K_crome: How much time do we have?

Dear Earl,

I fear you have misunderstood me; I apologize for not making myself clearer.

What I meant is that while it is entirely rational to choose any film that you like, be it Kodachrome or anything else, it is foolish in the extreme to define yourself in terms of that film: "I shoot only Kodachrome" or "I shoot only FP4," because sooner or later, those films will vanish or at least change. He is indeed a poor photographer, by any definition you choose, who allows himself to be defined as a only a Kodachrome photographer or whatever. I never intended to accuse PKM25 of this.

By all means be a photographer who is happiest with, or who gets his best pictures from, Kodachrome (or Ilford XP2 or Super-XX or anything else), and by all means mourn its passing; but consider also the new opportunities offered by new films -- because you won't have the choice of the old one forever.

Cheers,

Roger

Roger: Ah! Much clearer, now I understand. One of my mantras is to learn a tool (such as a camera or film) so well that it basically becomes part of my "photogrphy being". With that, emotional attachment often comes, which can be a problem. To be blind to other possibilities is, indeed, foolish.

For me, I need to immerse myself in the use of a particular film to feel that I am its master. All about balance.

Cheers from Rah-cha-cha,

Earl

Earl Dunbar said:

Roger: Ah! Much clearer, now I understand. One of my mantras is to learn a tool (such as a camera or film) so well that it basically becomes part of my "photogrphy being". With that, emotional attachment often comes, which can be a problem. To be blind to other possibilities is, indeed, foolish.

For me, I need to immerse myself in the use of a particular film to feel that I am its master. All about balance.

Cheers from Rah-cha-cha,

Earl

Click to expand...

Earl,

As you know, many things in photography can be like that- regarding being blind to other possibilities. In fact what comes to mind for me is going out to take photos with a subject or idea in mind and not remembering to remove the blinders to respond to something presented right in front of me.

Rich

I must admit that, beyond their photographic virtues, I have a sentimental attachment to three films, Kodachrome, which captured most ot my childhood and was the first slide film I used (or even knew about - I remember when my dad started trying Ektachrome, mostly for the higher speed); Verichrome Pan, which is the first black and white film I learned to develop; and Tri-x, which is the first 35mm black and white film I really learned to use. When I came back to serious photography after a long break a few years back, I was sad to see Verichrome being phased out. But at least it was pretty easy to switch to Plus-x, which I had used before in 35mm. And I have acquired a taste for many others since, including APX100, which I was really developing an interest in when Agfa went under. But I have yet to find a slide film that I like as much as Kodachrome, or that seems to go as well with the old cameras I use a lot of the time.

I do hope that there's a while left with Kodachorme. I just got another box of slides back from processing (took almost a month .... argh ...), but, as always, I'm amazed by the clarity, sharpness and color. You just CAN'T beat it with E-6 films. Sure its expensive and inconvenient to have processed, but it's still worth it.

If you're in the US and send it straight to Dwayne's turnaround is usually pretty quick for normal processing.

What does Dwayne's charge for the K-14 processing?

Current prices at www.dwaynesphoto.com

FWIW, Dwayne's seems to do a better job with special requests, such as returning the film as an uncut strip, than does Kodak. OTOH, the shipping that Dwayne's charges is ridiculous for a single roll; you've got to save up several rolls to make the shipping tolerable.