Kodachrome in 120 format

Hello...

 

Does anyone know what years Kodachrome was made in 120 size? What do the edge markings read, please?

I should remember this because I worked in film manufacturing on Kodachrome when the 120 format

was introduced. I managed the formulas and I didn't have to do anything for 120 format. Until the master

rolls got to slitting, the 120 format film was identical to 35 mm. When I looked at the corporate history at

kodak.com, the word Kodachrome is not even mentioned during the 1980's. (The introduction of

Kodachrome 200 in 1985 was ignored.)

 

Here's what I know for sure: the 120 format was introduced sometime between 1984 and 1987. My best

guess would be 1986. The format was discontinued sometime after I left the reversal office in 1989.

As far as I remember from many internet contributions, the film was introduced in 1986 and discontinued in 1993; since the last processing run in 2001 these films have become obsolete, even if some appear from time to time at internet auctions.

Kodachrome 64 Professional film is in the 120 roll film size in the 1991 Kodak Professonal Photographic Catalog L-9 of 7/91 on page 29; as cat no 814 2192 item PKR120 at 6.60 dollars list

price

On page 10R in the back of the catalog; the "indentifying Kodak color reversal films" section has "legend" at the top of the roll as "KODAK PKR 6033" ; with frame numbers as "PKR>14" "PKR>15" etc.

Is there any particular reason Kodachrome was never available in 120 format <em>before</em> the 1980s? It was, after all, available as sheet film in the 1940s and 50s.

The available formats for Kodachrome have always been driven by process availability. I'm guessing the processing of

sheet film was either a dip-and-dunk line of a sink line. In the 60's, 70's, and early 80's, there were two

basic K-14 machines. There was a continuous 35mm machine (that could also run 16mm) and a super

8 continuous machine that could only run 8mm film. To process 120 film, you need rollers that will

accommodate 62mm film instead of 35mm film. You could take the design of a 35mm machine and

multiply all dimensions by 1.77x. The resulting machine would have very large tanks. The projected

volume of 120 format Kodachrome was never that high. Low utilization was never a good idea for a stable process.

There were some innovative rollers designed that

could swivel on their shaft so that the axis of rotation was always slanted compared to the axis of the

shaft. This allowed a helical film path through a modest tank volume.

 

To make a long story short (too late) 120 was always possible, but someone had to design a

processing machine that would accept the film.

Did Kodak sell all Kodachromes in 120? KM/PKM, KR/PKR and KL/PKL?

Just Kodachrome Professional 64 was made in 120.

 

I suppose you can slit it down to 828 width, use it in a Bantam camera, and ship it to Dwayne's for processing. Only reason I can imagine anyone would buy the stuff on eBay, but buy it they do.

As Ektachrome got better in the mid 1950's; Kodachrome in sheets got axed; there was even a lawsuit over this. Kodachrome in the 1940's came up to 11x14 sheets.

Thank you Lady and Gentlemen. I now have the answers I needed. I have been looking on and off to buy a 120 slide on sleezebay but have not been able to get one. I'd just like to see what it looks like processed. I understand that there were a few machines with roller width to do 120. I think the last place to have it developed was Sweden or one of the north western European countries.

 

Mr. Ron Andrews,

 

I also understand that Kodak had pretty well perfected a Kodachrome 100 with the grain, sharpness and color palette of 25, all better than the 64. This was supposed to be introduced about the same time as their mini-processors, maybe early mid 90s? I realize that was probably after you left the department, but do you know if the 100 project really got underway? If so, do you know what ever happened to the 100 and the mini-processors? And... Thank you for the many times you have shared your experience and first hand knowledge about Kodak with your fellow Photonetters!

I think PKR 120 was discontinued in around 1996. Kodak offered about 5 years past that to get your film used and developed which ended Oct. 2001. Funny how there is still rolls of this stuff out there and some Ebay sellers are not informing buyers you cannot get this film developed anywhere in the world anymore as color. Not even Rocky Mountain Lab is doing it. Nor Dwaynes.

I recall 4 different attempts to design a 100 speed Kodachrome. NONE of them had the grain of K-25.

Grain is one of the consistent problems with higher speed Kodachrome. The cyan dye tends to crystallize adding to the graininess of the cyan layer. Look at the sky in some of your K-200 shots and

you will know what I'm talking about.

 

The mini-processors(K-Lab) were introduced in the mid 90's. They set up one of these K-Lab machines

at the 94 and 96 Olympics. A number of photojournalists got a lot of great shots on K-200. By 2000

most photojournalists had gone digital. I think the last K-Lab was in Florida.

 

For many years there were a few managers at Kodak who were fans of Kodachrome. One in particular

got several programs started on his say so. The projects would progress until the marketing unit was

required to estimate sales volume. At this point the project would be canceled for lack of a solid

business case.

Thank you, Sirs!

A guy is selling 15 bricks on xxxbay right now.

Yes terry i seen that but i even checked with Dwayne and you cannot process it any way , unless you make a machine that cuts it down to 35mm and punches perforation holes in it so it can run through their machines sprockets. There's no one in the world that will be able to process this stuff..

 

I was wondering does anyone know of the location of the last machine that was able to process 120 Kodachrome film?