View Full Version : Kodachrome's retirement
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=145040
Yes, we will all have get along with fuji velvia 50. :(
Only film that has a state park (in Utah) named for it.
Kodak folks did a good bit to establish the Finger Lakes Trail as well. Before GPS, the FLT was measured by a backward-counting wheel made by a Kodak engineer.
(Plus folks at a former subsidiary did and continue to do some work on another white blazed trail too.)
Honestly you need a faster film on the A.T. than in Utah though. ;)
How the mighty have fallen. Kodak was #1 for more years than I can recall. Then they got too complacent.
Got to believe Rochester, NY is hurting bad these days.:(
LIhikers
06-25-2009, 17:15
Does this mean we can't sing the Simon and Garfunkle song that mentions it?...:D
Does this mean we can't sing the Simon and Garfunkle song that mentions it?...:D
You can sing all you want, but Kodak's not likely to reverse its decision. Your time might be better spent dusting off your Kodak Carousel projector to view your AT Kodachromes one more time.
There were 2 locations where I sent Kodachrome 25 and 64 for processing. One was Fair Lawn, NJ and the other was in Maryland somewhere. Rockville?
Toolshed
06-25-2009, 18:10
Rochester AKA Image City due to not only Kodak but Xerox and B&L has been hurting for a while. Some people (like myself) were lucky to get out of Rochester and take other opportunities.
Either way there are many, many outdoors-minded folks from those companies who have contributed much of themselves for the advancement of the Adirondack Park, FLT and other local trails. Sad day for Kodak, though.
Funkmeister
06-25-2009, 18:26
Does anyone else remember Kodachrome 120? A truly awful emulsion, on par with other really bad ones like old VPH and the 6176 Ektachrome 200 sheet film of long ago.
I never shot lots of Kodachrome, though what I did shoot was the K25. That was the first almost grainless film, along with the Technical Pan film that came later.
Actually, I'm surprised that it lasted as long as it did. Thought it would have been extinct earlier, like most Polaroid emulsions that I used to use. Man, I miss Type 59 and 809.
I think this is what one calls 'progress'.
I worked in management for Kodak for 5 1/2 years. Digital imaging has killed one of the most recognized company names of all time. Sad.
Sold gallons and gallons of E-3, E-4 and E-6 Ektachrome chemicals.
Yes, Type 59 color Polaroid film was great...so was Type 58.
Kodak was #1 for more years than I can recall. Then they got too complacent.
I thought I saw something that said they still were #1 - in film, that is... (can't find the link right now)
How the mighty have fallen. Kodak was #1 for more years than I can recall. Then they got too complacent.
Got to believe Rochester, NY is hurting bad these days.:(
Yes, even building 405 is empty.
Kodak Park in Transition (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070826/MULTIMEDIA/70824027) - from the RD&C
Might be depressing, especially on reading the comment "Guess this is what they mean when they call Rochester a "boom" town !"
fancyfeet
06-25-2009, 22:44
I'm currently working on a scan of a 62 year old Kodakchrome slide. Color still pops like it was developed yesterday.
I'll be taking my stock of Kodakchrome on my trip to Iceland this summer. Colors are surreal over there.
I'm currently working on a scan of a 62 year old Kodakchrome slide. Color still pops like it was developed yesterday.
I'll be taking my stock of Kodakchrome on my trip to Iceland this summer. Colors are surreal over there.
If you would scan a few of your best images and link them to this thread, I'm sure I'm not the only person who would click on your link.
Does anyone have any scans of AT Kodachromes to post to our gallery or link?
fancyfeet
06-26-2009, 00:15
If you would scan a few of your best images and link them to this thread, I'm sure I'm not the only person who would click on your link.
Does anyone have any scans of AT Kodachromes to post to our gallery or link?
Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. It's gonna be a few months, though.
I'll keep that in mind. It's gonna be a few months, though.
I'll make a note to remind you.
fancyfeet
06-26-2009, 20:16
I'll make a note to remind you.
Thanks. I'll be back from my travels in October and will start working on it then.
I'll be back from my travels in October and will start working on it then.
Consider yourself reminded. I'm looking forward to seeing your scans of some of the last Kodachromes produced.
The Will
10-30-2009, 00:41
The local camera shop wanted > $17/roll for Velvia 50. Crazy. I got some from B+H for the standard $6ish price.
Off topic, I know, but it is still E-6. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one left.
If I decided to dust off the FM2, how are the Professional Elite Chrome films. I see they have a 100, 200, and a 100 Extra Color. Are these any good?
beakerman
10-30-2009, 11:36
I love traditional film a opposed to digital. I love shooting B/W and doing the processing myself. There is just somthing so satifying about watching an image develop in the baths. It's kind of like Forest Gump and his momma's box of chocolates: you're not really sure what you are going to get...ok you have a real good idea but thre is that flexibility to it that I love so much.
Saddly though I'm making the change to digital for all of my photography now. If for no other reason than it's so much lighter than film per shot. SD cards are almost truely weighless and carry hundreds of photos--even at 10 or 12Mp. i could have to carry dozens of rolls of film to achieve the same. So the film camera is being relegated to "art" photos.
Toolshed
10-30-2009, 15:47
sad but true - Like my 9 year old son looking at my mothers rotary dial phone (Her home) and wondering what it was....
Him looking at a box of old 33 1/3 record albums and wondering what they were - I explained records - you listen to them... He thought I was BSing - why the big old CD's shiny and why do they have grooves.
Him looking at my paperback book-sized AM/FM/Stereo Cassette Walkman (that holds like 12 songs) and laughing at me as he plays his thumbnail-sized Sandisk Cruzer FM/MP3 player that holds 1,000 songs....
I can see him looking at an old SLR or disc camera and not getting the concept of film...
sad but true - Like my 9 year old son looking at my mothers rotary dial phone (Her home) and wondering what it was....
That one came home to me a couple of years ago when I bought my daughter a jacket at REI and sewed into it was a little symbol of a handset with a sticky-out antenna with a line next to it, in lieu of the old symbol next to the line to write your phone number inside kids' clothes, that looked kind of like a 500 set (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_500_telephone) .
Getting back to Kodachrome, I'd have to say that my FE2 and FM are pretty much retired in favor of the D60. I wish I could somehow get output from the D60 that I could put into my Carousel 4200 though... :D
Consider yourself reminded. I'm looking forward to seeing your scans of some of the last Kodachromes produced.
I'm looking for a reasonable priced scanner so I can scan in all my slides.
Any suggestions?
I'm looking for a reasonable priced scanner so I can scan in all my slides.
Any suggestions?
Well, it depends on how many slides you;re talking about. For me, with only about 400 slides in my collection, it was easier to just take them to Wolf Camera and have them converted to a discs for about 67 cents a slide. Saved a lot of wear and tear on my nerves.
I wish I could somehow get output from the D60 that I could put into my Carousel 4200 though... :D
Anyone with experience on doing the reverse of this:
I'm looking for a reasonable priced scanner so I can scan in all my slides.
(Or maybe I just need a new projector?? Perish the thought!)
Anyone with experience on doing the reverse...
Not me, but the service is available. You may not like the price, but at least you won't be required to send originals as one must to obtain duplicate transparencies and there's nothing irreplaceable to get lost in the mail.
or maybe I just need a new projector? Perish the thought!
I'm doubtful you'll wish it away and if you want to incorporate some of your Kodachromes into a digital show, you'll need to buy a scanner too or pay someone to scan them for you.
Both Nikon's and Minolta's film scanners have been recommended to me, but I have experience with neither myself.
Maybe 25 years ago, Nikon and possibly Pentax manufactured slide duplicating attachments with integral light sources. If the mounts are identical, a digital camera might be substituted to produce scans from transparencies.
I believe the slide duplicating equipment accepted filters, but it would be much easier to modify the scans with software today and more could be done with them too.
I'll be back with several other ideas which may or may not cost more than buying a film scanner.
The last Kodachrome was processed yesterday. I'll be back with links to some of the final images.
Mrs Baggins
12-31-2010, 10:56
I'm currently working on a scan of a 62 year old Kodakchrome slide. Color still pops like it was developed yesterday.
I'll be taking my stock of Kodakchrome on my trip to Iceland this summer. Colors are surreal over there.
We have around 1500 Kodachrome slides from when we lived in Europe '77 and '78. I could scan them I guess but digital paper does not last and the images will fade out over time. I took a 35 mm film camera (Olympus) to Guatemala in 2005 and my husband took the digital camera. My photos, on 15 rolls of Kodak color film, were far better in color and quality than any of his digital photos (Canon). I never lost a roll of film, never had one ruined in airport xrays. We have lost plenty of photos on digital cameras, including nearly 200 in New Zealand, thru accidental erasure and other problems. I'm very sorry to see film of any kind disappear from the market. :(
To learn why, see Kodak's discontinuation notice (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/catalog/kodachrome64ProfessionalFilmPKR.jhtml).
The last roll of Kodachrome produced by Kodak was given to Steve McCurry, a National Geographic photographer. At least some of his images will be preserved and displayed by Kodak's Eastman Gallery.
Steve posted some of these images to his blog yesterday under the heading The End of an Era -- 1935-2010 (http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/).
Toolshed
12-31-2010, 19:20
My sister still works there. It's a Rochester tradition......