kodak Pupille
- Kodak Rainbow Hawk-Eye Vest Pocket
- Kodak Ranca
- Jiffy Kodak V. P.
- Vanity Kodak
- Vest Pocket Kodak
- Vest Pocket Autographic
- Vollenda 48, see Kodak AG
- Vollenda 52, see Kodak AG
- No. 2C Autographic Kodak Junior
- No. 2C Autographic Kodak Special
- No. 2C Brownie
- No. 2C Folding Autographic Brownie
- No. 2C Folding Cartridge Premo Camera
- No. 2C Kodak Series III
- No. 2C Pocket Kodak
- No. 2C Pocket Kodak Series III
- No. 2C Pocket Kodak Special
- Target Brownie Six-16
- Brownie Target Six-16
- Jiffy Kodak Six-16
- Jiffy Kodak Six-16 Series II
- Kodak Brownie Special Six-16
- Kodak Junior Six-16, Series I, II, III
- Kodak Monitor Six-16
- Kodak Senior Six-16
- Kodak Six-16
- Kodak Special Six-16
- Kodak Vigilant Six-16
- Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-16
- Six-16 Brownie
- Six-16 Brownie Junior
- Vollenda Junior 616
828 Bantam film
- Kodak Bantam and Kodak Flash Bantam (strut-folding models)
- Kodak Bantam Special (rangefinder with moderne styling)
- Kodak Bantam F/4.5
- Kodak Bantam F/5.6
- Kodak Bantam F/8 (telescoping rectangular lens tube)
- Kodak Bantam RF
- Kodak Bantam Colorsnap (original, II, 3)
- Kodak Bantam Military Model (British Air Force, U.S. Army Signal Corps)
- Kodak Pony 828/135
Plate and sheet film
Recomar film pack cameras
Premo film pack cameras
Folding plate cameras
- Filmplate Special Premo (3¼×5½)
- Kodak Master View Camera 4x5
- Kodak Master View Camera 8x10
- Eastman View Camera No. 2-D (5x7)
- Eastman View Camera No. 2-D (8x10)
- Eastman Commercial B Studio Camera
small film formats
|image by Steve Harwood (Image rights)|
See the Advantix page
other 16mm film
- Eastman M.B., spy matchbox camera
Kodak disc film
See also Disc film
- Kodak Challenger
- Kodak disc 2000
- Kodak disc 3000
- Kodak disc 3100
- Kodak disc 3500
- Kodak disc 3600
- Kodak disc 4000
- Kodak disc 4100
- Kodak disc 6000
|image by John Nuttall (Image rights)|
- Kodak disc 6100
- Kodak disc 8000
- Kodak Hawkeye disc 7000
- Kodak Medalist I
- Kodak Medalist II
- Kodak Medalist Tele-Disc
- Kodak Tele-Challenger
- Kodak Tele-Disc
For Kodak instant film products see Kodak Instant.
See also Kodak Easyshare.
optical finder, no display
just display, no optical finder
- Kodak Easyshare C15, C122, C123 (Sport), C142, C143, C180, C182, C183, C190, C195, C433, C713, C763, C875, C913, C1013, C1450, C1505, C1530, C1550
- Kodak Easyshare CD14, CD22, CD24, CD44, CD50, CD80, CD82, CD83, CD90, CD93, CD153, CD703, CD1013
- Kodak Easyshare Fun Saver FD3
- Kodak Easyshare LS755
- Kodak Easyshare M22, M23, M52, M200 (MINI), M320, M340, M341, M380, M381, M420, M522, M530, M531, M532, M550, M552, M575, M577 (Touch), M580, M583, M590, M753, M763, M853, M863, M873, M883, M893 IS, M1033, M1063, M1073 IS, M1093 IS, M2008, M5350, M5370 (Touch)
- Kodak Easyshare MD30, MD41, MD55, MD81, MD853, MD855, MD1063
- Kodak Easyshare MX1063
- Kodak Easyshare One 4MP, 6MP
- Kodak Easyshare SLICE
- Kodak Easyshare V530, V550, V570 (Dual Lens), V603 , V610(Dual Lens), V705 (Dual Lens), V803, V830, V1003, V1073, V1233, V1253, V1273
- Kodak Easyshare Z583, Z700, Z730, Z760, Z885, Z915, Z950, Z1085 IS, Z1275, Z5010, Z5120, Z8612 IS, Z915
- Kodak Easyshare ZD15
display and optical finder
- DC25, DC120 Zoom, DC200, DC200 Plus, DC210, DC210 Plus, DC215, DC220, DC220 Pro Edition, DC240, DC260, DC260 Pro Edition, DC265, DC280, DC290, DC3200, DC3400, DC3800, DC4800, DC5000
- Kodak Easyshare DX3215, DX3500, DX3600, DX3700, DX3900, DX4330, DX4530, DX4900, DX6340, DX6440, DX7440, DX7630
- Kodak Easyshare C300, C310, C315, C330, C340, C360, C503, C513, C530, C533, C603, C643, C653, C663, C703, C743
- Kodak Easyshare CD33, CD40, CD43
- Kodak Easyshare CW330
- Kodak Easyshare CX4200, CX4210, CX4230, CX4300, CX4310, CX6200, CX6230, CX6330, CX6445, CX7220, CX7300, CX7310, CX7330, CX7430, CX7525, CX7530
- Kodak Easyshare EZ200
- Kodak Easyshare LS420, LS443, LS633, LS743, LS753, LS755
- Kodak Easyshare Z700, Z730, Z760
display and electronic finder
- Kodak Easyshare DX6490, DX7590
- Kodak Easyshare P712, P850, P880
- Kodak Easyshare Z612, Z650, Z710, Z712 IS, Z740, Z812 IS, Z980, Z981, Z990 (MAX), Z1012 IS, Z1015 IS, Z7590
- Kodak Easyshare ZD710
Nikon AF mount
- Kodak DCS 100 (back attached to a Nikon F3)
- Kodak DCS 200 (back attached to a Nikon F801s/N8008s)
- Kodak DCS 410 (back attached to a Nikon F90/N90)
- Kodak DCS 420 (back attached to a Nikon F90/N90 or F90X/N90s)
- Kodak DCS 460 (back attached to a Nikon F90X/N90s)
- Kodak NC2000 (back attached to a Nikon F90/N90 or F90X/N90s)
- Kodak NC2000e (back attached to a Nikon F90X/N90s)
- Kodak DCS 620 / DCS 620x (based on a Nikon F5)
- Kodak DCS 660 / DCS 660M (based on a Nikon F5)
- Kodak DCS 720x (based on a Nikon F5)
- Kodak DCS 760 (based on a Nikon F5)
- Kodak DCS Pro 14n (based on a Nikon F80)
- Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n (based on a Nikon F80)
Canon EF mount
- Kodak EOS-DCS 1 (back attached to a Canon EOS-1N)
- Kodak EOS-DCS 3 (back attached to a Canon EOS-1N)
- Kodak EOS-DCS 5 (back attached to a Canon EOS-1N)
- Kodak DCS 520 (based on a Canon EOS-1N and also sold as Canon D2000)
- Kodak DCS 560 (based on a Canon EOS-1N and also sold as Canon D6000)
- Kodak DCS Pro SLR/c (Based on a Sigma SLR w EF mount)
- Kodak SCS 1000 (back attached to a Canon EOS-1N)
Nikon Pronea mount
- DCS 465 (Hasselblads / Mamiya RB67 / Mamiya RZ67)
- DCS Pro Back (Hasselblad 555 ELD / Mamiya RZ67)
- DCS Pro Back Plus (Hasselblad 555 ELD / Mamiya RZ67)
- DCS Pro Back 645 (Contax 645 AF / Mamiya 645AF / Hasselblad H1)
- The Kodak Magazine (US) - an internal periodical for Kodak employees
- The Kodak Magazine (UK) - a photography magazine for the general public published by Kodak Ltd.
- Kodakery - A US and Canadian magazine for the general public published by Kodak
|photography related industry in Rochester (New York)|
|American Camera | Bausch & Lomb | Blair | Century | Crown Optical Co. | Elgeet | Folmer & Schwing | Gassner and Marx | Graflex | Gundlach | Ilex | JML | Kodak | Milburn | Monroe | PMC | Ray | Reichenbach, Morey and Will | Rochester Camera and Supply Co. | Rochester Optical Co. | Seneca | Sunart | Walker | Wollensak|
|and in Rochester (Minnesota)|
| graflex.org - Rudolf Kingslake's|
"Optical industry in Rochester (N.Y.)"
- KODAK Milestones, 1880-1980, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester NY, USA: 1980.
- BRAYER, Elizabeth: George Eastman: A Biography, University of Rochester Press, 2012. ISBN 978-1580462471.
- COE, Brian: Kodak Cameras: The First Hundred Years, Hove Books, 2nd ed., 2003. ISBN 1874707375.
- McKEOWN, Jim & Joan: Collectors Guide to Kodak Cameras, Centennial Photo Service, 1981. ISBN 0-931838-02-9.
- NAGEL, Helmut: Zauber der Kamera: Beispiele aus dem Kodak-Nagel-Werk, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1977. ISBN 3421025169.
- KEMMLER, Karl Otto: Nagel und Kodak Kameras, Gisela Kemmler, 1983.
Websites in English:
- History of Kodak on Kodak's website.
- Eastman Kodak Company Camera Listing at Historic Camera
- History of Kodak Cameras, a complete list with all the cameras made by Kodak, dates, film sizes and original prices, on Kodak's website. PDF available.
- Kodak Classics by Mischa Koning ~ A site with manuals, historical background information, articles and pictures on nearly 500 Classic Kodak cameras.
- The Kodak Collector's Page by Walker Mangum, with many information including an article about the Kodak roll film numbers by Thom Bell.
- Kodak manuals, booklets and other historical literature (some in PDF and some in HTML) at OrphanCameras.com.
- On-line Magazines, Newspapers, Books, etc. of the Eastman Kodak Company at GenWeb of Monroe County, NY
- Kodak DCS series DSLRs at Photography in Malaysia.
- Flickr group "Kodak".
- The Remigijus box Brownie Camera Page by Remy Steller.
- Kodak Cameras Price Guide by CollectiBlend.
- Ed's Kodak Collection by Ed van Mil, a dutch Kodakcollector.
- Many Kodak Camera Manuals : Photo-Manuals.com