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To me, it looks like a basic overview-level book on photography, with a focus on Kodak. Aside from the recipes and datasheets, the general information is nowada

To me, it looks like a basic overview-level book on photography, with a focus on Kodak. Aside from the recipes and datasheets, the general information is nowadays available in Wikipedia with a bit less structure but way more detail (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_aberration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_aberration). I'd consider it an introductory textbook on photography, not documentation. More importantly, this seems to be an external, public book, not internal documentation for engineers documenting the in-depth stuff that wasn't public. That would be interesting to see!

trm42 7y ago
Been dabbling with getting into film photography and that document looks quite useful compared to more generic "how to photograph"-books and web sites. This books goes into the gritty details which one needs to be able to get good film photos and to repro them as paper photos etc. Things photographers just had to know when working with film. Earlier you had to either test and document these details by yourself (one didn't have the luxury of Exif image data, one would need to jot the settings per photo into notebook etc), read them or be taught by someone who knew them, so in that sense not the typical intro textbook (ie. John Hedgecoe's Photography Basics etc). This is more akin to SDK reference + combined with Stack Overflow). You can find old repair manuals for old vintage cameras. Found one for my dad's Kowa Super 66 which I broke after 11 rolls.
Finnucane 7y ago
Yes, this was for photographers and lab techs who were buying and using Kodak gear and supplies. Every darkroom had one of these, or one very much like it. Nowadays you have to look online and download pdf’s for this sort of thing. I have an Ektar 203mm lens in Kodak Supermatic shutter, the upgraded version of the anastigmat listed here. The Ektars were Kodak’s top-of-the-line lenses and it still works pretty well on my field camera.

trm42 7y ago

Been dabbling with getting into film photography and that document looks quite useful compared to more generic "how to photograph"-books and web sites. This books goes into the gritty details which one needs to be able to get good film photos and to repro them as paper photos etc. Things photographers just had to know when working with film. Earlier you had to either test and document these details by yourself (one didn't have the luxury of Exif image data, one would need to jot the settings per photo into notebook etc), read them or be taught by someone who knew them, so in that sense not the typical intro textbook (ie. John Hedgecoe's Photography Basics etc). This is more akin to SDK reference + combined with Stack Overflow). You can find old repair manuals for old vintage cameras. Found one for my dad's Kowa Super 66 which I broke after 11 rolls.

Finnucane 7y ago

Yes, this was for photographers and lab techs who were buying and using Kodak gear and supplies. Every darkroom had one of these, or one very much like it. Nowadays you have to look online and download pdf’s for this sort of thing. I have an Ektar 203mm lens in Kodak Supermatic shutter, the upgraded version of the anastigmat listed here. The Ektars were Kodak’s top-of-the-line lenses and it still works pretty well on my field camera.