Kodak Gold and Ultramax are now redesigned and sold directly by the Rochester film factory.
Last month, Kodak made a splash by reintroducing the Kodacolor brand with its ISO 100 and 200 colour-negative films. Today, we’re learning that more Kodak films are getting a design lift, a change in distribution, and, possibly, cheaper prices on the horizon.
Kodacolor? Redesign? What’s this all about?
In last month’s newsletter, I explained the existence of another Kodak brand, Kodak Alaris, which is separate from the Eastman Kodak Company (which owns and operates the Rochester film factory):
The short version is that Kodak was split into two during bankruptcy in 2012, with a piece of it, called Kodak Alaris, ended up responsible for marketing and selling films like Ultramax (review: analog.cafe/r/kodak-ultram…) and Gold (review: analog.cafe/r/kodak-gold-f…). That made Alaris a third-party intermediary between the factory and the distributors.
However, the above arrangement seems to have lapsed, and the OG Kodak factory is now beginning to sell its film directly to distributors. While that does not mean that these films are any different than they were yesterday, there’s a possibility of seeing *better prices* in the near future as Alaris, a third-party, is removed from the equation (at least for some of the films).
What about Kodacolor? Is that new?
Ultramax and Gold are well-known brands that have been filling our camera chambers for years. A slight rebrand and (maybe) a better price is welcome news. But Kodacolor is a lesser-known brand today, as it hasn’t been mentioned on a film box for decades.
According to Eastman Kodak, the renewed Kodacolor brand is used to sell their existing emulsions without any changes.
Last month, I determined that Kodak Kodacolor 200 is the same film as Kodak ColorPlus. To see how I uncovered this truth, see this article: analog.cafe/r/kodak-colorp….
I’ve also just published a piece about Kodak Kodacolor 100, and now it is *not* Kodak Pro Image 100: analog.cafe/r/kodak-kodaco… — which is one of my all-time favourite colour-negative films. As it reveals, Kodak makes more colour film than it may seem at first!
Dmitri edited on Nov 3, ‘25