Future Kodachrome Colour Developing

railwayman3 · Aug 18, 2013

NB23 said:
Dan, threads die when no one responds anymore. You know, just like your Kodachrome website in which you haven't participated in about a year now. As far as many participants are concerned, you've closed it without really closing it.

Yes. I never really understood why your Kodachromeproject.com website was apparently abandoned....there were many supporters who contributed regularly, with lots of friendly discussion and co-operation, and I am sure they would have continued to do so if the spammers and Viagra sellers had not been allowed to take over the forums.

NB23 · Aug 18, 2013

railwayman3 said:
Yes. I never really understood why your Kodachromeproject.com website was apparently abandoned....there were many supporters who contributed regularly, with lots of friendly discussion and co-operation, and I am sure they would have continued to do so if the spammers and Viagra sellers had not been allowed to take over the forums.

That is Dan: An entertaining moralistic guy that loves to teach and bash on various forums but yet can't keep up his own miniature forum running correctly.

PKM-25 · Aug 18, 2013

I am not sure whether to applaud or feel sorry for those who run forums. It's a big time suck when dealing with spam and all the rest. I am not sure what to do with it, I am a photographer first and always will be. Not many successful pros I know have time to run a forum.

Maybe I can figure out what to do with the site, maybe it will just become a blog / book promotion site at the very least. You have to remember....when you are online, you are not out photographing and that is what I do best.

lxdude · Aug 18, 2013

NB23 said:
That is Dan: An entertaining moralistic guy that loves to teach and bash on various forums but yet can't keep up his own miniature forum running correctly.

Well, you've got the bashing down just fine, and you are aren't running any forum. Potshots are easy, when you don't have to produce.

PKM-25 · Aug 18, 2013

I just updated my status with a few posts, I am interested in having someone help me steer the forum back into a more lively but spam free experience, I am willing to pay someone at this point.

But I don't feel it is appropriate to discuss my site's traffic and staffing needs further on APUG out of respect for Sean. PM me if interested...

ambaker · Aug 18, 2013

Gerald C Koch said:
I wonder if some one started a thread on the dodo would it reach almost 300 posts. They are both gone, kaput, fine, never to return! It was a nice film but it did have its faults.

From recent articles in scientific journals, the dodo has a better chance of coming back than Kodachrome.

At least with the Dodo, once you get it up and running, it could get to the point of self sustaining.

Kodachrome, you are talking about a fixed inventory that will decrease rapidly to zero. Kodak quit making Kodachrome significantly before Dwayne's quit processing it. Which says, at least to me, that restarting processing alone would not be enough to get Kodak to make the film again.

Seems like everyone would like to see Kodachrome processing back, but nobody really wants to *bring* Kodachrome processing back.

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Ken Nadvornick · Aug 18, 2013

ambaker said:
Seems like everyone would like to see Kodachrome processing back...

Maybe the data is trying to say something and the right listener has yet to come along?

Ken

Prest_400 · Aug 18, 2013

We should instead put efforts into convincing some top 50 world fortunes about the cause.
Too bad none of those billionaires aren't here. Some of them should be able to spare a few million $. I guess that a million for some of them is just like a hundred bucks for many of us.

clayne · Aug 18, 2013

I vote against closing any thread. Just unsubscribe from it if you dislike the content. We should never artificially end conversation - allow it to naturally dissipate.

Truzi · Aug 18, 2013

I've no real opinion on reviving Kodachrome processing, but do on whether to close the thread and open a new one.

There is nothing that would prevent a new thread from going down the same road, save for extreme moderation (that may not be worth the effort), and that would work in this thread as well.

PKM-25 · Aug 18, 2013

Then change it, keep the focus on the grassroots part and not the part when someone asks how the lab down under is doing with Kodachrome and promptly gets their head bit off.

Sal Santamaura · Aug 18, 2013

ambaker said:
...Seems like everyone would like to see Kodachrome processing back...

Incorrect premise. I and others have absolutely no interest in seeing Kodachrome processing come back. With no film being produced and no prospect of it ever again being manufactured, attempting to re-introduce Kodachrome processing would be entrepreneurial suicide. Why expend bandwidth and effort trying to convince one of the ever-decreasing number of operating color labs to undertake something that can only harm its success?

To reiterate, I have found no color film that motivates me to do serious work with it since reliably processed Kodachrome 25 became unavailable. Nonetheless, facing reality and moving on is the appropriate response to this situation. Pick a path and proceed. Don't pick on Stephen.

ambaker · Aug 19, 2013

Sal,

I am not trying to pick on David, or anyone else. If that is how my post seemed, then I sincerely apologize to all.

I do not mean to criticize anyone who wants it back, it was more of an observation that there seems to not be anyone trying to bring it back.

Would I like to see it back? Yes. I would like to see all the choices and formats we used to have, back.

I miss being able to go in a store and have stacks of film to choose from.

In the meantime, I enjoy every trip out shooting. And, in light of the current situation with film, I think I appreciate each trip a little more.

Nzoomed · Aug 19, 2013

ambaker said:
Seems like everyone would like to see Kodachrome processing back, but nobody really wants to *bring* Kodachrome processing back.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Its more like no one has any real motivation to bring it back.
Perhaps there are other people like Steve working silently on it, but well wait and see.

Gerald C Koch · Aug 19, 2013

Nzoomed said:
Its more like no one has any real motivation to bring it back.
Perhaps there are other people like Steve working silently on it, but well wait and see.

I would not describe it as lack of motivation but practical business considerations. The film market is shrining and will continue to shrink. Bringing back Kodachrome presents a different problem than bringing back a conventional film. Both the film and processing centers must be delivered at the same time. Not an easy feat even in a world where film sales were stable. It is the classic Jurassic Park problem. You cannot bring back a large number of carnivorous animals without providing a far larger number of food animals at the same time.

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 19, 2013

Nzoomed said:
Perhaps there are other people like Steve working silently on it, but we'll wait and see.

Wasn't there supposed to be someone buying up all of the leftover Kodachrome on eBay?

I wonder why someone might do that...

:confused:

Ken

Nzoomed · Aug 19, 2013

Gerald C Koch said:
I would not describe it as lack of motivation but practical business considerations. The film market is shrining and will continue to shrink. Bringing back Kodachrome presents a different problem than bringing back a conventional film. Both the film and processing centers must be delivered at the same time. Not an easy feat even in a world where film sales were stable. It is the classic Jurassic Park problem. You cannot bring back a large number of carnivorous animals without providing a far larger number of food animals at the same time.

Yes quite true, as far as motivation goes, its more the fact that i havnt seen anyone apart from Steve Frizza who actually has gone through such through research on the chemistry and find sources of the chemicals, let alone put it to use and actually process the film.

It certainly is not a viable business option unless there was a way to make it cheap and practical enough to do a large one off run of the film.

StoneNYC · Aug 21, 2013

Sal Santamaura said:
Incorrect premise. I and others have absolutely no interest in seeing Kodachrome processing come back. With no film being produced and no prospect of it ever again being manufactured, attempting to re-introduce Kodachrome processing would be entrepreneurial suicide. Why expend bandwidth and effort trying to convince one of the ever-decreasing number of operating color labs to undertake something that can only harm its success?

To reiterate, I have found no color film that motivates me to do serious work with it since reliably processed Kodachrome 25 became unavailable. Nonetheless, facing reality and moving on is the appropriate response to this situation. Pick a path and proceed. Don't pick on Stephen.

What about an E6 film that mimics the color profile of Kodachrome? Since it wasn't a natural palate anyway. In fact, I bet a company like Lomo would be interested, they like off color palates.

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DREW WILEY · Aug 21, 2013

I'd recommend just saving up any money you might otherwise spend on a hypothetical revival of Kodachrome processing and use it to invest
in stock in some company trying to develop a time-travel machine. That way you could just go back half a century or so and not only get your
Kodachrome rolls processed, but even buy Kodachrome sheet film!

Prest_400 · Aug 21, 2013

StoneNYC said:
What about an E6 film that mimics the color profile of Kodachrome? Since it wasn't a natural palate anyway. In fact, I bet a company like Lomo would be interested, they like off color palates.

Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

It was talked about on the mythical "Kodachrome is discontinued" thread. I remember PE mentioning something about modifying cyan dye or couplers.
Problem is that "normal" E6 is doing fairly but any more special kind of E6 (High Speed, Tungsten, Muted colour) is gone. Again, perhaps if Kodak (or other company) would be able to produce smaller quanitites with viability it could be probable again.

I've got a half off topic question: Kodachrome was coated in building 38? I recall PE mentioning that they kept a master roll for a long time and (perhaps) it was coated last in 2006.

I realised again how invaluable PE's participation is for the knowledge of processes et al film in the forum.

lxdude · Aug 21, 2013

StoneNYC said:
What about an E6 film that mimics the color profile of Kodachrome? Since it wasn't a natural palate anyway. In fact, I bet a company like Lomo would be interested, they like off color palates.

When I eat ripe blueberries I get an off-color palate. Off-color tongue, too.

I always did like Kodachrome's palette, though. Used to be, the others didn't come close to its accuracy, especially K25. Agfachrome was nicest, I thought, rather like K64.

Roger Cole · Aug 21, 2013

Kodachrome certainly had its own look, and for many subjects I liked it. Caucasian skin tones did tend toward too white and chalk-like, however. This varied from pleasing, in the case where I have some shots of folks with rather rosy skin tone that was muted a bit by it, to downright ghastly/ghostly in a couple of cases among my slides, particularly with electronic flash. For general outdoor non-portrait subjects though I liked it a lot.

No matter, it's gone. I suppose there might be a PS/LR/Gimp plug in or the like that might simulate it heretically.

Photo Engineer · Aug 21, 2013

Roger, what you say is due to the "design faults" that made Kodachrome so "wonderful"! Yeah, it was the cyan dye that was the culprit, making some flesh tones chalky. But hey, if that is what you want, you got it in Kodachrome. And yes, an E6 film could be modified to mimic Kodahcrome. Just mess with the cyan coupler/dye, and jack up the contrast until it is just about unacceptable! Of course, that costs R&D dollars, and to spend them, you have to have a market! No market? Wow, no modified E6 film.

Thanks for the kind comment. Yes, Kodachrome was coated on a regular schedule just like all Kodak products. Then it was stored in a "coffin" and taken out for slitting and chopping on a regular schedule. However, that coating time for Kodachrome became less and less often until it nearly vanished, and film was expiring on dealers shelves. That is why it had to go.

So, while Kodachrome was still alive, how many of you bought an E6 film. If you did, you contributed to the death of Kodachrome.

PE

Sal Santamaura · Aug 21, 2013

StoneNYC said:
What about an E6 film that mimics the color profile of Kodachrome?...

Astia was the closest E-6 film to Kodachrome I ever found, but it wasn't that close. Besides, in my opinion, E-6 is a "dead process walking," Ferrania notwithstanding. Those who enjoy color film would be advised to embrace C-41, which will probably last a few years longer. Or just make the leap directly to digital. Or, like I have, concentrate on black and white film/paper.

Nzoomed · Aug 22, 2013

Ken Nadvornick said:
Wasn't there supposed to be someone buying up all of the leftover Kodachrome on eBay?

I wonder why someone might do that...

:confused:

Ken

The 9 rolls i sold probably went to him!

Future Kodachrome Colour Developing

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