Eastman Kodak appears to be planning to remove the remjet from its Vision3-branded motion picture films.
The change means that the films could theoretically be processed in normal C41 developing chemicals.
Remjet is a black carbon layer within the emulsion which prevents the build-up of static electricity, reduces halation and prevents damage to colour negative film during shooting. The black ramjet layer, however, leaves a thick residue in normal C-41 development chemicals which can damage both film and the machinery.
Such films currently have to be processed using the ECN-2 process.
Eastman Kodak’s admission seems to come from a currently unidentified press release for film makers which has been reposted on Instagram by Australia film developers Memorylab.
The post, which was published on Friday (30 May) appears to suggest that a new Anti Halation Undercoat (AHU) layer will be used instead.
The ‘Talking points for Film makers’ release said that the new AHU layer was the result of eight years’ work by the film design unit at Eastman Kodak’s base in Rochester, New York. It will be used in the entire range of film formats from Super 8 to 65mm.
The release, according to Memorylab’s post, said: “The change does not alter sensitometric performance, nor does it require any adjustments in processing while product with ramjet is still in the market.”
Memorylab itself said that the changes mean it should be ‘easier for labs to process with breduced risk of dirt specks”.
Eastman Kodak’s Vision3 colour negative films are used in many motion picture shoots, including some from major Hollywood directors such as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino.
Using motion picture films for still cameras became popular during the Covid pandemic, when colour film was particularly hard to get hold of.
US film brand CineStill has sold a range of colour film stocks derived from Kodak’s colour motion picture films, and in recent years has sold versions that have already had the ramjet layer removed, allowing them to be processed in C-41 chemicals.
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Very interesting to see such developments. My current favourite film in 35mm is Vision3 500T – so versatile – usable by day with a 85 filter at EI320, and then without a filter at EI500 for wonderful post-sunset colours. If the film is being developed further, being made more user-friendly, this is good news for film shooters.
PS. Personally I don’t really like the halation from Cinestill – it’s interesting as an experiment, but I don’t want that in every single roll I shoot.