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Kodachrome substitute


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It all goes to Dwayne's. If you send it through Walmart the price is cheaper.

 

One problem is that K25 is no longer available and K64 has a different look.

 

Try K64 and see if you like it.

 

If not start trying the various Fuji and Kodak offerings. See if they have the look you want.

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K64 is a very different film from K25 or K-II or, yes I do remember as a small child, the original Kodachrome. However, I recently shot some of the K64 film and it is far better than it was when it first came out. Just don't get too attached to it.

 

I'm afraid my substitute is to shoot color negative film and scan it and to use the digital cameras I got after I found my travel film fogged by security X-rays (or cosmic rays, or whatever).

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Well it's not exactly the same look but it was Fuji Velvia that basically stole most of the market away from Kodachrome years ago for photographers looking for a saturated look but with the convenience of E-6 processing. Velvia has been withdrawn and brought back in the past couple of years but I'd say most people who have switched from Kodachrome have switched to Velvia.
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"I thought there is only like one lab in the country that still does kodachrome"

 

There is only one lab in the whole world still doing Kodachrome. I still long for it. Whish I could get my hands on it without much trouble and have it developed without having it to send accross the world.

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Whenever the time comes that I can no longer get Kodachrome, the majority of my "people-taking" slides will be on Astia 100F. It's the nicest on skintones, probably the closest to Kodachrome, IMHO. Anything else I've tried tends to make skin look ruddy.

 

I should rate the Astia a bit higher than 100. If it veers even slightly on the bright side, it looks very weak, with grayed-out shadows. As finicky as Kocachrome can be, it handles that a little better.

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Images from my Olympus E20 digital whizbang have that "look" of Kodachrome 2 taken with an Elmar. That's up to 8"x12". Unfortunately, above that size it loses apparent sharpness.

I don't think there is a conventional film which even comes close to Kodachrome's special look.

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Thank you, everyone, for the helpful responses. I asked this question on the Classic

Cameras forum because Kodachrome's glory days coincided with the classic camera era. I

liked the look I got from K25 shot with 1950s lenses such as Leitz and Canon RF. Of

course, I came in at the "tail end," since I only started doing that around 1999!

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I think Ektachrome Professional E100GX is gorgeous stuff. The colors are more accurate than Kodachrome 25, a much cleaner palette. It has somewhat enhanced color saturation, but not out of hand. I'd say the overall color balance is fairly neutral outdoors, where Kodachrome 25 was a bit warm.

 

E100G (no X) will be bluish-cold outside, if you always preferred Kodachrome to Ektachrome, that's a film to avoid. E100G would be great for flash photography, but outdoors, the shadows come out blue, because they are lit only by blue sky.

 

If you find you want more color saturation punch, you can move on up to E100VS. I don't have any personal experience with it, I've only used E100GX and E100G.

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I too miss the ol' days when you'd find K25 on a rack at Drugfair

reduced in price in a double pack! I did think the Velvia I used in the mid 90s was trying to emulate Kodachrome. I don't think I've seen it anywhere..the demise of available film choices is a pity.

The cost of K64 in Europe 5 years ago told me the end is near...

Can K64 be developed in Europe? Is Dwaynes the only place in the world

now?

Mama don't take my Kodachrome and leave your boy so far from home!!

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"Can K64 be developed in Europe? Is Dwaynes the only place in the world now?"

 

No development in Europe anymore. The last lab in Switzerland closed a few years ago. I have found a few rolls at home and emailed Kodak about it. In europe you send them to Switzerland and they send it through to the US (Dwaynes). But the pouches are still valid!

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"Mama ,don't my Kodakchrome away"!..I only shoot about a roll or two a year (for archival purposes) but I don't want to see it go!There's nothing like a slide show!The screen/the projector..people really watched & payed attention!!A different world!What have we lost!More than we can say!It's sad!I wish I could change it.
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For maximum sharpness I used to use K25 shooting at ASA32. Another of my favorites which in some cases I liked even better was KPA 40 (Kodachrome Professional type A (tungsten), using it with an 85B filter and shooting at 25. The color was superb, in many ways better than daylight film in daylight (of course that is also true of many indoor films).

 

Some of you may not know that all the Kodachromes are b/w film until processed. It was as tough as PllusX or any other b/w emulsion. After first development, there were three color couplers and three color developers together with the bleaches, fixes, and other secondary chemicals . The quality control has to very good.

 

Lynn

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