Condax-Dytrol
Description
“Around 1940, Condax-Speck, Inc., of New York started to market dyes and mordant for the Condax-Dytrol system of dye imbibition printing (Fig. 4.19). The system, developed by company owners Louis M. Condax (1897–1971) and Robert P. Speck, made use of matrix films manufactured by Eastman Kodak or Defender but a faster-released set of dyes and a mordant that provided little diffusion of the dyes in the paper. A print could be produced in about sixty to ninety minutes (compared to three to four hours with Eastman Wash-Off Relief) thanks in part to a tanning developer that was used for the matrices instead of the two-step hardening bleach (Condax-Speck ca. 1940). In 1943 Eastman Kodak acquired Condax and Speck’s company and recruited the two men to work in its Research Laboratories in Rochester, New York. Their improvements were incorporated into the new Kodak Dye Transfer system that was introduced a few years later (Krause 1987).”
(Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on p. 146.)
Secondary Sources
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on p. 146. View Quote
