What are Kodak 'SO' stocks

[Richard Tuohy]

I have come accross some of the above mentions stocks. Many of them specifically say they are 'MP' films, but don't say much else. I can't find info about any of these on Kodak's site. The SO-202 seems to be a separation film. SO-396 is a colour ECP print film. But the question is when are they from?

Any help would be appreciated.

cheers,

richard

[Brian Pritchard]

SO stands for Special Order. It means that the stock has been produced to a special order because it does not appear in the catalogue. If you request a particular film with, for example, non-standard perforations - you might ask for Colour Negative stock with pos perfs it would have to be produced to Special Order. There would normally be a minimum order.

 

Any stock that is not in the catalogue is given an SO number. If the stock has a large demand it will eventually be given a regular number and added to the catalogue - it might still have a large minimum order!

 

The only way to find out what these films are is to ask Kodak.

Brian

[Simon Wyss]

“En route, I stopped in Rochester to visit the Eastman Kodak Company and had an interview with Mr. George Eastman. He agreed to cut film, both negative and positive, in a 60-mm width for me. He also gave me some ideas of how he thought I might build a printer.”

 

That was in 1897. Oscar B. Depue: My First Fifty Years in Motion Pictures. JSMPE, Vol. 49, No. 6, December 1947, pages 481 through 493

[Charles MacDonald]

often the SO number is assigned to a variation on a given stock that Kodak is not sure of the demand for. Perhaps a negative film on ESTAR base. Perhaps something that only one customer or two is looking for. If there is a demand, they may make it more widely available.

 

The customer would of course know what they are getting, In still film I have seen this from time to time to cover things like Infra-red film. If you just happen to get a ranodm roll, you can generally refer to the data sheet for the more common material.

[Richard Tuohy]

Thanks for the clarifications people.

cheers,

richard

[Brian Pritchard]

This is the Kodak definition of Special Order:

 

SPECIAL ORDER PRODUCTS

Eastman Kodak Company provides a number of Special Order items that

are used in special trade applications. These materials may be unique

products derived from a parent product, product being test marketed, low

volume products, products seeing diminished use, and similar

considerations. These products may be listed as SO, O, MX, KIND,

GRADE, or other generic designation. The listing of such a product in the

catalog does not represent a commitment of continued availability by

Eastman Kodak Company. Most of the Special Order Items are available

in sizes or configurations other than shown here, however, there will

generally be substantial minimum-order requirements.

 

Their Motion Picture Catalogue lists the following SO products:

SO-205 Vision 250D Estar Base

SO-219 Vision 500T Estar Base

SO-227 Colour Pos Leader

SO-297 Test Leader

 

Brian

[Mark Dunn]

Many of the films NASA used for Apollo were SOs.

SO-121, for example, was Ektachrome MS on 70mm. Estar base, to increase the magazine capacity.

[K Borowski]

As of 2006, Kodak still makes 70mm Estar base film for still photography.

 

 

John Pytlak explained the difference before: Normal Estar base films are still pretty thick, only 20-30% thinner than Estar. It's only the very thin Estar films that allow for an increased capacity.

 

I want to say some aerial films are still thin base, but that's about it.

 

 

That's interesting that Kodak makes Estar base camera neg. films. I wonder who is/was using them? They'd be much better for archiving than acetate.

[Charles MacDonald]

I want to say some aerial films are still thin base, but that's about it.

 

AGFA in Belgium ONLY makes Polyester base film these days. Some of the Aero Films are re-purposed for still use under the Rolli brand by Maco in Germany. For Aerial photos the base may be thick, as Stability of dimensions is important.

[Dean Vian]

I was using the SFX 200T Kodak stock from around 2000 and that was listed as SO. It was supposed to be a good stock for green screen but was the closest neg stock I saw to Kodachrome. I don't think it was used much. Some tests for 'Down with love' exist somewhere where they tested it as a normal non special effects stock.

[Jamie Walter]

sorry to bump an old thread, but what is the SO-420?

[Richard Tuohy]

sorry to bump an old thread, but what is the SO-420?

Hi Jamie,

SO-420 is an old colour intermediate film.

[Jamie Walter]

Hi Jamie,

SO-420 is an old colour intermediate film.

Probably not worth using, or would it be worth shooting? Do you know the asa rating on it, or if its daylight/tungsten?

 

sorry for all the questions, I'm such a film noob :P

[Charles MacDonald]

Do you know the asa rating on it, or if its daylight/tungsten?

 

 

WELLL -- ALL lab films are used with Tungsten light and a bunch of light control stuff. Likewise they don't tend to have an ASA / ISO rating as that is not the way most of the lab equipment is set up.