my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Film date codes

Author Topic: Film date codes Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 10-04-2013 02:26 PM                     This is a dedicated thread (placed here so it is easier to find) based upon the discussion from here. The following data was archived from Thomas Robinson's website which is here. KODAK 35mm & 16mm FILM DATE CODE INFORMATION Date codes are a series of one to three (usually two) symbols on the edge of Kodak film sold in reels or spools. This information is useful to determine the date the film was slit. This is the point of manufacture where the large sheets of raw film are cut and perforated. These date codes are imprinted at that time. Most film, especially color, was exposed and developed within a few years of this date. To figure the date, you first need to determine which Kodak plant made the film. Look at the word "Safety" and search for a little circle or dot. It is between two of the letters, and that is code for which Kokak plant made the film. Once you know where the film was manufactured, you can check the chart below and see the year. USE CAUTION because there are other codes on the film edge that use the same symbols too! The date code is found between the words "Eastman" and "Nitrate" or "Safety". Symbols that appear after "Safety" indicates type of support or other information (for example, two square symbol indicates panchromatic). Kodak date codes were repeated every twenty years until 1982. For example, the same symbols appear on film manufactured in 1921, 1941, 1961 and 1981. PART OF YEAR A small vertical bar is spaced between the words "Eastman" or "Kodak", and "Nitrate" or "Safety". The year symbol usually follows this bar. The distance between the bar and year symbols indicates the first or second half of the year. Notes The cross symbol was replaced starting in 1932 with a plus sign. During WW2 the French Kodak factory made film on nitrate base. Edge codes are unknown. Half-frame numbering on 35mm still films was introduced in 1963. Until then, spools of 35 mm film had one number per frame. The new system has two frame numbers per frame, for example "12" and "12A" There are several different lists of Kodak movie film date codes published, and one of these appears to be correct for 35mm and 120mm still camera film, both safety and nitrate. I have reviewed numerous versions of this list and checked them against factory records and internal correspondence dating back to 1931. I have been checking these numbers with real film in archives for about five years now. I am a volunteer negative cataloger at the Oregon Historical Society. I believe this list is accurate. I would greatly appreciate any corrections or comments.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 10-04-2013 06:20 PM                     The following is a somewhat easier to follow chart, with credit due to Film-Tech member Jeff Joseph. KODAK/EASTMAN & DUPONT If the film is 35mm and marked SAFETY FILM, it was manufactured in 1950 or later. Note that the Dupont list is not a complete list. FUJI FILM Fuji uses a 4 character code, 2 groups of 2, where the first 2 characters are the year of manufacture, and the second 2 characters are letter codes indicating the quarter of the year. JM - January - March AJ - April - June JS - July - September OD - October - December So 80-JS (may, or may not have the dash) would be sometime between July and September of 1980. ALL OTHER FILM STOCKS There is no reliable way to identify the year of manufacture for other film stocks.  |  IP: Logged Jock Blakley Expert Film Handler Posts: 218 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Oct 2011 posted 10-04-2013 11:18 PM                     While it's not very common to come across a Kodak print stock using KEYKODE, knowing the KEYKODE date symbols can be handy for identifying earlier-generation elements either directly or from a print-through. In the human-readable KEYKODE section between the footage markers, look for something along the lines of "EASTMAN 5279 167 3301 122 KD" where the last part of the string is the year symbol: DE 1989 LE 1990 EA 1991 AS 1992 ST 1993 TM 1994 MN 1995 NK 1996 KD 1997 DF 1998 FL 1999 SD 2000 TF 2001 ML 2002 NE 2003 KA 2004 DS 2005 FT 2006 LM 2007 EN 2008 AK 2009 TK 2010 MD 2011 NF 2012 KL 2013 DE 2014 FA 2015 LS 2016 Note that DE is used for both 1989 and 2014, according to Kodak's list, but this is moot because AFAIK all KEYKODE markings now have the year in plain-text rather than code.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.