kodachrome

I've never used it in my life, I've always been shooting only E-6 when

it comes to transperencies, so I'd like to ask you this:

 

1. a) Did I miss something great?

b) What is so special about Kodachrome?

c) Should I try it until it goes away for good? (it would be a

hard way until I had developed film in my hands considering

that I'd have to send it to another country, and I'd have to order raw

film since it is probably not sold in my country due to lack of demand)

 

2. Was it ever produced in medium format roll film format, or LF sheet

format? Or just in 135?

Edgar;

 

Kodachrome is a quite good but dated slide film that has a very devoted following of fanatical users. (this is not meant as a bad comment BTW to those ready to flame me)

 

It has excellent dye stability, sharpness and grain for its speed range.

 

It was produced in a full range of sizes including sheet film sizes and each has slowly died off as other products (namely the E6 films) replace it in overall quality due to advances in technology.

 

Better Kodachromes were developed, but remained unsold due to the lack of customer interest except for the devoted users. It is gradually dying off as the customer base shrinks.

 

The process requires a large investment in equipment and chemistry and should run 24/7 in order to stay in control. The Kodachrome process is touchy and expensive to run.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Ron Mowrey

Edgar,

 

To me, Kodachrome captures sunlight and color with a warmth and "naturalness" that is

unrivaled by other films. Again, this is a subjective judgement.

 

It's also incredibly archival, at least compared to other slide films. Personally, I love

Kodachrome 200. It's very grainy but beautiful for some kinds of work.

 

I suggest you grab a roll just for fun. Be careful. In my experience, it has pretty narrow

exposure latitude so you'll have to hit it dead on.

 

Good luck!<div></div>

Years ago tests were done on film stability over time and Kodachrome won hands down by a mile. My 40 year old Kodachromes are still almost perfect whereas everything else (Agfa, Orwo, Perutz, Anscochrome) has deteriorated to weird colours from magenta to orange. There may be better competitors today but in its day Kodachrome was the best film by a long way. Try some while its still around, it probably wont be for much longer.

Dear Edgar,

 

Heck, give it a try once, if for no other reason than to say you did it.<g>

In the mid 80's Kodachrome 64 120 Pro was intoduced to compete with Fuji's Velvia 50. The last batches were made at the end of 1992. You may still find some lying around. Don't bother with it, there is not a single K-14 machine in the world that can process it.

 

Try a roll of K64 in 35mm. You will like it. But there are E6 films that look as good though a bit different.

Anthony- are you sure you got your information correct? Kodachrome 120 died out in the late 1990s. Oct. 2001 was the last time 120 PKR was developed. Velvia 50 started production I believe in 1992. I heard earlier revisions of that may go back to 1990. Not sure on that. Velvia 50 was definately not available in the 80s. Back then the Fuji film choices were D50 and RD100.

Pardon- thats 50D and RD100.

 

Kodachrome has a warm look to it. Though when I use slide- I use other films, but I have used Kodachrome the odd time. Give it a try. In 100 years it may be the only slide film that hasn't faded to some degree. Granted the new E6 films are close to this now.

Normally I say "Kodachrome Rules" but that is too fanatical. Grin. Someone told me it is OK to like Kodachrome if I am comfortable with it. I am.

 

I also like and use the new Astia 100 if I'm willing to give up long term longevity and color accuracy or need 120.

 

If you like the E6 offerings you probably will never miss Kodachrome, especially if you can't purchase or process it.

 

I will always have this now almost 50 year old Kodachrome slide. All of the other "wanabee" substitutes are gone. It was not easy in 1955 to get Kodachrome processed. It is not easy today.

 

Try it, you may like it.<div></div>

I would recommend that you never allow a roll of Kodachrome to come near your camera, the stuff is apparently habit forming. When it's all gone, and processing is no longer available, you (and quite a few others) are going to have to go through withdrawal.

 

We all have to deal with the possibility that film and processing is going to go away completely some day. Because of the extra issues in Kodachrome, specifically that the process is difficult so there are only a very small number of possible labs to send it to, I have to think that when Kodachrome is completely unavailable there will still be several E-6 films around, and there will be labs who will process it. You can process E-6 yourself. So all films may be dead ends, but Kodachrome is very likely to be a dead end first.

 

I believe the new CEO of Kodak has announced plans to become all digital, which reinforces the problems of Kodachrome's small market share.

 

Since learning a new film well enough to get the most from it takes time, why not look at other E-6 films that you aren't currently using? (Particularly those without so much yellow on the box.) If you really connect with a film it would seem best to be able to have a long and fruitful relationship with it. Starting up now with Kodachrome seems like courting a woman with a terminal disease.

 

Van

Hey Van, Hey Edgar,

 

Shoot it man. Put it in your camera and shoot it up. Koda-junkies know all about it. It's a good feeling. It's ok, really. Withdrawal comes later, don't even think about it now. Hell, what am I talking about? Kodachrome will be here forever. Like Rock-n-roll, it's never gonna die. (Denial is one of the symptoms of Kodaddiction.)

 

Buy 8 rolls at a time. That's a nice binary order of magnitude. 2 to the 3rd power. Power, that what it's about. You have to have completeness in the universe, and the levy ain't gonna break, we'll have a place to stay. So shoot it. I'm telling you us Koda-homies got Koda-love, and you can get some too. It gives us those nice bright color, Momma.

 

Skip. (It's in my Barnack. It's in my Beaulieu. I got it under control, I swear! It's IN my camera. Thank you Momma.)

I used it in 1982 and it was my second roll of flim used in my first camera. I used it till 1989 when I met my wife. She needed photos to show friends and the negative films had been improved. Yet in the many years that followed, I used Kodachrime on and off. One day, I realized that negatives could fade in colour. For that matter, the Ektachrome, too.

I was thinking about copying some or even all my work. Then I checked the Kodak web site about the life expectance of Kochrome. I was quite relieved that Kodachrome slides would last very very long. (Check with Kodak, by all means, I do not want to quote their words here. You'll think I exaaggerate).

In short, try it. Go through the long wait. Enjoy and treasure it.

Hey Scott, you say that Velvia 50 was first produced in 1992? I just shot two 4x5 sheets from a box of RVP 50 with an expiration date of May 1994. It's been in my freezer since I bought it from a seller on Ebay who also had kept it frozen. The stuff is gorgeous. I wonder if it was a box from the earliest days of RVP?

Edgar, I also have many regrets about using Kodachrome, especially in the camera I used 50 years ago. I wish now it had been a Leica or Contax rather than a lowly Argus C3. Oh well....

 

The new in 1973 FTBn has consumed many rolls since then. Still no "wanabee" films left from this era. I am very "comfortable".<div></div>

I was hoping to take Velvia 50 with me to the Canadian Grand Prix in June of 1990. Although it had been available in the US since April or May of that year it did not make it north of the border until August or September of 1990. I managed to make some spectacular fall shots with Velvia in both 120 and 135 that year and have always been dissapointed not to get back to a Grand Prix to use it. Back then I did not have a fast enough lens for Kodachrome 25 and motor racing, but now I enjoy the results of both films with a 400mm f2.8 lens.

 

 

I have found Velvia to be better for landscapes but Kodachrome 25 is spectacular in bringing out the colours of motorsports and handles architecture very well too. I will enjoy K25 as long as I still have some in my freezer. I have not had much luck with K200 in the past but I just picked up a few rolls to try again. As soon as Velvia became available I stopped using K64. When I need speed it is Kodak E100VS.

Thanks everyone..

 

exept for the longevity of color, what is it that makes people addicted to it? I mean how are its colors different from E-6 films?

Hi Edgar,

 

Seeing is believing and is all subjective. 72dpi on the "puter" won't show anything. Put a Kodachrome in a projector and see the real thing. Most E6 looks good but different from Kodachrome. Look at this Astia 100. Looks great to me, different from similar Kodachrome slides, I prefer the Kodachrome though.<div></div>

The long term archivalness is what I find most attractive with Kodachrome. In terms of its color rendition I think there are E6 variants that duplicate it. However, when I'm taking family photos and I want to know that decades later a younger generation can look at them and not see a faded orange blob then I go for the Kodachrome.

I loved KII (Paul Simon's inspiration). K12, the subsequent stuff, isn't better in significant respects than good E6.

 

Many art types used Kodachrome II instead of Ektachrome E4 because the latter was rarely processed well (the lab I ran did, for Smithsonian et al)... my E4 looks good going back to that time, 1970. But I've seen plenty of Kodachromes that were processed by drugstore labs that look very bad after a dozen years. Not vaguely archival. E6 was fabulous within a year or two of introduction, but most labs continued to do bad work with it...Kodachrome had bad labs too, but fewer overall and the good were very good. Today's best may be Pathe in France.

I've used Kodachrome since it was 12ASA. I seldom used 64, but have 1000's of 25 slides. 3 outstanding characteristics of Kodachrome are,image quality,longevity and smell! Ah! the smell!!!(Jay Maisel(sp) has the same comment)

I was looking through an old Kodak film data guide, and it mentioned Kodachrome II (ASA25), Kodachrome A (ASA 40, tungsten), and a film I haven't heard much about before, Kodachrome X (ASA 64).

 

I hear Kodachrome II was spectactular, and a bunch of people were bummed when EK changed the formula. Kodachrome A used to be sold as still film, but now is only available for movies (and that's being discontinued).

 

What about Kodachrome X? Is it the ancestor of Kodachrome 64?

Yes. Kodachrome 11 became "25" and Kodachrome X became "64"

Colin, now that you mention it, Kodachrome does have a subtle distinctive smell. Not being a chemist, what do you attribute it to?

I also like Kodachrome, both 64 and 25. I haven't experimented much with 200, but have heard very good reviews of it, when used in appropriate situations. The colors when properly exposed with 64 (just a little under) are second to none in my humble opinion, and there seems to be a special 3-dimensional look to it, that I've heard others mention, sometimes. I really haven't used all that much, so take this accordingly.

 

I'd like to continue using it, at least in some situations, but really have my doubts as to whether the processing will be available at an affordable price, or even at all, for very long. Has anyone seen the price for the mailers on B&H's site? $8.99! I can well understand the negative sentiment that I've seen voiced fairly often concerning Kodak's feelings for its loyal customers. At the same time, I know that it's a business... I've noticed too, that the price for Fuji mailers (alas, E-6 only) have also gone up, but nowhere near the price for B&H's Kodachrome appropriate Kodak mailers... Does anyone happen to know of lower cost mailers for Kodachrome?

You can get that "mailer" cheap, also known as send in processing, if you have a Wal-Mart close. It's only $4.88 for a roll of 36exp (same for a 24) or a roll of Super 8 novie film. Running right at 9 days! Take on Monday morning, get it back Wednesday afternoon for the middle Tennessee area!

 

I too can tell the difference between a freshly opened plastic can of K-14, E-6 and Tri-X. Left over products "gassing out" from manufacturing? Back in the metal can days, K-12 (?)or whatever it was called then, was stronger. Could be that plastic leaks more than metal?

 

Robert Johnson