成于膠片,敗于數(shù)碼

柯達公司的發(fā)展歷程漫長而曲折?；仡櫰浒倌隁v史，其中值得一提的亮點頗多：第一卷相機膠卷、第一臺面向大眾市場的照相機、第一張35毫米彩色膠片、第一個百萬像素級數(shù)字傳感器……雖然現(xiàn)在柯達已經(jīng)風光不再，但我們?nèi)詿o法否認它對大眾文化幾乎無所不在的影響。

Eastman Kodak， the 131-year-old film pioneer that has been struggling for years to adapt to an increasingly digital world， filed for bankruptcy protection early on Thursday， January 19， 2012.

What a fall from grace! Kodak， the company that created mass-market amateur photography， enabled Hollywood movies and home videos， and invented digital photography， is now on the verge of dissolution.

Still， Kodak， or Eastman Kodak Company as it is formally known， has an illustrious and interesting tale to tell that starts all the way back in 1880—so far back that the beginning of Kodak’s story even includes Thomas Edison. Our long and winding path will take in the first roll of camera film， the first mass-market camera， the first 35mm color film， the first megapixel1) digital sensor2)， the RGGB3) filter used by almost every digital camera， and even the discovery and creation of OLED4) displays.

A Perfect Storm 一場和膠片有關的完美風暴

In 1880， a gentleman called George Eastman， of the Eastman Dry Plate5) Company， was busy inventing single-shot6) pieces of paper that were covered in a photographic emulsion7). A fellow photographic expert， William Walker， joined Eastman’s company in 1883， and in 1885 they invented a holder for a roll of Eastman’s photoplates8). Then， in 1887， independently of9) Eastman， Hannibal Goodwin created a transparent nitrocellulose10) film base—and in 1888， émile Reynaud11) put perforations12) into nitrocellulose film.

In 1889， Eastman put all of these inventions together and created the first mass-produced rolls of transparent photographic film.

1880年，伊士曼干版公司一位名叫喬治·伊士曼的先生正忙著研制一片片涂有攝影用感光乳劑的單次照相用紙。1883年，同是攝影專家的威廉·沃克加入伊士曼的公司。1885年，他們發(fā)明了用于裝載伊士曼的照相感光底片的卷筒。之后在1887年，攝影愛好者漢尼巴爾·古德溫(與伊士曼沒有關系)創(chuàng)造出一種透明的硝化纖維片基。1888年，法國發(fā)明家埃米爾·雷諾為硝化纖維膠片打上齒孔。

1889年，伊士曼將所有這些發(fā)明融為一體，首次打造出可批量生產(chǎn)的攝影用透明膠片。

Thomas Edison 托馬斯·愛迪生與柯達的淵源

It wasn’t Eastman who invented 35mm film， though: Edison， working with Eastman in 1892， trimmed 40mm film stock13) down to 35mm. Edison then perforated the film with four sprocket14) holes per frame—an invention that was patented but later invalidated by court—and created the Kinetoscope15)， a very early， single-person motion picture device.

The Kinetoscope and Edison’s 35mm film would go on to create the movie and cinema industry.

不過，發(fā)明35毫米膠片的卻不是伊士曼，而是愛迪生。愛迪生曾在1892年與伊士曼攜手將40毫米的膠片修剪至35毫米。之后，愛迪生為每幀這種膠片打上了四個齒孔。這一發(fā)明曾獲得專利，但后來又被法院宣告無效。同時，他還創(chuàng)造了活動電影放映機——一種非常早期的單人電影設備。

隨后，活動電影放映機和愛迪生的35毫米膠片促生了電影乃至整個電影產(chǎn)業(yè)。

Kodak 柯達商標的由來

In 1888， Eastman trademarked the word “Kodak”—and no， it isn’t a name， and Eastman Kodak doesn’t represent the merger between two companies. Basically， Eastman chose Kodak because he liked the sound of it. In his own words: “The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me—it seemed a strong， incisive16) sort of letter.”

He also had very strong feelings on trademarks in general: “A trademark should be short.” It should be “vigorous，” and it should be “incapable of being misspelled to an extent that will destroy its identity.” Most of all， though， a trademark “must mean nothing.”

To arrive at Kodak， Eastman simply started with the letter K， tried out hundreds of permutations17)， and eventually settled with a name that must be one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

A little known fact: Kodak was originally just the brand name of Eastman’s cameras， but the brand became so popular that the company name was eventually changed to Eastman Kodak.

1888年，伊士曼將“Kodak”一詞注冊為商標。沒錯，這不是一個人名。同時，“Eastman Kodak”也不代表兩家公司的合并。伊士曼之所以選用“Kodak”這個名字，主要是因為喜歡它的發(fā)音。用他自己的話說就是，“我一直很喜歡字母‘K’，它聽上去鏗鏘有力、干凈利落。”

他對商標還有一種總體的強烈感覺：“商標應當簡短?！彼鼞摗盎盍λ纳洹?，而且“不會因為常常被拼錯而破壞自身的個性”。但最重要的是，商標“不能有任何含義”。

在確定“Kodak”這個名稱之前，伊士曼僅以字母“K”開頭，嘗試了數(shù)以百計的排列組合方式，最終敲定了算得上是全世界最容易辨識的一個商標名——“Kodak”。

鮮為人知的是，“Kodak”起初只是伊士曼相機的商標名，但由于這一品牌變得如此受歡迎，公司最后也更名為“Eastman Kodak”。

The First Kodak Cameras 第一款柯達相機問世

Accompanying the new trademark， Eastman released The Kodak Camera in 1888. The camera came pre-loaded with a roll of paper film that could take 100 photos， and you had to send the camera back to Eastman to get it developed and re-loaded with more film. This camera effectively created the concept of amateur photography.

The “box” Kodak Camera was quickly replaced by folding/collapsible18) Kodak cameras with nitrocellulose film. By 1897， a folding， pocketable camera had been invented.

Then， in 1900， Eastman released the Brownie， an incredibly cheap， cardboard-box camera that was cheap enough to buy ($1) and operate that it instantly became a mass market success; the first camera to do so. In essence， the Brownie was so cheap and easy to use that it invented the concept of a snapshot.

1888年，伴隨著新商標的誕生，伊士曼推出了柯達相機。這款相機預裝有一卷紙基膠片，可拍攝一百張照片，拍完后須將相機送回伊士曼公司沖印，之后再重新裝入膠片。這款相機有效促成了業(yè)余攝影這一概念的誕生。

沒過多久，“盒式”柯達相機就被裝有硝酸纖維膠片的可折疊式柯達相機所取代。到1897年，一種可折疊的便攜式相機誕生了。

之后，伊士曼于1900年推出了布朗尼相機，這是一款價格極其低廉的盒式相機，其售價(每臺僅需一美元)和使用成本如此之低，因而迅速在大眾市場上獲得成功；這也是第一款取得如此成就的相機。從根本上說，是價格低廉、操作簡便的布朗尼相機催生了快照這一概念。

The Legend of Kodachrome19) 柯達彩色膠片的傳奇

The next 30 years or so resulted in everyone taking photos. Kodak enjoyed huge profits， a string of successful cameras， and it wisely plowed a lot of its money into research and development. By 1935 it had developed Kodachrome， the first successful mass-market color film. Kodachrome came in just about every format—8mm， 16mm， and 35mm， 120， 116， 828—and enabled the creation of color movies and rich color photos in print publications.

Kodachrome was actively produced for some 74 years until it finally fell victim to20) the digital supremacy in 2009.

Kodachrome is most famous for its capture of The Afghan Girl， a photo by Steve McCurry21) that adorned the front cover of the June 1985 National Geographic Magazine.

在隨后三十年左右的時間里，人人都拍起了照片?？逻_從中獲得巨額利潤，推出了一系列成績斐然的相機；同時，它也明智地把大量資金投入到研發(fā)當中。1935年，它開發(fā)出了柯達彩色膠片，成為在大眾市場獲得成功的首款彩色膠片?？逻_彩色膠片的規(guī)格幾乎一應俱全——8毫米、16毫米、35毫米、120膠片、116膠片、828膠片。彩色電影和色彩豐富的印刷品也就此問世。

柯達彩色膠片在市場上活躍了大約74年，直到2009年，它的霸主地位才最終讓給了數(shù)碼產(chǎn)品。

關于柯達彩色膠片，最著名的一件事是史蒂夫·麥柯里用它拍攝了照片《阿富汗少女》，這張照片后來成為《國家地理雜志》1985年6月號的封面。

War and X-rays 戰(zhàn)爭、X光片與柯達

With color film out of the way22) (and making buckets of cash)， Kodak diversified. Kodak created films that could detect how much radiation Manhattan Project23) scientists were receiving， and to this day Kodak is involved with X-ray imaging， CT24)， and MRI25). During World War II， Kodak’s microfilm technology enabled the UK military to shrink 37 bags of “V-mail26)” down to just one.

The image on the left is the first ever X-ray (radiograph). It was captured on Kodak film， and it just so happens to be the hand of Wilhelm Roentgen27)’s wife.

搞定了彩色膠片之后(讓柯達賺了個盆滿缽滿)，柯達開始謀求產(chǎn)品多元化?？逻_發(fā)明了可以檢測出參與“曼哈頓計劃”的科學家所受輻射量的膠片。時至今日，柯達已涉足X射線成像、CT成像和核磁共振成像等多個領域。二戰(zhàn)期間，柯達的縮微膠片技術使英國軍隊得以將37包“縮印郵件”壓縮至一包。

左圖(編注：即51頁下方英文左邊的圖)是有史以來第一張X光片(射線照片)。它就是使用柯達膠片拍攝的。湊巧的是，圖中所拍的正是發(fā)現(xiàn)X射線的威爾姆·倫琴妻子的手。

Rocket Man 柯達變身“火箭超人”

By the end of the 1960s， Kodak had the entire photography industry sewn up28): it had sales exceeding $4 billion (somewhere around $50 billion in today’s money)， 100，000 employees—and it even provided the film for John Glenn29)’s orbit of the Earth in 1962， and the Lunar Orbiter program30) in 1966. Kodak also produced a camera used by the astronauts of Apollo 1131) on the surface of the Moon.

The photo you see above is the first ever photo of Earth taken from deep space. It was captured by Lunar Orbiter I with Kodak hardware.

到20世紀60年代末，柯達已經(jīng)壟斷了整個攝影產(chǎn)業(yè)：其銷售額超過40億美元(約合現(xiàn)在的五百億美元)，員工數(shù)量達到了十萬人——它甚至還為1962年約翰·格倫繞地球軌道飛行及1966年的繞月軌道飛行計劃提供了膠片。阿波羅11號宇航員在月球表面所用的相機也產(chǎn)自柯達。

你所看到的上圖就是史上第一張從太空拍下的地球照片，是繞月軌道飛行器1號使用柯達相機拍攝的。

The Digital Era 數(shù)碼時代

You wouldn’t think it， in a world positively littered by Samsung， iPhone， Canon， Nikon， and Sony digital cameras， but Kodak was a pioneer in digital imaging. In 1975， the first ever charge-coupled device32) (CCD) image sensor was made by Steven Sasson， an engineer at Eastman Kodak—it had a resolution33) of 0.1 megapixels; in 1986， Kodak developed the world’s first camera-size megapixel sensor; and in 1991， Kodak created the first digital SLR34) camera.

From this point on， though， Kodak was quickly overtaken by Japanese high-tech manufacturing mastery in the form of Canon， Sony， and Fuji—and really， despite being a constant innovator and holder of a large patent portfolio， Kodak never really succeeded in the digital photography arena.

在一個充斥著三星、iPhone、佳能、尼康和索尼數(shù)碼相機的世界里，誰也不會想到，柯達才是數(shù)碼成像領域的開拓者。1975年，伊士曼-柯達公司的工程師史蒂文·薩松制成史上第一個電荷耦合器圖像傳感器(CCD)——分辨率達到十萬像素；1986年，柯達研發(fā)出世界上第一個適用于相機的百萬像素傳感器；1991年，柯達研制出第一臺數(shù)碼單反相機。

不過，自此而后，柯達就開始被掌握著高科技制造技術的佳能、索尼和富士等日本公司迅即趕超。實際上，盡管柯達不斷創(chuàng)新，并且坐擁大量專利，但它在數(shù)碼攝影領域的競爭中從未真正成功過。

OLED and the Bayer Filter35) OLED與拜爾濾鏡

Believe it or not， it was a Kodak researcher in 1979 who created the first efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLED)， and in 1999， after some 20 years of continued research， Kodak teamed up with Sanyo to produce the first OLED display. Kodak used its OLED technology to produce some beautiful digital photo frames throughout the early- and mid-2000s， but through a combination of poor marketing， an unready market， and perhaps sticker shock36)， they were never a huge commercial hit. Kodak sold its OLED-related assets to LG in 2009.

In 1976， Eastman Kodak researcher Bryce Bayer created the Bayer color filter array. In those days， the Bayer filter described the arrangement of color dyes on a piece of photographic film—a square grid with 50% green， 25% red， and 25% blue. This filter transferred over to digital photography， however， and now almost every digital sensor uses an RGGB Bayer filter to capture images.

也許你并不相信，第一個高效有機發(fā)光二極管(OLED)是柯達研發(fā)人員在1979年研制而成的。1999年，經(jīng)過二十年左右的不輟研究，柯達公司與三洋公司于1999年聯(lián)手生產(chǎn)出第一臺OLED顯示屏。在21世紀頭十年的早中期，柯達曾利用其OLED技術推出了一些美觀的數(shù)碼相框，但受營銷不力、市場沒有準備就緒以及標價過高引起的沖擊波等綜合因素的影響，它們從未取得商業(yè)上的熱銷。2009年，柯達將與OLED相關的資產(chǎn)出售給了LG。

1976年，伊士曼-柯達公司研究員布賴斯·拜爾研制出了拜爾彩色濾鏡陣列。那個時候，拜爾濾鏡描繪的是彩色染料在照相膠片上的分布——正方形的網(wǎng)格中，綠色占50%，紅色、藍色各占25%。不過后來，這款濾鏡被用于數(shù)碼攝影領域?，F(xiàn)在，幾乎每個數(shù)碼傳感器都采用RGGB拜爾濾鏡來捕捉圖像。

Despite what seems like a strong showing in the digital arena， Kodak didn’t move fast enough to stave off37) the Japanese competition. Kodak might have demonstrated the first digital SLR， but it’s important to note that throughout the 1970s， 1980s， and 1990s， Kodak’s focus was always on its massively-profitable analog film business. Then， as it became apparent that film was on the way out， Kodak tried to make the leap to digital， but the likes of Sony and Canon were already years ahead.

But you cannot deny the impact that George Eastman’s company has had on almost every aspect of popular culture. From cinema to the glossy magazine， from the advent of digital photography to the capture of celebrities， Kodak was a key player， and for that we must be grateful.

盡管似乎是閃亮登上了數(shù)碼舞臺，但是柯達在發(fā)展速度上還是不足以抵御日本公司的競爭?？逻_推出了第一臺數(shù)碼單反相機，可值得注意的是，20世紀整個70、80和90年代，柯達始終沉溺于利潤豐厚的膠片產(chǎn)業(yè)，而后當膠片顯而易見地逐漸淡出市場的時候，柯達才試圖向數(shù)碼領域挺進，但此時索尼和佳能生產(chǎn)的同類數(shù)碼產(chǎn)品早已領先了數(shù)年之久。

但無論怎樣，我們都無法否認喬治·伊士曼的公司對大眾文化幾乎無所不在的影響。從電影院到光面印刷的漂亮雜志，從數(shù)碼攝影的出現(xiàn)到名流精英的留影，柯達都扮演了關鍵角色。對此，我們應心存感激。

1.megapixel [?meɡ??p?ks(?)l] n. [計]百萬像素

2.sensor [?sens?(r)] n. 傳感器

3.RGGB：[光電子學]紅-綠-綠-藍(Red-Green-Green-Blue)

4.OLED：有機發(fā)光二極管(Organic Light Emitting Diode)，一種薄膜多層器件，由碳分子或聚合物組成，具有自發(fā)光性、廣視角、高對比、低耗電、高反應速率、全彩化、制程簡單等優(yōu)點。

5.dry plate：干片或干版，是一種照相感光材料，常用鹵化銀照相乳劑涂布在片基上制成干的感光片，為區(qū)別于濕的感光片，故稱干片或干版。

6.single-shot：(槍、炮等)單發(fā)的

7.emulsion [??m?l?(?)n] n. [物化]乳狀液；感光乳劑

8.photoplate [?f??t???ple?t] n. 照相底片；膠片

9.independently of：同……無關地

10.nitrocellulose [?na?tr???s?lj?l??z] n. [化工]硝化纖維

11.émile Reynaud：埃米爾·雷諾(1844～1918)，法國發(fā)明家、藝術家，第一部動畫電影的創(chuàng)造者

12.perforation [?p??(r)f??re??(?)n] n. 穿孔

13.film stock：膠片

14.sprocket [?spr?k?t] n. 鏈輪齒

15.kinetoscope [k??ni?t??sk??p] n. 活動電影放映機

16.incisive [?n?sa?s?v] adj. 深刻的

17.permutation [?p??(r)mj??te??(?)n] n. [數(shù)]排列；置換

18.collapsible [k??l?ps?b(?)l] adj. 可折疊的；可拆卸的

19.Kodachrome：柯達彩色膠片

20.fall victim to：屈服于

21.Steve McCurry：史蒂夫·麥柯里(1950～)，美國攝影記者

22.out of the way：得到解決的，已處理的

23.Manhattan Project：曼哈頓計劃，美國陸軍部于1942年6月開始實施的利用核裂變反應研制原子彈的計劃

24.CT：[醫(yī)學]計算機化層析X射線照相術(computerized tomography)，利用計算機技術，對被測物體斷層掃描圖像進行重建，獲得三維斷層圖像的掃描方式。

25.MRI：核磁共振成像(Magnatic Resonance Imaging)，利用核磁共振原理，通過外加梯度磁場檢測所發(fā)射出的電磁波，繪制成物體內(nèi)部的結構圖像，在物理、化學、醫(yī)療等方面獲得了廣泛的應用。

26.V-mail：縮印郵遞(始于第二次世界大戰(zhàn)中的美軍軍郵)

27.Wilhelm Roentgen：威爾姆·倫琴(1845～1923)，德國物理學家，發(fā)現(xiàn)了X射線，為開創(chuàng)醫(yī)療影像技術鋪平了道路。1901年，倫琴被授予諾貝爾物理學獎。

28.sew up：壟斷；控制

29.John Glenn：約翰·格倫(1921～)，曾是美國國家航空航天局的一名宇航員，是第一個進入地球軌道的美國宇航員。

30.Lunar Orbiter program：繞月軌道飛行計劃，為阿波羅計劃作的輔助準備，選出了約十個預計的登月點。

31.Apollo 11：阿波羅11號，是美國國家航空航天局的阿波羅計劃中的第五次載人任務，是人類第一次登月任務。

32.charge-coupled device：電荷耦合元件，是一種集成電路，上面有許多排列整齊的電容，能感應光線，并將影像轉變成數(shù)字信號。

33.resolution [?rez??lu??(?)n] n. 分辨率

34.SLR：單鏡頭反射(single lens reflex)，簡稱單反。

35.Bayer filter：拜爾濾鏡。如果在電荷耦合元件表面覆蓋一個只含紅、綠、藍三色的馬賽克濾鏡，再加上對其輸出信號的處理算法，就可以得到一個由電荷耦合元件輸出的彩色圖像數(shù)字信號。由于這個設計理念最初由布賴斯·拜爾先生提出，所以這種濾鏡被稱作拜爾濾鏡。

36.sticker shock：〈美口〉(令人瞠目結舌的高價所引起的)標價沖擊波

37.stave off：打退，擊敗