KODACHROME Film: Interview with Kodak's President Jeff Clarke 2/20/2017

[Agulliver]

I am not surprised that film sales, especially reversal, tanked. Print magazines (especially such as National Geographic) and even websites used to insist on reversal film for published work...wasn't National Geographic responsible for 300,000 rolls of Kodachrome alone per year? Once they and their ilk went digital, the writing was on the wall. Also amateur users can now do a "slide show" digitally.

However, in this decade the market has stabilised and begun to grow again. It will never be what it was, but the remaining manufacturers are seeing that there is still a market and it's expanding. Kodak are probably betting on super 8, 16mm and 135 sales to make Ektachrome viable. There's a business case. For pukka Kodachrome with colour dyes added during the processing and multiple layers dealing with different colours....the cost to bring it back seems prohibitive. Even if Kodak could manufacture the film, who can process it?

So while I agree that an E-6 product is more likely, I warn against calling it "Kodachrome". Unless Dwayne's still have their K14 machinery mothballed and can resurrect it without much cost...and Kodak can make a product which can use the old machinery with minor modifications to the chemistry that do not require changes to the machinery itself.

Heck, I am just happy to have Ektachrome back. And I agree, nobody is going to produce a film for a "new" process. We have C41, E6 and traditional B&W. Unless Kodak can reintroduce K14 without much cost to themselves and anyone who still has K14 machinery.

 

[mshchem]

What if Kodak went back to their original model. Processing included with the film purchase? Then Kodachrome is a winner. Prepaid mailers the works. Have a lab in Chicago, San Francisco and Rochester. Perfect processing under control, volume to make it cost effective. I'd pay 15 to 20 bucks a roll for 135-36 Kodachrome 64 all nicely processed and mounted with the date on each slide. And 120 Kodachrome uncut in a nice little yellow box. Dreamy
Mike

 

[keenmaster486]

What if Kodak went back to their original model. Processing included with the film purchase? Then Kodachrome is a winner. Prepaid mailers the works. Have a lab in Chicago, San Francisco and Rochester. Perfect processing under control, volume to make it cost effective. I'd pay 15 to 20 bucks a roll for 135-36 Kodachrome 64 all nicely processed and mounted with the date on each slide. And 120 Kodachrome uncut in a nice little yellow box. Dreamy
Mike

I wish. You have our federal government to thank for the fact that they're not allowed to do this any more. Of course, they're just protecting us poor consumers from the big bad Kodak, because of course they were holding guns to our heads forcing us to buy Kodachrome. How terrible it was back then!

 

[MattKing]

I wish. You have our federal government to thank for the fact that they're not allowed to do this any more. Of course, they're just protecting us poor consumers from the big bad Kodak, because of course they were holding guns to our heads forcing us to buy Kodachrome. How terrible it was back then!

The consent decree that prohibited Kodak from selling "processing included" film in the US was set aside in 1995: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1300513.html

 

[keenmaster486]

The consent decree that prohibited Kodak from selling "processing included" film in the US was set aside in 1995: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1300513.html

Well, I'll be! That's awesome, I didn't even know about that! Cool beans.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Well, I'll be! That's awesome, I didn't even know about that! Cool beans.

I'm surprised, it has been posted here many times!!!!

Besides, ATROXUS may or may not be in the US so what do you care? We don't know.

As for Kodachrome, there are many impediments as noted in the post by EK.

PE

 

[Craig]

If this third process uses something similar to the E-6 process (with integrated color couplers), there are a couple logical names that Kodak could use: New Kodachrome (like "New Coke" back in the 80's?), or my favorite, Kodachrome 3.0

There has been a tradition in the Ekatachrome names of using a suffix to denote the "flavour" of the film - such as E100VS for Vivid Saturation, or E100SW for Saturated Warm, so why not E100K for an Ektachrome with a palate similar to the old Kodachrome. It quite accurately says what it is: an E6 film that would look like Kodachrome, but isn't a K14 material.

One PE might be able to shed some light on: why the numbers 12 and 14 for the processes? Was there 11 prior attempts to come up with a process before K12 came out in 1961?

 

[keenmaster486]

I thought it was the number of steps.

 

[faberryman]

Calling Ektachrome Kodachrome is like calling pancakes waffles. The aren't the same. It would be a cynical marketing move, but in keeping with the times where truth is held in so little regard.

 

[keenmaster486]

New waffle-flavored pancakes!

 

[ME Super]

If this third process uses something similar to the E-6 process (with integrated color couplers), there are a couple logical names that Kodak could use: New Kodachrome (like "New Coke" back in the 80's?), or my favorite, Kodachrome 3.0 (there are regulations on calling a product "New" for more than a certain period of time in some countries - I think it's 6 months in the US).

There has been a tradition in the Ektachrome names of using a suffix to denote the "flavour" of the film - such as E100VS for Vivid Saturation, or E100SW for Saturated Warm, so why not E100K for an Ektachrome with a palate similar to the old Kodachrome. It quite accurately says what it is: an E6 film that would look like Kodachrome, but isn't a K14 material.

This too is logical. But decisions made by the marketing department aren't always logical

 

[Photo Engineer]

You got that right. They refused to trademark BLIX as it sounded like a kids toothpaste (quote) and someone else got it.

PE

 

[Terry Breedlove]

If they made a film that looked like the original Kodachrome or as close as possible. I would love that in 35mm and 120 even if it was E6. In fact maybe that would be the best of both worlds.

 

[Rudeofus]

If they made a film that looked like the original Kodachrome or as close as possible. I would love that in 35mm and 120 even if it was E6. In fact maybe that would be the best of both worlds.

I know, that they are going to burn you on the stake for writing this, but secretly I agree with you 100.0000%

 

[keenmaster486]

Personally, I think the E6 options are very well rounded out right now, especially with the addition of Ektachrome.

If they came out with a Kodachrome E6, I wouldn't hate it, but I probably wouldn't buy it either since I already like how Velvia, Provia, etc. look.

Part of the allure of Kodachrome for me is indeed the fact that it's a completely different process.

 

[pentaxuser]

I keep on re-reading the quote on post 1 and as far as I can see, the CEO has include two vital "ifs" and has supplied a phrase which can be read as it will be the same as the original but different. If this were a clause in a contract it wouldn't mean anything, would it?

If he were a politician, I'd be tempted to categorise this quote as warm words only without any real substance. Might he not be simply acting as a "man for all seasons"

Aren't we supplying the substance instead of him? The trouble is: it is our substance but of course we control nothing.

pentaxuser

 

[Cholentpot]

You think a 20-30 year old would give a hoot what process their new Kodachrome was using? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then who cares if it's a goose. Kodak is targeting a younger crowd.

 

[removed account4]

You think a 20-30 year old would give a hoot what process their new Kodachrome was using? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then who cares if it's a goose. Kodak is targeting a younger crowd.

i saw the polaroid swing being promo'd on "mad money"
it wasn't an instant camera, but an app
i couldn't agree more with you cholenpot,

 

[Photo Engineer]

I keep on re-reading the quote on post 1 and as far as I can see, the CEO has include two vital "ifs" and has supplied a phrase which can be read as it will be the same as the original but different. If this were a clause in a contract it wouldn't mean anything, would it?

If he were a politician, I'd be tempted to categorise this quote as warm words only without any real substance. Might he not be simply acting as a "man for all seasons"

Aren't we supplying the substance instead of him? The trouble is: it is our substance but of course we control nothing.

pentaxuser

You hit it right on.

PE

 

[Cholentpot]

i saw the polaroid swing being promo'd on "mad money"
it wasn't an instant camera, but an app
i couldn't agree more with you cholenpot,

I'm in my 30's and didn't shoot Kodachrome when it was available. In fact the only thing I ever shot back in the film days was a disposable camera. I picked up film about 4 years ago and discovered that I never even loaded a roll of 35mm myself.

After spending a few years mired in film and the lore I'd love to shoot some Kodachrome. But honestly? I don't give a rats rump if the stuff is K-12/14/E-6/D-76. At this point I'd only be able to afford a roll or two a year. I'm hoping for an E-6 version so I don't get skinned for $20+ to get the roll developed. I'll do it in my own sink, and I've found my results are better and more consistent than all the labs around here besides for the best ones. And the best ones charge more than it's worth to shoot color or slide.

The major screw up in my opinion in the last 5 years was the discontinuation of packfilm. It was taking off again and I started seeing people using it. $8 a pack was doable and the results were unmatched. Fuji dropped the ball just as the train was picking up momentum. If the stuff was still cheap and available I don't doubt someone would have put out a new packfilm camera by now.

 

[keenmaster486]

The major screw up in my opinion in the last 5 years was the discontinuation of packfilm. It was taking off again and I started seeing people using it. $8 a pack was doable and the results were unmatched. Fuji dropped the ball just as the train was picking up momentum. If the stuff was still cheap and available I don't doubt someone would have put out a new packfilm camera by now.

Absolutely. I completely agree.

 

[Prof_Pixel]

The major screw up in my opinion in the last 5 years was the discontinuation of packfilm.

Peel-apart technology involves too much fuss, mess and waste generated for the consumer marketplace. The integral picture unit technology meets the consumer needs much better.

 

[mshchem]

Kodachrome is so wonderful to me because my Dad used it starting in 1949. I have perfect slices of my older sister's childhood before I came along. And then our family life up through when I graduated from high school and beyond. I'm the only one left of my family, and the Kodachrome slides are perfect. I can scan them with my coolscan and have prints made (or in the good old days I printed Cibachrome). It's a perfect recording medium. He shot a couple of rolls of Anscochrome, theres an image but not much else.
Kodachrome was there. ASA 10 25B press bulb. Later Kodachrome II ASA 25. Then 64 speed! Only Kodachrome is Kodachrome.
My Grandmother Ida Agnes Adelaide Kortz Kingscott and My sister Andrea 1952 Argus C3

 

[Terry Breedlove]

I know, that they are going to burn you on the stake for writing this, but secretly I agree with you 100.0000%

Living dangerously

 

[rthollenbeck]

Kodachrome is so wonderful to me because my Dad used it starting in 1949. I have perfect slices of my older sister's childhood before I came along. And then our family life up through when I graduated from high school and beyond. I'm the only one left of my family, and the Kodachrome slides are perfect. I can scan them with my coolscan and have prints made (or in the good old days I printed Cibachrome). It's a perfect recording medium. He shot a couple of rolls of Anscochrome, theres an image but not much else.
Kodachrome was there. ASA 10 25B press bulb. Later Kodachrome II ASA 25. Then 64 speed! Only Kodachrome is Kodachrome.
My Grandmother Ida Agnes Adelaide Kortz Kingscott and My sister Andrea 1952 Argus C3
View attachment 173978

Thanks for shareing. What a wonderful slice of life. Lots of familiar country look in this shot.

At least to my eye, the look of Kodachrome is unequaled.