Backlit Film, Glossy / 8 mil / Solvent

KODAK Backlit Film, Glossy / 8 mil / Solvent is a gloss-coated polyester film at 8 mil and 280 gsm, made to produce vibrant lightbox display applications. A backlit film has a job no ordinary display stock can do: carry an image that is lit from behind, where an opaque print simply goes dark in the fixture. The polyester base is what makes that possible and what keeps the film dimensionally stable inside a heated lightbox.

What KODAK Backlit Film, Glossy / 8 mil / Solvent is used for

• Light box displays

Kodak lists exactly one application for this film, which is unusually narrow and worth taking at face value. This is not a general display film that also happens to work backlit; it is a lightbox stock. At 280 gsm it is the heaviest backlit material in the Kodak range we hold, which is what lets a large panel hang flat in a fixture rather than rippling under its own weight.

Ink compatibility

Solvent ink is rated BEST and eco-solvent is rated compatible. It is not for aqueous printers. There is no aqueous dye or aqueous pigment rating on file for this film, and no latex or UV rating either. If your machine is an aqueous inkjet plotter, this is the wrong roll — Kodak makes a separate Universal Backlit Film at 8 mil rated BEST for aqueous dye and pigment inks, which is the correct product for that press.

Working with it

Kodak’s finishing guidance for this film is firm. A protective laminate is always recommended after printing, hand-applying it is not recommended, pressure-sensitive laminates can be used, and the image must be allowed to dry for 24 hours before the laminate goes on. That drying window is not padding on a solvent print; trapped solvent under a laminate is what causes colour shift later. Whiteness is 92 CIE. Rolls run 36 to 60 inches wide on 3-inch cores.