Develop regular slide (E-6) film as Kodachrome?

[Osmdesat]

Would it be possible to develop regular chromogenic slide film in similar way as Kodachrome was?
Maybe I am wrong, and haven't sufficient knowledge about the structure of real Kodachrome film, so sorry in advance if my idea is stupid from the start ( ;
As I know, Kodachrome was basically three-layer (I mean light-sensitive layers) film with spectral response for R, G and B light, like regular chromogenic film is.
It didn't contain any colour couplers, since the respective dyes were delivered into their respective layers during the elaborate process.
The chromogenic film like Ektachrome indeed contains colour couplers, but they are clear in their initial state and get coloured only in reation with color developing agent. In kodachrome process there is no CD agent to react with, so these couplers should remain invisible.
Maybe there would be a problem with different diffusion characteristics of the emulsion of chromogenic film - it is designed to be highly penetrable, so that developer can get in action in all the layers immediately, but in Kodachrome process there are more developers and they have to be selective, so the layers had maybe deliberately designed with different penetrability...
It's clear to me that main problem is to get K-14 process working rather than to get some old Kodachrome film for experiments. But I am just curious if it would be possible to "bend" the regular film to behave as Kodachrome, though with some modifications of the original K-14 process.

 

[koraks]

That's an interesting question (and nice to hear from you again!)

I don't know, but I'll follow this with interest, albeit more of an academic/hypothetical than a practical one.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Um....no.

 

[mshchem]

I think your going to be limited by cost.

 

[beemermark]

Since the Kodachrome process is long dead and buried how would you do it.

 

[Anon Ymous]

In kodachrome process there is no CD agent to react with

There are 3 colour developer solutions with a CD to react with.

 

[MattKing]

If Ron Mowrey (Photo Engineer) was still with us, his response to this thread would be, at the very least, interesting!
Despite being one of the named patent holders on the central K-14 Kodachrome patent (assigned to Eastman Kodak by him and his colleague and fellow Kodak employee Richard Bent) he was pretty clear in his opinion that the Kodachrome approach had reached its maximum potential and had been surpassed in quality by the capabilities inherent in the E6 approach.
Any process used to create positive colour film slides or movies needs to include several steps and components.
In essence, E6 films incorporate more of those components in the original film, leaving less to be added or created or modified at the processing stage.
In contrast, the Kodachrome processes move more of those components or steps to the processing stage.
Kodachrome processes were perfect for centralized, very high capacity labs - ideal for the motion picture films that made Kodachrome economically viable. When large numbers of people stopped making home movies using Kodachrome, the processing volumes plummeted, and Kodachrome's future was doomed.
In contrast, the various Ektachrome (and compatible competitor) products were and are well suited to much smaller, lower volume labs.
If someone came up with a process that wasn't E6, and used some of the approaches of the Kodachrome processes, it would be different than any of the Kodachrome processes, it would probably be more complex than any of the Kodachrome processes, and it wouldn't have the advantages of Kodachrome, such as the thin emulsions leading to high potential sharpness.
You would probably have to do something like remove one set of colour image components and then add another, more Kodachrome like set of other colour image components, to make it sufficiently "Kodachrome-like".

 

[loccdor]

What you could do is figure out what specifically you like about Kodachrome's look, then pursue other means to achieve them. The first step there would be making a list. Unless this interest is more on the chemical and less on the photographic side.

 

[Paul Howell]

The other issue, is OP intending to project the slides or scan for printing or web? Unless projecting in terms of process once scanned the images can be adjusted to look like Kodachrome in post without much trouble.

 

[lamerko]

Probably not. The first part is standard - a first developer similar to the one used in E-6. After that, however, the differences begin. The re-exposure is neither chemical nor a full exposure. For each dye-transfer step, there is a separate re-exposure in the corresponding spectral range, tailored to Kodachrome. The dye transfer itself, if I'm not mistaken, also acts as a developer - this is the critical stage where dye clouds can form from the couplers embedded in the emulsion…

 

[Chromium VI]

At some point, the "Portuguese Almanach of Photography" (I don't remember the issue year, but was in 60s) published description of the K14 process, they describe it as something like a normal bw reversal, with a 1st developer, and bleaching of the silver image, at this moment the film consists of a clear base (where once was the silver image) and remaining silver halides from the primary sensitive layers (as well as the filter layer). It then starts on a series of exposure to lights of primary additive colors, development and direct toning with dyes of the subtractive opposite color(like Auramine O for yellow, Methylene Blue for the cyan/blue, and perhaps Fuchsin, Methyl Violet, Rhodamine B or Safranine O for the magenta/red), time and temperature are very carefully maintained and regulated, and after the last bath (fixing?) the yellow filter layer is removed, and thadah! Color Transparencies!
If I found the article, and if the rest of the readers think is of interest I poste a translation.
Like Iamerko said, the chromogenic dyes may react with those used on the toning steps, that is beyond my understaning.

 

[YoIaMoNwater]

A quick google showed me the actual Kodachrome process: https://125px.com/docs/unsorted/kodak/tg2044_1_02mar99.pdf

I think the toughest part besides the chemicals is the red and blue reexposure part. The manual listed the energy required but also you need to expose at both the film base and also emulsion parts separately. Crazy process but it’s a science holy grail!

 

[MattKing]

The big processing Kodachrome machines were amazing.
Size of a small bus. But much louder.
A mile of leader, followed by a mile of customer film spliced together, followed by a mile of trailer, all put together in absolute darkness and then run at high speeds through the machine.
During busy times at the Kodak Canada Kodachrome processing lab that my Dad was customer service manager, the machine ran 24 hours a day. Three sets of staff, each working 8 hour shifts.
Huge volumes of home movies (mostly), 16mm movies, 828, 126 and 135 film.
The staff and family demonstration evenings that happened every few years were incredibly interesting for a young boy/teenager like me.
When home movies (mostly) left film, Kodachrome's days were numbered.