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KODAK® Photographic Films for Electron Microscopy

Some timely comments about the "New Formulation" for Film 4489


We believe 100% in the philosophy of "it if not broken, don't fix it".

But sometimes we have no choice but to "fix it" anyhow. And Kodak was apparently in that situation when one of their suppliers discontinued the manufacture of a key raw ingredient. So while nothing was "broken", Kodak had not choice but to reformulate the product.

And after extensive testing by Kodak in-house of the newly reformulated KODAK Electron Microscope Film 4489, they developed an extensive beta test program, and it is our further understanding that those who did participate, pronounced the new product as good as the original. And based on that background and experience, Kodak commercialized the new product.

Most customers seem to find the results they get from the newly formulated product are the same as they got from the original product. However, the wide variety of methods employed in darkrooms around the world can result in some instances where these changes do not give exactly the same end result. Apparently, with the reformulated product, agitation is more important then with the original Film 4489 product and a nitrogen burst method for the developing can be helpful.

But from what we can see, based on the experience of our own customers, when the results obtained are not quite the same, the adjustments to developing protocols don't seem to be dramatic changes. In any case, Kodak's technical service people seem to be quite willing to give assistance to anyone having problems with the newly reformulated Kodak Electron Microscope Film 4489.

Most customers that have used the reformulated KODAK Electron Microscope Film 4489 have found it supplies the same high quality results they have always received from Kodak EM films. However, the various processing techniques performed in the research community can result in some instances where modifications to some protocols are required to achieve comparable results with a reformulated film compared to its predecessor.


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Sunday March 21, 2010
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