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Film Canister Production Update – Kodak Alaris – June 28th 2021

Alex LuyckxJune 30, 2021

Film Product Update – June 28th 2021

Kodak Alaris announced yesterday that they would be making a temporary change to their 35mm film canister. For a short, undefined time period, Kodak 35mm film canisters will have different end caps. These temporary replacements will be silver in colour rather than the black that most modern canisters feature. The familiar black end caps are made using tin-free steel (TFS), but this TFS material is currently in shortage globally, and a fresh supply is not expected until September. The new temporary end-caps will be produced using Tin Plate Steel (TPS) and come in natural silver colour. But rest assured, the only difference is in the colour of the caps. Before being put into production, they underwent a series of tests to ensure they were light tight and meets Kodak standards of quality.

The new temporary film canister design is what many in the camera world call ‘panda’ style, with a two-tone black and stainless-steel.

Upon first seeing these new temporary film canisters with the ‘panda’ styled two-tone look with silver and black, the first thing that struck us at Studio C-41 is the return to a more historical appearance of these temporary containers. We’ve even dug through our own collections and found some Ilford film canisters (the irony is not lost on us) that date to the mid-1960s that bear a striking similarity to the ‘new’ Kodak canisters. Another thing that surprised both Kodak Alaris and us at Studio C-41 is the overwhelmingly positive response from the film community with this change. And we at Studio C-41 rest assured that this change is temporary, and the all-black canisters will return by the fall.

Some old-school Ilford Film Cansisters that show off the same two-tone appearance as the new temporary Kodak canisters.

Kodak Alaris stands behind all their products, including these new temporary canisters, and we encourage film photographers to continue to purchase their Kodak films as they would normally. We know that we’ll probably buy some, if only to have a couple of these empties sitting around as a reminder and a historical reminder of what film canisters once looked like and did for a brief moment in time. As always, if you do run into quality issues with these or any Kodak Alaris product, please email them at profilm@kodakalaris.com.