KODAK V
FUJI!
By CRC
Corraspondant
A friend in the
USA expressed concern that the long standing love-match with Kodachrome
may be waning and sales inside America do appear to have dropped
considerably as hotographers get to know the new Fuji films now on the
market. Already Fuji (50ASA) and Velvia (100ASA) Provia sales are
growing considerably. This has created rumours that Kodachrome may well
be discontinued or, that a totally new Kodachrome may be on the cards to
counteract the Japanease interloper.
While
Kodachrome is a `standard` the faster versions 64ASA & 200ASA are
considered to have a `blue` bias, especially in the shadows and
Kodachrome 25ASA gives it`s best in good sunlight. It has become a
juggling act working on which film is best in various lighting
conditions.
Likewise with
the Ektachrome emulsions. While this is an exceptionally sharp film it
falls down in dull light conditions, though under long exposures in
night time photography it corrects itself quite satisfactory.
The
Kodak "Ekta"
Projectors
By Sir
George Pollock, 83. Hon. FRPS, FBIPP February 1995.
King Carousel
is dead - long live King Ekta! Mind you, this is like shouting
"Queens Anne`s dead" because the Ektapro arrived in July 1994,
so the information about that range is a little more recent. To someone
whose main interest is in slide projection, the news that Kodak had
stopped making the projector that has been the industry-standard for
so many
years came as quite a shock. When I started studying the two new "Ekta-"
ranges, I realised that the red-and-yellow god had pulled off yet
another remarkable technical coup. Maybe there are some other members of
the group who haven`t really taken in the significance of this
development, and might like some explanation.
The secret
lies in the lamps. Gone are the 24 v., 150 and 250 w bulbs we have got
to know so well. Instead, here are lamps taken from enlargers. There are
three of them, offering different life-times, all rated at 82 volts,
250-300 watts. They have built-in mirrors, and live in modules, held in
precisely the right place by clips, so the old fiddly business of
adjusting the position of the lamp can be forgotten. The new lamps are
said to be both brighter and cooler than the old ones, and have one
characteristic that is very important top AV people: when the current is
cut off, the filaments dim to invisibility much more quickly than the
old bulbs. The 100% brightness lamp is rated at 35 hours, 80% at 70
hours and the 60% brightness lamp offers no less than 200 hours rated
life. As all the new projectors have an economy light-setting as well,
the `dimmest` lamp should offer very extended life - important for
static arrays, as found in visitor centres.
Kodak have
not been content with this major improvement, but have borrowed features
(presumably not designs) from other manufacturers:
a)
from Hasselblad: the lamp is at right angles to the light path,
and the light passes through a 45 degree dichroic mirror, which reflects
the light but not the heat, so the slide stays cooler - this should
extend slide-life in heavy use;
b)
from Simda: a motor to drive the tray around - it is quieter and
at least as quick as the one on my Simdas; unfortunately this enormously
useful feature is found only on the "Pros" and not on the
"lites";
c)
Leitz (and others): a shutter that swings across the gate when
there is no slide, so as the literature puts it : "no slide - no
light". The danger of white light on the screen was always a
nuisance with Carousels.
The "pros" and the
"Lites" have different bodies, the "Lites" being
less expensive than the "Pros". The two ranges share some
features, such as the lamps, the angled light-path, the shutter.
Naturally all models have gravity-feed and take the standard rotary
trays, in both 80- and 140-slide versions, with an new quick tray
release. The "Lites" can also take a stacker for quick
viewing. All commands are micro-processor controlled. Slide change takes
0.88 secs (Kodak figure) which is adequate but not as fast as some. All
lamp modules are quick-change and some "Pro" models offer an
automatic lamp-change that operates in just 0.30 secs., which must be a
record. Better vertical and horizontal slide registration is assured
with a "dual plane pressure system" (can it possibly be as
good as the Royale`s, I wonder?).
The "Lite" range has
two models, the 1000 and the 2000, corresponding closely to the old
Carousel, and the carousel S-AV 2,000 range. The 2000 has switchable
auto-focus and keeps the old 12-pin external Carousel socket for
dissolvers. This socket has been abandoned in the whole of the
"Pro" range in favour of modules designed to interface
directly with professional computer-controlled dissolve systems. There
are no less than 7 models in the "Pro" range, with
ever-increasing features. These extra "goodies" include random
access, triacs in projector, switchable auto-focus, automatic zero
reset, soft slide change (i.e. fast dimming and brightening), built-in
dissolver, auto-timer, etc.
As before there are two
distinct sets of lenses, which can be described as good and better, and
proprietary lenses are already available. The trouble is that the old
Carousel lenses can only be used in the more expensive "Pros".
This is because the new lenses have focussing by gear rack, as well as
by the old spiral groove, but the groove system has been left out of the
"Lite" bodies, as the auto-focus works on the gear rack. In
other words, on the difference in cost more than makes up for the extra
cost of a new"Pro" body. Seems to me that Kodak have scored an
own goal on this one. Of course it doesn`t matter if you are buying a
complete new system, but it does if you simply want to up-grade your
projector body. Leitz have never made this mistake - the lenses for the
old push-pull Prado can still be used in the latest P.2002 models, which
is at least four body generations down the line. However, this is really
the only complaint one can legitimately make, and the fact remains that
the Kodak Ektapros mark a major step forward in 35mm projector design.
They can be expected to prove worthy successors to the tough old
warhorses they replace. With such a radical re-think and redesign, it
was inevitable, however regrettable, that the prices should be about
twice those of the models being retired.