Kodacrome

[hoffy]

I must admit, I am having a nostalgia thing at the moment.

Now, from what I have read and Kodaks attitude, I think that the grand daddy of transparency films has its days numbered. Kodacrome is near on impossible to get processed (there is only one place left in the world who will do it) and its slowly falling off of many stock lists (B&H have dropped it so I have been told).

Now, this is one film that I have never used, but have been curious on its qualities. Would you give it one last shot before it goes? Should I at least try it (& bugger the expense..)

BTW, check out the doco on SBS "The 30's in Colour". Nearly exclusively shot in Kodacrome. Some of the stuff hasn't lasted the test of time too well, but some of it is absolutely amazing (consider the age!)

[jjphoto]

I used to use Kodachrome quite a bit in the '80's but to be honest, I don't miss it at all. Modern E6 films are way better than they used to be and that's why Kdachrome is no longer popular enough to be financially viable. It has it's advantages, but I wouldn't bother trying it other than to say that you have used it!

JJ

[MarkW]

Just to give you a bit more of the nostalgia - just about everything every shot using 8mm, super 8, 16mm and 35mm was done on Kodachrome film for both the motion pictures (prior to 70mm PanaVision?) to transparancies for the photographics industry.

Kodachrome in all its formats was so wide spread in its use that it was the biggest used film of all time. It biggest problem was the cost and complexity of the machinery required to process the film. It is nearly impossible for the home photographer to develop a K14 film. I believe there are kit available but to get accurate saturation is difficult.

The reason the E6 transparency and the C41 colour print films were created was the lower cost to develop the film.

[TOM]

Hoffy, i've got a brick in my fridge right now. Shoot it while you can. You can order from Dwaynes and develop at Dwaynes so it really isn't that hard. It is simply a matter of importing the film, shooting it, exporting it back to the US, developing, and then importing back to Australia! jjphoto is right when he says that modern e6 films have their advantages, but there is somthing about KC that is special.

Hoffy, if you like shooting people atm as you alluded to in another post, Sensia 400 is a great tranny film for street work if you must work in colour. It is cheap aswell when compared with Provia 400x (rrp $34/roll!).

[hoffy]

I have some sensia 200 in the freezer (which apparently is rubbish, but hey...). So the 400 is OK, hmmm

[TOM]

well the sensia is not a pro film so colours may vary from one roll to the next. it is more sensitive to green than provia (pro film), but the provia is more sensitive to red and isn't as kind to skin tones. so for people, the sensia is great. here is a pic taken with sensia 400, hope it's ok to post.

[AzzA]

Interesting thread guys.
I've never tried Kodacrome, but really want to give it a go with a few old lenses i have for my Bessa R3A. Interested if i'll get an older sort of "look" to the shots.
Bit of a hassle though with developing =/

[TOM]

as they say, "anything that's worth doing is worth doing properly!".

[hoffy]

Well its Official:


Today, Eastman Kodak Corporation has officially announced the retirement of Kodachrome 64, the last remaining variation of legendary Kodachrome Color Film.

For the full press release:
Kodak Retires KODACHROME Film (http://www.insideanalogphoto.com/inside-analog-photo-kodak-retires-kodachrome/205)

I never did get around to trying it. There is still time, I suppose....

[TOM]

next time you come up Hoffy, give us a bell and i'll hook you up with som k64.

[Miaow]

They even had it on the news tonight about Kodak stopping production of it - saying how the colours were really good - blues real blue and reds real red

[mongo]

The end of a great era.

Mongo used Kodachrome 64 in the 60s, 70s and 80's on his first camera a Yashica GT Electro 35 (55mm f1.7fixed lens) - still have it - mint. Mongo loves the Tones of this film although later Mongo used fujichrome velvia. Still it is a terrible loss of something great and the beginning of the end for all films in time to come with the exception of B/W which will probably live on a little longer and which Mongo still takes, develops and prints himself from time to time.

[IanB]

Kodachrome was years ahead of its time and still the only slide films classed as archival. It is also very hard to process with chem temperatures needing to be absolutely perfectly spot on on. I was told the tolerance allowed but have forgotten but it was points of a degree!! some goes for the timing. Yes E6 was the killer; but if someone has a collection of mixed slides the Kodachrome would as true as the day they were processed while anything else would have lost some or even all the colour.

:)

[IanB]

The end of a great era.

Mongo used Kodachrome 64 in the 60s, 70s and 80's on his first camera a Yashica GT Electro 35 (55mm f1.7fixed lens) - still have it - mint. Mongo loves the Tones of this film although later Mongo used fujichrome velvia. Still it is a terrible loss of something great and the beginning of the end for all films in time to come with the exception of B/W which will probably live on a little longer and which Mongo still takes, develops and prints himself from time to time.

Mongo is really showing it's age now>>"in the 60s....." ;)

[hoffy]

Inconvenience with a hearty shove from digital killed Kodachrome.

Kodachrome needs specialised processes to get the job done....this included re-exposures at different light colours, specific dies, etc, etc. From what I have read over the last few days, there were only at most 14 labs worldwide that had the ability to process Kodachrome. In the end, there is now only 1 (in the US).

[jim]

I mostly used Kodachrome before I bought into digital, since I don't really like Velvia. I believe Kodak still honours prepaid Kodachrome if you can find some (I hope so since I still have 3 rolls of it in the freezer) but otherwise it's probably too expensive and inconvenient to experiment with.

If you choose to, Dwayne's will apparently only be processing it until the end of next year:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/catalog/kodachrome64ProfessionalFilmPKR.jhtml

Unfortunately.

[mongo]

yep , IanB, in the 60's and yep Mongo is hard to carbon date although many have tried.

[arthurking83]

..... in the 60's and yep Mongo is hard to carbon date although many have tried.

I bet they were tasty? :D

[TOM]

Sad (http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/ZSjz) but true

[Kym]

It made the local radio (5AA) news this AM in the context of the up-coming Simon and Garfunkel concert.
They referenced both the song and the fact that the factory is closing production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome