Kodak disc film: I have been going through thousands of old pictures going back to 1949, I came across a small box of Kodak disc film which was last made in 1982. Does anyone have any...

makomike Loc: NYC

I have been going through thousands of old pictures going back to 1949, I came across a small box of Kodak disc film which was last made in 1982. Does anyone have any ideas how to digitize these pictures? Thanks in advance , Mike

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

I see lots of advertising on the web from companies that say, "Any format", but I'd check them out first. That's really an odd film.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

makomike wrote:

I have been going through thousands of old pictures going back to 1949, I came across a small box of Kodak disc film which was last made in 1982. Does anyone have any ideas how to digitize these pictures? Thanks in advance , Mike

Use something for a light table* and a macro lens in close enough it only shows one frame filling the field of view.

*A thin sheet of white paper taped to a window and little snips of tape to hold the disc in place should work. Or take a cardboard box cut a hole, cover with thin white paper or translucent plastic, place a small pure white LED light inside, and you have a homemade miniature light table.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

makomike wrote:

I have been going through thousands of old pictures going back to 1949, I came across a small box of Kodak disc film which was last made in 1982. Does anyone have any ideas how to digitize these pictures? Thanks in advance , Mike

Use a commercial firm or a decent flatbed scanner can easily handle it.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

makomike wrote:

I have been going through thousands of old pictures going back to 1949, I came across a small box of Kodak disc film which was last made in 1982. Does anyone have any ideas how to digitize these pictures? Thanks in advance , Mike

I suppose you could cut it into pieces and then put each picture into a ‘110’ frame??

BebuLamar

rehess wrote:

I suppose you could cut it into pieces and then put each picture into a ‘110’ frame??

It's smaller than 110.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

rehess wrote:

I suppose you could cut it into pieces and then put each picture into a ‘110’ frame??

No need at all to cut the disk, just scan as is.
Use a holder. My scanner has one that is 8x10 and lets me use all kinds of odd shaped film. Then preview, draw boxes around the actual photos, select ALL and it will do each individually as separate files.
Then crop and adjust each in PSE then save.
Very easy.

kmielen Loc: Eastern NC

makomike wrote:

I have been going through thousands of old pictures going back to 1949, I came across a small box of Kodak disc film which was last made in 1982. Does anyone have any ideas how to digitize these pictures? Thanks in advance , Mike

You should be able to remove the plastic hub to allow the film to lay flat. Disc was coated on polyester (Estar) base, so it is quite tough. BTW, 1982 was the introductory date. It was discontinued in 1999. I was there.

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

I recall my mom loved the disc camera when it was popular in the 80s. It was flat and easily fit in a pocket or purse, and also made it easier to mail for developing. It was of course cursed by the tiny frame size, as was 110 film, so it wasn't considered a format for serious photography. Any current film developer should be able to process it - I believe it was still the C-41 process.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

chrisg-optical wrote:

I recall my mom loved the disc camera when it was popular in the 80s. It was flat and easily fit in a pocket or purse, and also made it easier to mail for developing. It was of course cursed by the tiny frame size, as was 110 film, so it wasn't considered a format for serious photography. Any current film developer should be able to process it - I believe it was still the C-41 process.

I believe that the disk belonging to the OP is already developed.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The disc format was joked about as Kodak's too-late answer to the Hunt brothers' cornering the silver market in March of 1980. The disc was introduced in 1982 and was pretty awful compared with 126, 110, and APS... the "convenient" formats that came along before and after it.

I know folks who bought disc cameras, used them once, and threw them in the back of their junk closets or gave them away! I thought most of them were worse than my mid-1960s Kodak Instamatic 104 (a 126 cartridge camera with fixed focus/exposure and a flashcube on top).

I won a couple of Canon ELPH APS cameras at PMAI conventions. They were almost decent, arguably better at making good prints than Point-and-Shoot digital cameras of their vintage. Of course, all the cartridge and disc cameras are now paper weights or bookshelf relics of bygone times.

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robertjerl wrote:

Use something for a light table* and a macro lens in close enough it only shows one frame filling the field of view.

*A thin sheet of white paper taped to a window and little snips of tape to hold the disc in place should work. Or take a cardboard box cut a hole, cover with thin white paper or translucent plastic, place a small pure white LED light inside, and you have a homemade miniature light table.

Not the only way to build it, but your light box and mecro lens concept is the most universal approach for odd formats.

I would prefer something like the Nikon slide holder (fits all cameras) cuz it eliminatess all vibration problems. Disc film would require at least 2X magnification on a FF camera. APSC or m4/3 would be more suitable.

OTOH, the most perfect rig will, at its best, accurately copy the disc film images, which are usually really awful anywho.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

burkphoto wrote:

The disc format was joked about as Kodak's too-lat... (show quote)

I used one a lot as it easily slipped under my boonie cap in the jungles of South America.
Worked great for my purposes.

tomc601 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

What we used to say at Fuji about Disc film: Everything is great except the pictures.

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chrisg-optical wrote:

I recall my mom loved the disc camera when it was popular in the 80s. It was flat and easily fit in a pocket or purse, and also made it easier to mail for developing. It was of course cursed by the tiny frame size, as was 110 film, so it wasn't considered a format for serious photography. Any current film developer should be able to process it - I believe it was still the C-41 process.

Likely no one can process it due its physical form, which required a proprietary disc film processing machine and printer.

The OP is a bit ambiguous at to whether the film is already processd my reading is that the are negatives in a box. But if its not yet processed then youd need a nuetron scanner to digitize the faded latent images. IOW, rotzaruck widdat.

The images tend rize the to be miserable but rapid progress in AI might bring their salvation.