Object of the month: The Kodak Disc

The history of photographic technology has produced many a curiosity. This includes the Kodak Disc, which we recently came across while working in the archive: a small round disk around which 15 tiny negatives are arranged in a circle and which exudes the retro-futuristic charm of the 1980s.

 

The Kodak Disc was developed as the successor to pocket film and was released in 1982. To put things in perspective, it was the year in which Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson produced what was perhaps the greatest song in pop history, "Thriller", and Helmut Kohl became chancellor for the first time with his "spiritual and moral turnaround". However, unlike the "King of Pop" and "the pear", the impact of the Kodak disc was limited. Despite the enormous advertising budget and the initially good sales figures, the Kodakdisc cameras disappeared from the market after just six years. Camera manufacturers and photographers were not as enthusiastic about the technology as expected. Although Kodakdisc cameras were handy due to the flat arrangement of the negatives, they were clearly inferior in quality to the compact 35 mm cameras. For the cameras already sold, the film system was continued until December 31, 1999.

 

After converting the negative to positive, it is revealed that the film was exposed during a fashion shoot by F.C. Gundlach. In the group photo, F.C. Gundlach can be seen with models, assistants and star hairdresser Udo Walz. Together with Walz, who was responsible for the models' hairstyles on set, Gundlach worked for Brigitte until 1986 and flew around the world with him for international productions. The friendship that arose from their collaboration lasted until Walz's death on November 20, 2020.