Re: Kodak or Kodalux?

[P3D <norml@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kodak sold the labs to Qualex and licensed the Kodalux name.

Many quality-control problems ensued.

Koday re-purchased the labs a year or so ago.

The movie film I mentioned recently is coming back in new boxes
labelled "Kodak Premium Processing"--with "Kodak" in big, 
underlined type.

I suspect they have not been able to get rid of all the Qualex
minimum-wage types, yet.

And I suspect that, given the news about cutbacks, there will be
no one left in the company to be interested in restoring Kodak's
historic, legendary level of quality control.

Norm Lehfeldt
>
>There seems to be some confusion regarding the Kodak/Kodalux thing, and
>most of it seems to exists between my own ears.  Perhaps someone can help
>clarify.
>
>As far as I know, *Kodak* closed their last processing lab, the one on
>Ridge Road in Rochester, in June 1986.  This was a (the only?) lab that
>processed and mounted stereo slides, in preprinted yellow and white mounts
>that said "Stereo Color Slide Processed by Kodak" on the back.  These were
>returned numbered on the other side.  All of the slides I shot in my first
>year of stereo were processed there.  (The 2-day turnaround that someone
>mentioned) I never had any mis-mounting problems.  Then they closed.
>(There were about a dozen independent labs that continued to offer stereo
>mounting.  Kolor Print (in AK?) and one in Mass, as well as Qualex, but
>none that I tried matched the quality and accuracy of Kodak.)
>
>What I *think* I know is that this lab had automated mounting machines, the
>development of which was what clinched Kodak's decision to build a stereo
>camera back in the early 50s.  I think there has been reference to six or
>seven of these machines running 24 hours a day during the boom.  Bill Ewald
>mentioned this in his talk at NSA '96.
>
>The likelihood that Kodak would have saved any of those machines for the
>past twelve  years seems slim.  Most big companies scrap things like that.
>
>What I also *think* I know is that Qualex was a separate entity, a chain of
>independent photo labs unrelated to the Kodak labs.  It's unlikely that
>they would have had the automated stereo mounting machinery at any time in
>their history.  If they are anything more than a recent Kodak purchase, I'd
>be surprised. I seem to recall that only fairly recently have they begun to
>incorporate "Koda-" into their name. 
>
>So anyhow, the lab with the sometimes sloppy mounting service in TX is
>_Kodalux_.  The big company in Rochester which has somehow managed to get
>its stock analysis posted to Photo-3D lately is _Kodak_.  Or am I merely a
>confused old man?  :--)
>
>Best regards,
>Bill Davis
>mailto:bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
>


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