If you’re a film photography fan, you’ll be happy to know that Kodak Professional Chemicals is coming back. There’s just one catch.
You’ll have to be a European analog photographer if you want to buy them directly. The line of Kodak Professional Chemicals will (for now at least) only be distributed by the UK-based fine art and photo equipment provider Dupli.
This company in particular has been selected by Kodak as sole distributor but has claimed that it will partner with other distributors to make the Kodak chemicals available Europe-wide.
Another catch to all of this is that for the time being, the selection of chemicals to go on sale will only be for black-and-white photography. According to Dupli, Kodak Color Negative and E-6 Chemistry packages will come later in 2024.
A more international release of these products or at least one for the North American market hasn’t been announced yet but let’s hope it comes sooner or later as the market for analog hobby photography heats up.
If you are in the United States, there is some related good news, however, in case you previously missed it.
In November of 2023, the Michigan-based company legacy photo specialist, Photo Systems announced that it would start producing Kodak photo chemicals.
Photo Systems was able to do this because the Chinese holding company with the original license for them left the photochemical market entirely and dropped its rights.
This let Photo Systems acquire the brand rights directly from Kodak Alaris.
Photo Systems has been slowly moving toward product releases derived from its production license and the company originally said it would start shipping products in early 2024, which is now, of course.
Photo System’s intent with its license to produce Kodak’s analog film chemicals is to produce the full range of Black & White, C-41, RA-4 and E6 photochemistry sets.
We’ll have to see if the announcement by Dupli in Europe helps move along consumer market distribution by Photo Systems in the U.S.
Dupli’s offerings use the same formulas as Kodak’s original chemicals but with a new product look, which is to be expected.
Dupli is first releasing Kodak’s most widely used B&W products including XTOL, T-MAX, and D-76. Also available are Hypo Clearing Agent Powder, Rapid Selenium Toner, Photo-Flo, HC-110 Developer, Dektol Paper Developer Powder, and Kodak’s stop bath concentrate.
If you’re interested in analog film photography, these offerings will give you all you need to start with the process.
