Episode 8: Making Kodak Film with Robert Shanebrook

This week on the Camerosity Podcast, we are joined by film historian, author, and ex-Kodak employee, Robert Shanebrook who gives us 90 straight minutes of pure Kodak history, covering everything from how film is made, his work on Apollo 11 designing cameras for moon photography, what is ESTAR base, whether or not Kodachrome will ever come back and much, much more.

Not to be overshadowed by Robert’s visit, we were also joined by two listeners, Mario Piper and Howard Sandler who chimed in with some excellent questions as well.

If you’ve never listened to a Camerosity Podcast before, THIS is the one to listen to!

If you are interested in participating in our next episode, be sure to keep an eye here for a new link which will be posted around noon Central Time Sunday, October 17th!

This Week’s Episode

• Memorial to Dan Arnold (1959-2021)
• Introducing Robert Shanebrook, Author of “Making Kodak Film”
• Robert’s stereo camera used on the Apollo 11 Mission
• What is ESTAR base?
• Differences between cinema and still photography film bases
• Why do some films have a transparent base?
• Why is TMax film purple, and why does it need extra fixer?
• How is static electricity controlled in film on satellites?
• Exposed film is caught from space and taken to Hawaii
• How Kodak Portra was created (Portra > Vericolor III)
• Kodak Panatomic-X is the best black and white film ever!
• Will Kodak ever bring back Kodachrome?
• Robert finds an unused roll of film for the 1888 Kodak camera
• Mario asks how Infrared Film works
• How color film is coated
• “We Stood on the Shoulders of Giants”
• Steve Sasson sat next to Robert while making the first digital camera
• Kodak helped advance digital photography, until it killed them
• How much of Kodak’s film business was cinema film?
• Kodak Disc film didn’t perform up to what was promised
• Why wasn’t APS (Advantix) film larger?
• Mike finds a way to talk about the Kodak Ektra again…
• A short memorial for Ron Mowrey
• Robert inspects every single copy of his book
• Howard “Eckmans” the Petri Color 35

Show Notes

If you would like to offer feedback or contact me with questions or ideas for future episodes, please use the Comments section below.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/CamerosityPodcast

Camerosity Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Robert Shanebrook – http://www.makingkodakfilm.com, [email protected]

Mario Piper – Gen X Photography Podcast – https://anchor.fm/mario-piper0

Howard Sandler – https://www.flickr.com/photos/hsandler

Theo Panagopoulos – https://www.photothinking.com/

Anthony Rue – https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

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