Kodachrome And Fuji Velvia Color Films

Truck451 · Mar 10, 2016

When Kodak was producing it's Kodachrome film, was it intended strictly for being developed as slides, or could it also be developed as regular color prints?
Is Fuji's Velvia film (which Fuji had developed in 1990 to rival Kodachrome) intended strictly for being developed as slides, or could it also be developed as regular color prints?

LJH · Mar 10, 2016

What is a "regular colour print"?

Sirius Glass · Mar 10, 2016

LJH said:
What is a "regular colour print"?

One that goes on its own. Not needing a laxative.

bvy · Mar 10, 2016

Cibachrome/Ilfochrome was the process for making regular color prints from slides or positive transparencies. It was discontinued about five years ago. Today if you ask a lab for prints from your slides, you're going to get something that was made from a digital scan of the film.

MattKing · Mar 10, 2016

Truck451 said:
When Kodak was producing it's Kodachrome film, was it intended strictly for being developed as slides, or could it also be developed as regular color prints?
Is Fuji's Velvia film (which Fuji had developed in 1990 to rival Kodachrome) intended strictly for being developed as slides, or could it also be developed as regular color prints?

Welcome to APUG.

It is interesting to see other viewpoints.

For many of us here on APUG, transparencies (slides) were for many years the normal and usual way of experiencing colour photography. Colour prints were relatively infrequently obtained, and often were only after-thoughts - printed from slides we liked. None of the traditional methods for printing colour prints directly from slides have survived. There are some approaches that work, but the most accessible ones involve a digital intermediary (off topic for here on APUG).

Colour print film - which create colour negatives, which are then printed on to colour paper - didn't really become the main source of colour photography until at least the 1970s.

You cannot develop any of the slide films in a way that would yield the negatives that are used for colour prints.

Sirius Glass · Mar 10, 2016

Truck451 said:
When Kodak was producing it's Kodachrome film, was it intended strictly for being developed as slides, or could it also be developed as regular color prints?
Is Fuji's Velvia film (which Fuji had developed in 1990 to rival Kodachrome) intended strictly for being developed as slides, or could it also be developed as regular color prints?

Welcome to APUG

Paul Howell · Mar 10, 2016

As already mentioned transparency or slide film was designed to be viewed as a slide, color negative film is designed to be printed. Saying that many publications in the day, including National Geographic" required a transparency for printing. If you look at old NG from the 60s each photo listed the film.

In terms of analog printing slides to prints there were 3 methods, direct positive such as Ciabachrome, make a inter negative using color copy film, and dye transfer. Dye transfer was very complicated many felt was the most accurate method. The original slide was not harmed and could still be viewed as a slide.

bvy · Mar 10, 2016

Paul Howell said:
In terms of analog printing slides to prints there were 3 methods, direct positive such as Ciabachrome, make a inter negative using color copy film, and dye transfer. Dye transfer was very complicated many felt was the most accurate method. The original slide was not harmed and could still be viewed as a slide.

"Were" really only applies to Cibachrome and dye transfer. You can still make internegatives and print from them. PE has described a procedure for us.

A fourth method, and perhaps the most accessible to someone already set up to print color, is RA4 reversal, which just involves two extra steps to the regular RA4 procedure. It's not perfect, but it can yield some interesting results.

Paul Howell · Mar 10, 2016

I need to see what PE posted, I tired using several different color films, but the contrast was way off. I hate to say it but in terms of hassle factor, scan and print is the best option for me.

Photo Engineer · Mar 10, 2016

For many years, Kodak made a Kodachrome Print material that was on a white reflective acetate base. When the Kodachrome process changed requiring an exposure from the back, this material was discontinued and Kodak recommended internegatives or the use of Type R materials.

All reversal materials have been discontinued. Therefore the only options are cross processing RA4 materials or making Internegatives from slides. I have tried both with Kodachrome, and the results were less than pleasing. Very fine results by either route can be had though using Ektachrome as the source slide.

PE

GarageBoy · Mar 10, 2016

what was the process to go from slide to magazine?

Photo Engineer · Mar 10, 2016

GarageBoy said:
what was the process to go from slide to magazine?

Well, first they made separation negatives (R/G/B) Then they made positives to the right dimensions and also made a set of color masks (adding the effect of the orange mask in negative films), and then they made the halftone plates or whatever they used and then they printed them using C/M/Y/K plates to get color images.

That is a very very abbreviated version available in some text books and Kodak How To books.

PE

fstop · Mar 10, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
One that goes on its own. Not needing a laxative.

Thanks I needed a good laugh

EarlJam · Mar 10, 2016

I'm fortunate to have one Kodachrome print, a shot of my sister and me with our great-grandparents, circa 1954. 60+ years on, it's still vibrant. holding up as well as Kodachrome slides my grandfather shot in the early 1940s.

Poisson Du Jour · Mar 10, 2016

Kodachrome could easily be printed, chiefly to the then Cibachrome media, but it also had a large dedicated following in home/commercial RA-4 printing. It was particularly good when images had lots of reds, faithfully reproducing these as opposed to well known problems in getting reds to print correctly from Velvia and to a lesser extent, Provia. Similarly, Velvia has also been used for the production of prints for a very long time, again to Ilfochrome Classic and/or RA-4. Neither film is strictly only or solely for projection, though Kodachrome slide nights were a regular staple in my early Club affiliations. Printing is a specialist and intensive task but very well worth the investment in skill and material.

Kodachrome And Fuji Velvia Color Films

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