Your Oldest Kodachrome?

This image of my great grandparents is believed to have been taken by

a Stillwater, Oklahoma newspaper photographer who covered their 50th

wedding anniversary party in 1941. The 35mm Kodachrome slide of the

couple, pictured with their party gifts, is in great shape after 63

years.

 

My great grandparents were German, but had lived in Russia for years,

where my great grandfather was a doctor in the Czar's Army. They

immigrated to Oklahoma in 1893.

 

Their austere look wasn't forced. For them, having a photograph

taken was rare and was very serious business. They were also very

religious and no-nonsense.

 

Perhaps adding to their mildly sad look was the life they had led.

Though my great grandfather had more medical training- in Europe and

America- than most medical doctors of his day, living on the American

plains of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, four of the

couple's nine children died of diseases. Though they were relatively

affluent for their time, theirs was a life harder than most of us

today could imagine.<div></div>

<center><img src="http://www.photo.net/bboard/image?bboard_upload_id=12974484"><P><i>Japan, 1948</i></center><P>

 

This particular slide was being stored in a bowl on a shelf in Mom's house in Florida.

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Mom was born in Yokohama. Jimbo (her dad, the one on your right, and the photographer) died when she was in high school. Mud (her mom, on your left) died about ten years ago. I rescued a bunch of Kodachromes from the aforementioned bowl this past Christmas. The Anscochromes and Agfachromes that Grandad shot were all faded to Hell. I got this one drum scanned and then sent to the LightJet for an 8X12. I framed it and sent it to Mom for Mother's Day. She was totally blown away to be able to see her parents like this again, and it moved her to call me at work immediately after opening the box.

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This is what photography is all about. Digital, film, whatever. I know the deal with Kodachrome, so as long as I can get it, I won't be using anything else.

 

On a totally sort of unrelated note. I have the camera that took that picture. One of these days I'll get it CLA'd and load up with K64 so my son can do this someday.

I don't have a scan and its not as old as the others posted but I found some old double kodachrome 8mm tapes of my mom and her father, I watched them and found a frame I liked and got a cibachrome made (8x10). Its an amazing degree of enlargement but it has a dreamy quality too it and my mom loved. The shot was taken in the early 1960's some five or six years after my mother was born in edwards gardens in Toronto, the red tulips are as vibrant as if the shot was taken yesterday.

Just to add to my post I still have the camera that the movies were made on although I don't know where to get double 8mm film or if it can be processed.

J&C Photo has Fomapan 100R in double-8 format in 25 foot rolls (camera sized, daylight spool). I've seen Ektachrome in this format on eBay a couple times recently, though it may have been long expired. There are still specialty labs that can process double-8, and those that do, will still be able to handle either B&W reversal or Ektachrome, though probably not Kodachrome. They'll also be very happy to transfer the result to VHS or DVD for you.

Not nearly as old as the ones already posted, but still fun:

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<img src="http://www.lbbfamily.com/albums/The-Little-Nipper/

GrandpaGrill.jpg">

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<em>My grandfather in1968 or so; Oberlin, Ohio</em>

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My father was probably the photographer, but he doesn't remember taking the

picture.

This is me (with hair)in 1972 in San Francisco,the camera around my neck(Nikkormat FTN w/50mmf2) is taking the shot,the film was Kodachrome(all I ever used c1968-2001).The scene was lit by a massive skylight.

I really want to say something sarcastic Steve :o

There is an outfit selling respooled Kodachrome in 8MM formats, I think they're calling it "Cinechrome" or something like that.

I have snapshots as far back as 1945. Here's one of my sister in 1947.<div></div>

I have to say, these are some pretty amazing examples. If it weren't for digital storage, I'd be stocking up on K-64! And while I know some people are famously nauseated by Kodachrome's color pallette, I love the stuff. If I shot slide (which I only do if a publisher wants slides, and I only publish a couple of photos now and then to accompany an article), I'd shoot K-64.

Regular 8mm film can be purchased from here: http://members.aol.com/Super8mm/JohnSchwind.html

You can get it processed here: http://k14movies.com/

 

This is a fun thread!

Here's one my grandfather took in August 1957 of the Kuranda Railway Station, Far North Queensland, Australia.

 

He was an avid amateur photographer but until this time he only took black and white negs with some kind of folding camera. Mum tells me the story of how they were going on a family driving holiday through far north Queensland and a friend convinced my grandfather to borrow her 35mm camera to try it out on the journey. Mum remembers that for the whole time they were away he was worried that the photos were all going to turn out bad because he wasn't familiar with using the equipment and film. Then the Kodachromes came back and he was absolutely blown away. This photo is from that trip.

 

Unfortunately from about 1963 to about 1969 he converted from Kodachrome to Agfa, and those ones have faded badly.

 

When he died ten years ago the only thing I asked for as a souvenir of his life was his collection of photos and I cherish them enormously. I am in the process of scanning them all, and as you can see I haven't gotten around to "cleaning" many of them with Photoshop yet.<div></div>

My oldest Kodachromes would probably be K25's from around 33 years ago. No idea where those might be now or if I have them at all. The oldest I know I have around the house are 22 years old from a trip throughout the Southwest. Don't recall whether it was K25 or K64 - I don't remember when K25 was discontinued or whether the film type was stamped on the cardboard mounts.

 

The oldest in our house would probably date back to the 1960s from some of my grandparents' Instamatic shots. Last time I looked at some of 'em a few years ago I was surprised at how sharp and well exposed they were, considering they were taken with Instamatics. I'll see whether I can scan one or two of those.

This is from my grandfather's photo collection, and looks somewhat faded, but I'm not sure how it's been stored or how many times it's been projected over the past 64 years. It was taken in October 1940, and I think the people might be an uncle and great uncle of mine.<div></div>

Here's one from my grandparents' collection, dated 1969 according to my granddad's notes on the box. He usually made brief notes on everything - photo boxes, bills paid, etc., in his scratchy handwriting. I'm guessing this was from a trip somewhere in Colorado or New Mexico, based on his anecdotes.

 

They have some older Kodachromes among boxes of Carousel holders at the top of a closet shelf but I didn't feel like fetching 'em down.

 

I couldn't scan the entire square 126 Instamatic frame in my 35mm scanner - part of the top of the frame was cut off by the slide holder. No harm done in this photo tho'.

 

Nothing special about it in some ways, tho' it has a certain "something" that's usually absence from granddad's photos. Composition, sense for subject matter and ability to avoid cliches weren't among his photographic strengths. Heck, he did well to keep his huge fingers from blocking the lens. But I must admit, for a direct flash shot with a P&S, I'd be proud to claim this as one of my own vacation photos.<div></div>

Instamatics (126) used Kodachrome X (ASA 64).

 

What remarkable photos. Give you an understanding of why they (S&G) wrote that song.

 

A few months back I found a fairly new link that was to an archive of Kodachromes from the late '30s to the.. well, I think the '60s. All done by one guy, some with fairly modest hardware. It was maintained by a University where he taught, If I remember right. Some of it was truly remarkable stuff. I lost the link due to a hard drive dump, or I'd post it here.

 

It will be sad to see this fine film disappear if Kodak ever decides to drop it. Enjoy it while you can.

Well, I see that the jpeg of granddad's slide appears dingier and pinker than the original slide. When I scanned and prepped it in Jasc Paint Shop Pro it looked okay and I was trying to avoid overtweaking.

 

The critics of Kodachrome are right about a couple of things: it's not the easiest slide film to scan and it's not the easiest/best choice for printing. I was never really happy with the old Cibachromes I got from my Kodachromes. It's a film meant to be projected and, boy, did my granddad love to put together slide shows.

 

At least they were better than his home movies. ;>

We have a TON of them from my Grandfather that died many years ago. The oldest in the box I have at home is 1958. I will try to post an image or two but my slide scanner really stinks compared to my regular film scanner but I do not want to open the slide to scan them. I know that there are much older ones that are in my folks home in MD (I am in FL).

 

Kevin

www.AerialPhotoLab.com

This is the funnest (a real word) thread we've had in months!

Totally agree Chris! It even inspired a new thread from me "The real reason to use Kodachrome". Everyone check it out and post you own opinions on my ramblings there...

Here are a few taken by my Grandfather. I am sure I have older ones that can be found. He used to travel a bit with the Dept of Interior and seemed to have his camera along. Most of the film I have found is Kodachrome that he shot. There is a few others that did not hold up well. Scanner is not a pro one at all. Maybe a future purchase though.

 

Kevin<div></div>

I don't have any scans to share, but I have an 8mm movie shot in 1938. It shows my uncle walking on stilts about 8 feet tall (measured from the gound to the bottom of his feet). He got on the stilts from the garage roof. At one point he loses his balance and has to jump off.

Here's our oldest family picture on Kodachrome, from 1953. My dad has just received his PhD diploma, and is posed with his mother and father. His dad is 60 years old in this photo, he lived another 43 years to 103.

 

This is a "save" of an overexposed slide. I corrected the colors to look like another one that's not as interesting a pose, but correctly exposed.

 

Camera was probably an Argus C3 borrowed from a friend.<div></div>