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Dead Cat Bounce: Tetenal

Posted on Posted in film, morning wood, old bones, olden ways, the meta

In 2018, Tetenal failed causing the photo-world to shimmy and shake. Was this the end, or just a climax in a potboiler.

Tetenal came back only to fail again in 2023. This is the way at the end of life. The crash is never complete; until there is no where else to fall.

Chemistry is the profit of the chemical photography business. Emulsions are there so that chemicals will be bought, used, and replaced. Cameras are there for the lenses and films, etc. No chemical means no chemical darkroom; means no paper. The way is clear. It is just lost in the fog of romantic versions of truth. Few want to admit they are on a dead horse; fewer will put that horse down.

This is not a work-horse, it is only a hobby-horse, as such it will not last. Farriers live because horses don’t have to be made, they do the work themselves, unlike emulsions and XTOL.

Reportedly, Tetenal spent about €500,000 (~$574,000) to acquire the license to produce CD3 and CD4 color developers — and apparently they split the bill with Fuji to save money. That is one of the reasons why Unicolor chemistry, for example, is not available in the E.U. No small company or startup could afford such certification and thus Tetenal is the only manufacturer of CD3 and CD4 within the European Union.

<< from 2018 report of Tetenal’s death.

Kodak relied upon Tetenal for Xtol, HC-110, and ECN chemicals.

Why the company failed with full orders, even backorders… the hopeful thought it would be brought back to life, since there is so much vigor in the “recovering analog community” — like alcoholics giving each other bad advice over bad coffee.

It failed again because there aren’t enough multiples of profit in each sale, and there aren’t sufficient sales to maintain a fully managed industry. Gas stations on the interstate make more money in a quarter than Kodak+Ilford make in a year. Fujifilm is the only company that is built upon a large profit foundation; that is from other sectors of its well managed organization.

Adox is claiming, hoping with that claim, that their ability to maintain chemical making will sustain them. This as they also seem to regularly acknowledge that there is little profit in BW paper. Profits from their chemistry funds their research and development of other product lines (assuming color film).

The arc has been clear for more than a decade: people use roll film intending to scan it. Some are beginning to see the other way.

— If I need a camera for film AND a digital camera to scan that film…. why don’t I skip the mechanical/chemical step, going directly to the digital camera?

Might just be bragging rights. Some claim to life-forces unseen. Anyway, people continue to pray for anther Dead Cat Raising.

dpdone. Amzn moves on

Posted on Posted in da net, overnight notes, the meta

so, when the sales desk closes, what do you lose? Or, when your only friend is an invisible salesman from the camera counter. \Scott Everett announces that dpreview.com to close; layoffs. Hardly lost information.

Amzn, like fuji, has learned that blood is green; healthcare is the field to harvest. Reviews have ended. Click-stops are no longer clickbait. The ad aggregation is less valuable. Isn’t that to be expected? After all, how many times do you need to express your opinion of a camera strap.

What is lost? Da net seems concerned. Maybe just another loss of their common meaning. Limited purpose is limited value.

details of the how. so the big questions were such things as “best focal lenght”

something along the lines of hem length.. does this make her butt look big enough’

Gear Sheds close. The need for opinion has diffused. We know you’re a link spot, not feeding but selling. Not feeding us, but eating off us. The information lost is gossip from a sales counter. Information lost that wasn’t worth keeping … who mourns that? Perhaps those who wish they’d have written it .. they miss the opportunity.. they miss another chance to jabber about the end of photography; their view of it.

The Weekend is over. The gossip rag wasn’t worth re-reading anyway. the checkout counter telling you what to check out. Maybe of use for the naive, but was it worth keeping. That isn’t a history. They are old bingo cards as in the days of specialty magazines and trade-show door stops. The end of DPReview signals little. It doesn’t mean the end of a field, just the changes in the field. No more need for a brag piece that puffs the same corn about what matters. A consumer report that is hardly consuming, let alone informing, or interesting.

TOP defends. MJ claims mature artist status.

Mature means influence. Adding to, or making clear via your work. at some point in aging, you may mature, becoming more sophisticated in making art. in short you may give yourself permission to use tools to your advantage. never trap yourself in the goddamn basement.

Just one question. Missed. And done. Not a very deep thinker, even back then. Most salesmen are expected for stories, not for ideas. So, a wordsmith becomes a craft-shill. On top of the hill of dropouts.

For the weekend worriers — did they buy the right thing. It has rankled those in that business. Those people who have spent their life, month to month thinking they were adding to the grand scheme; in the end, at their end, realizing that what they dis was add to land-fill filling time, other peoples time.

They wrot without becoming writes. They wrote about photography without becoming photogaphers.