Kodachrome 64 film

[williamw]

Hi,

 

I've just checked out the B&H site for Kodachrome 64 film and it's

quite much cheaper than what I have to pay for it in Belgium.

When I buy the film where I live, the development enveloppe is always

included which I then have to ship to Switzerland ( only one lab in

Europe that handle this film).

Does the price at B&H include development or not ? I can't seem to

find any mention of it on the BH web site. If it's included, is it

then only valid for USA or also for the rest of the world?

 

Thanks to those who have experience buying from B&H or any other

dealer that also ships worldwide.

[andrew_hull]

No.

[roger_michel]

no and this is not peculiar to b&h. processing is sold separately in the usa and the cost varies from shop to shop (quite a bit). i am sure they will move to a mailer system as kodachrome processing becomes (continues to be) all but dead here too.

[al_kaplan1]

American Kodachrome was always sold with seperate processing. The European had it included. The big mail order places here used to sell grey market French and British Kodachrome with processing included much cheaper than you could buy the American film and seperate mailer. The Kodak processing labs here would process it for no additional charge. The Kodachrome sold in countries where processing is included will be processed free by any Kodak lab world wide. I think that there's just one lab left in the U.S. and soon ALL Kodachrome will be gone from the market

[deecy]

When we lived in a civilized America, Kodak sold this wonderful

film with a self-addressed mailer. The purchase cost included

the processing. After you shot the roll you stuck it in the mailer

and it went to Fairlawn, New Jersey (in this part of the world

anyway), Kodak processed it and sent you a nice little box of

slides (or not depending on your preference). Now I see, driving

past that facility, that Kodak is gone and some food

conglomerate has taken over the building. Armed guards with

dobermans patrol the perimeter to protect the added cholesterol

and trans-fats with which they lard their products.

In order to process Kodachrome now I believe the film has to be

sent to Antarctica, or perhaps to Lima, Peru. In any event we

retail customers no longer get to say where it goes. Kodak has

cut themselves off from American customers. We have to take it

to a store and they forward it to some distant, arcane locations

that may or may not have postal service, while we wait endless

days - nay, weeks to get a peek at our slides.

 

So Switzerland may not be such a bad option for you, William. I

bet if you wrote or called the Swiss facility, they would tell you that

they would process your film whether or not you bought it in

Belgium. On the other hand I can't imagine that they way you do it

is not cheaper by far than buying it overseas and having to pay

for the processing.

 

Count your blessings (if you're still allowed to do so in our

wonderful, new secular world).

 

Tom.

[williamw]

Thanks to all.

 

I guess I'll continue to buy it locally.

 

Btw, Tom - I liked your story.

 

Cheers,

[deecy]

Al Kaplan said: American Kodachrome was always sold with

seperate processing. (sic)

No, Al it wasn't. I, my family, and friends, must have sent literally

thousands of rolls of pre-paid Kodachrome to Fairlawn NJ over

the years. You're too young to remember (Or worse yet, I'm too

old because I do!)

 

Tom

[berk_sirman2]

Hi William. How much do you pay for K64 over there in Belgium? The cheapest K64 I found in Europe was www.mailshotsuk.co.uk They sell it for 7GBP (including processing of course) The postage costs an additional 3GBP per shipment It is 35% cheaper than the street price in Sweden.

 

Berk

[________1]

I think Kodak was sued at one point for including processing. Anti monopoly laws, or some such thing.

[anthony_brookes5]

Here in the UK when I used Kodachrome it was always processing included and I received the slides - mounted - from several locations but mainly Hemel Hempstead (UK) or Belgium. I suppose it is about time it was outsourced to some little village in China. In fact thinking about it some Chinese factory could restart Kodachrome and make it for 1/50th of the costs of Kodak themselves.

[williamw]

Berk,

 

Price depends on shops but I have found one place where I can get it for about 10 Euros including processing which would make it the same price as your UK shop. So I guess it's not too bad in the end..

[ben z]

I was very sad when Kodachrome 25 was taken off the market. For me that _was_ the end of Kodachrome. Neither 200 (grainier than any current 400-speed slide film) nor 64 (good whites and skin tones but otherwise very bland colors, and reds off to the brown side) ever appealed to me. I shot Kodachrome 25 and Koachrome II before it (which was a better film in a lot of peoples' opinion)for the majority of shots up until it was taken off the market and my considerable stock ran out.

[john_sandys]

Cheapest I have found in Europe for Kodachrome 64 Process Paid is 5.75 GBP at www.7dayshop.com postage to UK is 2.00 GBP Regards, John.

[john_shriver]

Yes, there was an anti-trust action by the US Justice Department that forced Kodak to stop including processing with Kodachrome and Kodacolor films. So US Kodachrome film comes without processing, and EU Kodachrome film comes with processing.

 

As for China, having spent half a century as a Communist Command Economy, their ability to implement strong quality control has been hobbled. You meet ridiculous production quotas (from the latest Five Year Plan) by ignoring quality control. (Think about the "quality" of Russian cameras.) They are recovering from being a command economy, but QC isn't their strong point. Having young women paint eyes on plastic dolls, at low cost, is their strong point. There also appear to be photofinishers outsourcing the evaluation of the image (on monitors) for color printing to China.

 

Also, running Kodachrome line isn't highly labor intensive. Certainly a K-Lab isn't, but Dwanye's is running a Cine line, which does require a chemist on staff to monitor the chemistry. But they probably have a rather modest staff to run the machine.

 

I suspect that the primary cost factor in processing Kodachrome today is that there is not enough volume, the line is much more expensive to keep in control if it isn't running 24/7. A lot of chemistry must go to waste.

[dan flanders]

Back in the dear dark days beyond recall -- even before WW2 -- I spent a lot of hard earned cash on Kodachrome and resented the cost. Now, looking back on those days, and examining the slides I made then, well it was definitely worth the expemse. Then when AnscoColor came along in the late forties I switched over and did my own processing. I ran the darkroom for the college architecture dept and had some up-to-date (for that time) equipment. We experimented with making color negatives by not reversing the film before color development and trying to use the same process on the primitive 'Printon' papers then available. Leaving college ended my experimentation. Fast forward sixty or so years; I would like to try to make slide transparencies with color negative film by flashing and reversing before color development. Unfortunately, I do not and likely will never have darkroom facilities available again. I wonder if any of the denizens of this forum have ever tried such experimentation. Nevertheless, I doubt if anything such experimentation would produce would have the longevity of the old Kodachrom slides.

[al_kaplan1]

Yup, you guys are right about the processing included and the anti-trust action because of it. That was my Dad's generation that bought the stuff processing included. By the 1960's it was seperate, and the independant labs all sucked! For awhile the 3M corporation made, marketed and processed an imitation Kodachrome once the original patents had run out. It was also sold under a number of private label brands. It too sucked!

[jim_britt1]

You might be interested in this:

A&I will be discontinuing Kodachrome (K14) services effective March 1, 2004.

Our decision to terminate this service was based on a number of factors,

including decreased film volume, and high costs to maintain the equipment

and chemistry. At this time, it is regretfully no longer feasible for A&I to

continue offering Kodachrome services. Kodak does offer Kodachrome

services at several global locations, as does Dwayne?s Photo Service in

Kansas. The following link will take you to a list of places that process

Kodachrome: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=

1147&pq-locale=en_US. You can also go to www.kodak.com and search on

?Kodachrome.?

 

If you have Kodachrome mailers that you are not able to use before March 1,

2004, you can do any of the following:

 

1. Use them to send in E6 film (one mailer per roll [135 and 120] or two

mailers per roll [220]).

2. Use them to send in C41 or B&W film (two mailers per roll [135 and 120] or

four mailers per roll [220]).

3. Exchange them for other mailer types (conversions listed above).

4. Return them for lab credit (for other services).

5. Ask for a full refund.

 

If you have any questions regarding our Kodachrome service termination,

please call 323-856-5255 and then select ?2? from the menu to speak to

someone on our Mail Order Services team. We regret any inconvenience this

service change may cause, and we appreciate your customer loyalty.

 

Sincerely,

A&I Photographic & Digital Services

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

[icuneko]

Do I hear Simon & Garfunkel singing in the background of this thread?

[dagata]

Seems there's one lab left--in Parson's, Kansas--where you can get it

processed in the U.S.: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/pubs/kic/e540/

e540kic.shtml

[gary_pinkerton1]

B&H still sells Kodak processing mailers [4.99] for Ektachrome and Kodachrome. They are listed under "film accessories".

They still go to the address in Fairlawn, but the processed slides come back in a white envelope with only a return address [no lab name, etc] from someplace in Maryland. Got 3 rolls back yesterday from them. The familiar yellow box is tucked inside the white envelope.

Dwayne's [Happy D's] in Kansas City is a good place, faster turnaround. As far as I know they do not accept the Kodak mailers.

They charge 8.50 per roll, turnaround about a week.

[frank_horn]

So, what's the next best thing to Kodachrome? (No, don't say "digital"!)

[al_kaplan1]

Tri-X

[skip_williams]

Kodachrome is only processed at three labs in the world now:

 

Dwayne's in Parsons, Kansas, USA

Kodak in Lausanne, Switzerland

Horiuchi in Tokyo, Japan

 

That's it! I guess that the mailers that are still sold in the U.S. go to the Kodak/Qualex facility in MD and are forwarded to Dwayne's for processing.

 

Sad, really.

 

Skip

[frank_horn]

Al, you are probably right. Kodacolor prints from 30 years ago now have a reddish cast. I no longer have any of the negatives to look at. Perhaps they would be unchanged and produce good-as-new prints. My black and white prints are still looking good, however.

[doug herr]

Frank Horn wrote: <I>"So, what's the next best thing to Kodachrome?"</I>

<P>

E100G is quite good, it's probably what I'll use if Kodachrome disappears.