Kodachrome Availability Update

mcd · Feb 12, 2009

For those that may want to know, this week I have bought consumer Kodachrome with an expiration date of 3/10 and Professional Kodachrome with an expiration date of 9/09. Seems to be a lot of K64 consumer at the local store in New York, where I have seen at least 60 rolls in the refrigerator.

Sirius Glass · Feb 12, 2009

Hurry, you should buy up as much as you can so that you can keep it from the hoarders!

Steve

PHOTOTONE · Feb 12, 2009

You have just checked locally? That is all? What about California, what about where I live in Arkansas?? I don't think you have a handle on the Kodachrome supply.

mcd · Feb 12, 2009

PHOTOTONE said:
You have just checked locally? That is all? What about California, what about where I live in Arkansas?? I don't think you have a handle on the Kodachrome supply.

Pick up the telephone and call B&H and they will actually deliver it to you. You don't even have to leave your house.

Many people are curious about expiration dates of current Kodachrome supplies, wondering if we have seen the last production run of it. I was only trying to help them with information about the most recent film that I have seen. I'm sorry that I haven't polled your local drugstore, but with the modern advances like the telephone and internet, I didn't think that I had to.

B&Wpositive · Feb 13, 2009

mcd said:
For those that may want to know, this week I have bought consumer Kodachrome with an expiration date of 3/10 and Professional Kodachrome with an expiration date of 9/09. Seems to be a lot of K64 consumer at the local store in New York, where I have seen at least 60 rolls in the refrigerator.

Huh. I wonder why the PKR-64 is comparatively short-dated. And I don't want to hear those lies about how Kodak apparently ages PKR-64 to optimum color and releases it into the distribution channel when it is at optimum balance, whereas KR-64 is sold when it's still green and has to ripen on the store shelf or in the amateur's closet.

PKM-25 · Feb 13, 2009

Freestyle in LA has the best price on it, $8.09 a roll but they don't stock as much as B&H so they run out quicker. They are out right now, I got 50 rolls of KR-64 from them this week. B&H has sold some 600 rolls in the past month and now show 323 rolls of KR-64 at $8.59 per roll.

Once B&H runs out, we will see if the dates move up, continue at the same or what ever else could be a possibility in this crap economy.

Kodachrome is widely available, but not everywhere advertises it on the internet. For example, I was in DC for the Inauguration and wanted to get a Domke photo vest since security was not allowing camera bags in some areas. I went into Penn Camera and asked if they had any Kodachrome I could buy since I was feeling a little lean and they had as much as I wanted, all 03/2010. I bought 10 rolls and was almost on my way when a guy at the pro counter commented on me just buying it and said I might be the only guy who was shooting at the event.

When I told him who I was he thanked me for daring to be different in this age of digital and that he supported the project.

It's real simple folks: You either really want the film and know where to find it or you just want to find a reason to complain that you can no longer buy it along with a pack of cigarettes and a 6-pack at your local drug store and post that on the good old internet...

Venchka · Feb 13, 2009

Dwayne's has it.

kevs · Feb 14, 2009

I saw some openly on sale in Boots the Chemist the other day, didn't check dates though, but the box was a pretty colour. I must buy it all and become the Keeper of the Kodachrome. *evil laugh*

accozzaglia · Feb 15, 2009

Your precious.

kevs said:
I saw some openly on sale in Boots the Chemist the other day, didn't check dates though, but the box was a pretty colour. I must buy it all and become the Keeper of the Kodachrome. *evil laugh*

railwayman3 · Feb 15, 2009

I bought the last 3 K64 which Boots, Meadowhall (Sheffield) had on their shelf this week ("three-for-two" offer). Each had a different date!
09/2009 - 1558
10/2009 - also 1558
02/2010 - 1559
(First 2010 date which I've seen. )

Ian Grant · Feb 15, 2009

PKM-25 said:
Kodachrome is widely available, but not everywhere advertises it on the internet.

Stop kidding yourself, Kodachrome is not widely available at all, it's been withdrawn from sale in most countries other than the US, although there is still film available in some stores. Sending film to Dwaynes is not that attractive if your outside the US when E6 processing is readily available and faster & more convenient.

Kodak seem to be withdrawing Kodachrome, once their flagship colour film, gracefully without an abrupt halt, unlike they did with B&W papers. It does seem that we constantly re-hash the death of Kodachrome but Kodak started its wind down a few years ago, and it appears to be unstoppable.

Much of the current serious film user market is slowly moving away from 35mm, and 120 and particularly large format are becoming more popular Kodachrome never really took off in those markets. Kodachrome sheet film disappeared very early, and 120 Kodachrome never really took off because of the slow turnaround of the processing.

I guess it also doesn't help that Kodak discontinued K25 which was the jewel of the Kodachrome range, if the K-14 process had been more freely available world-wide then things might have been very different. I think there was one independent K-14 line in a London lab for a short time but it came too late, everyone had switched to Fuji 50D & E6 to get similar qualities.

Yes remaining stocks of Kodachrome will be around for a while, and Kodak may still have some left from the last master roll to confection, but it's not a mainstream product any more , none of my suppliers don't sell it any longer. I could still buy it if I really wanted to, but as I never liked K64 it's too late, there's no new K25

Ian

Ektagraphic · Feb 15, 2009

It is out of stock at Freestyle. I am going to place an order soon. I would consider it very easy it get. I think most camera stores are willing to order it. Almost no one stocks it except big guys like Freestyle and B&H

tim_walls · Feb 15, 2009

Ian Grant said:
Stop kidding yourself, Kodachrome is not widely available at all, it's been withdrawn from sale in most countries other than the US, although there is still film available in some stores. Sending film to Dwaynes is not that attractive if your outside the US when E6 processing is readily available and faster & more convenient.

Oh do come on; after reading this bloody forum every time I see Kodachrome on sale - which is frequently - I feel like I ought to click my heels and repeat "there's no place like home". It seems to me Kodachrome is a lot easier to buy than half the people here want it to be.

Kodachrome is readily available in the UK in any branch of Boots with a photography section I've ever been in. On the shelves, in the open, not buried in the basement. That's several hundred if not thousand shops stocking the stuff.

If you asked me to go into town and buy 1 roll of Kodachrome and 1 roll of Tri-X, I can guarantee I would be back with the KR64 in about 15 minutes. The Tri-X, I reckon there would be about a 50/50 chance of me finding any at all and I'd have to try at least 3 different shops.

Kodachrome will be dead soon. But honestly, the number of people here dancing on its grave because it's the latest spectator sport really is absurd.

Tom Kershaw · Feb 15, 2009

My local Jessops shop had Kodachrome sitting on the shelf a couple of months ago. Actually, I wasn't that convinced about Kodachrome until I recently received a couple of rolls back from Dwayne's having last used Kodachrome several years ago; projected the slides and was convinced...

Tom.

Ian Grant · Feb 15, 2009

Yes you're right, it's on the shelves in Boots, and the same rolls are on the shelf each time I return to the UK, going out of date.

Boots, for the handful of non UK APUG members, is a very large British drugstore/chemists chain, but Kodachrome is not available through my UK film & paper suppliers. Boots may still have a small stock spread around their stores that they need to sell rapidly.

The issue of Kodak film is another matter, when I last returned to the UK (Oct/Nov) the handful of photographic shops I went in had plenty of Ilford B&W film and some Fuji but Kodak B&W films were very thin on the ground, despite plenty of Kodak colour films.

So Kodachrome isn't that readily available in the UK, it's like when I wanted 20 rolls of Delta 400, Jessops said we have two rolls here , but Worcester have 3, Gloucester have 2, and the list went on. Needless to say I ordered from Silverprint instead.

Ian

PHOTOTONE · Feb 15, 2009

It is a valid point that most if not all films are harder to get, and usually not available locally except in big cities these days. I fail to see why Kodachrome would be the exception. This does not mean it is discontinued.

Poisson Du Jour · Feb 15, 2009

tim_walls said:
[...]
Kodachrome will be dead soon. But honestly, the number of people here dancing on its grave because it's the latest spectator sport really is absurd.

Yes, I agree absolutely. A dead horse in need of a baton...

Stop kidding yourself, Kodachrome is not widely available at all, it's been withdrawn from sale in most countries other than the US, although there is still film available in some stores. Sending film to Dwaynes is not that attractive if your outside the US when E6 processing is readily available and faster & more convenient.

A very good point. None of it is available in Australia and has not been for 10 years, so the attraction is absolutely zero.

tim_walls · Feb 15, 2009

Ian Grant said:
Boots, for the handful of non UK APUG members, is a very large British drugstore/chemists chain, but Kodachrome is not available through my UK film & paper suppliers. Boots may still have a small stock spread around their stores that they need to sell rapidly.

I'm intrigued; who are your UK film and paper suppliers? Just Silverprint? Wow. The assertion that "Kodachrome [has been] withdrawn from sale in most countries" is based on one supplier that doesn't stock it?

You've obviously never used 7 Day Shop. Or Firstcall. Or Calumet. Hell, apparently you've never even used - God Forbid - Jessops or Jacobs for Heaven's sake. Yes, that's right, "Jacobs Digital Photo & Video" sells Kodachrome.

No, on second thoughts, you're right. It's like hen's teeth.

In other news; milk, eh? Phsshaw. Impossible to get these days isn't it? Been discontinued throughout Europe, my local baker doesn't sell any any more. Good thing I like water on my brekkie cereal.

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Feb 16, 2009

In regards to availability, I've not heard of Kodachrome being readily available in any countries besides the UK and America. It certainly isn't imported into Australia in any form. Has anyone outside of America and the United Kingdom seen it on the shelf?

In any case, I'm glad to see a 2010 expiry date.

Poisson Du Jour · Feb 16, 2009

Fleath said:
In regards to availability, I've not heard of Kodachrome being readily available in any countries besides the UK and America. It certainly isn't imported into Australia in any form. Has anyone outside of America and the United Kingdom seen it on the shelf?

In any case, I'm glad to see a 2010 expiry date.

It was last available in 1997 from the last 2 Kodak outlets in Melbourne. There was little demand for it even then as Velvia and Provia became the norm, not the exception. The narrow batch expiry dates strongly indicate to me Kodak is winding up production completely.

PKM-25 · Feb 16, 2009

Poisson Du Jour said:
The narrow batch expiry dates strongly indicate to me Kodak is winding up production completely.

And that very well could be, but right now, there are people who are shooting it passionately, making the best images they can on it just because. Does saying things like the above put a song in your heart? Do you find you have a new found spring in your step as the film enters it's last days?

I lived in Australia for 5 months several years back, did a few stories on Humpback whales, a month in Tassy, awesome.

If I were still there, I would simply order plenty of this incredible film like one guy from Oz who has ordered a t-shirt for the project and use talent and drive to bring out the best in it.

It's OK if you and others above have written it off, but trust me, if you wanted to use it badly enough like many of us do, well then it is simply like anything in this life, you don't let anyone or anything get in the way of your dreams..

Our dreams happen to be to see that this film does not go quietly, but instead, brilliantly through the eyes of passion and talent..

If you and Ian are going to be sour grapes all the time, then why bother posting? What are you actually *giving* of any positive value to the discussion of this film and to the site as a whole I might add?

accozzaglia · Feb 16, 2009

You're not going to win over Poisson du jour, PKM-25. He'd dead-set on his take, and that's OK. While he never needs to touch the red-and-gold box ever again, I'm sure a few others in Oz will continue to batch-buy and batch-process Kodachrome because they want to. Each time, though, he chimes in on Kodachrome in this manner, it makes me wonder whether he's not just a slight bit wistful that he no longer has access to the stuff and would, if given the easy chance, shoot it one more time for posterity. But again, we're beating a dead wallaby here.

Chazzy · Feb 16, 2009

I really hate to see people saying that Kodak is winding down production of Kodachrome without an announcement to that effect from Kodak. Some poor fool who doesn't read carefully will mistakenly conclude that the prophet of doom must know what he is talking about, and will tell some other poor fool that Kodachrome must be dead—because he read it on APUG. This is how destructive rumors get started, and if I were a moderator, I would delete all posts announcing the discontinuation of a product, unless they have a foundation in actual, provable fact—namely, an official announcement from the manufacturer.

Ian Grant · Feb 16, 2009

Charles, Kodak have made plenty of official announcement indicating the winding down of production of Kodachrome, this started some time ago first with the loss of K25 & K200, the closure of the UK, Japanese & finally Lausanne processing lines, put these alongside Kodak closing it's own processing facilities and the closure of all the private K-14 lines except Dwaynes. The import of K64 ceased in most markets approx 6 months before the processing lines closed. Those are all irreversible steps, processing lines have been scrapped. All that is a very clear indication that Kodak have been winding down production of Kodachrome for about 8 years in line with declining sales.

Even PMK-25 accepts that it's highly probable that Kodachrome will disappear, it's only the question of how soon that's conjecture. His Kodachrome Project is a great way to make the most of the film while it's still around.

Kodachrome isn't that readily available any longer, that's the only point I disagree on, it's now only distributed in North America and the UK. Not all UK photographic shops and professional dealers stock it but as Tim Wallis points out it is available, and I saw odd rolls on the shelf myself when I was last in the UK. However only one of my 4 main suppliers still sells it, & that's B&H in the US.

Only Kodak know what decisions have been made about Kodachrome's future, no-one outside the company knows how much is left in storage or whether they'll ever produce another master roll. But I've said it before and I'll say it again - it is worth trying Kodachrome before it disappears, it's unique and quite different to all E6 films.

I have no axe to grind about Kodachrome, or sour grapes, but there has to be some realism about the film and its future.

Ian

PKM-25 · Feb 16, 2009

I snowboard, but have never skied, don't put down skiing.
I have some friends who only ski and really bash snowboarding...

When I asked them if they have ever tried it, they say yes, but could not get the hang of it, so they discount it as no good.....:rolleyes:

Kodachrome Availability Update

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