Kodachrome home developed!!!!!! (not me)

Young He · Dec 29, 2017

First of all, please note that I had nothing to do with the processing. I just saw something cool on Reddit and wanted to share. Someone has possibly already posted about this, but here goes. I will not mention anything that I do not know, as I might mislead someone or give people wrong information.

This person (a woman I believe) has been doing this for quite some time now; several months or even more, but I just found out. She has used the Rockland polytoner product that is available at B&H and Freestyle photo, and regular c41 developer. She puts the polytoner couplers into separate CMY solutions and processes similarly to regular kodachrome.
Here is the link to her website.

Dead Link Removed

This is very interesting; if this has already been posted about I apologize, but this is really cool. The results have remarkable colors and the method used to process is fascinating. Several people have had the idea of using the Rockland polytoner, but this is the first time I have seen results. Maybe more people will try this? I definitely want to try this now.

Edit: I believe she has used a method similar to one posted last year on the Kodachromia wiki, originally I thought she made the post but it turns out it was another person.

trendland · Dec 29, 2017

In short - just forget it. If you want to substitude a K14 process.
Of cause you can get something what seams to be a nice color.
But from other ways you can use simple bw film after developing you can paint the negatives - that would also be a nice color negative.......

Sorry to say but thats not my way .!

with regards

Young He · Dec 29, 2017

Its not exactly a substitution, just using different couplers and slightly different developing chemistry. I would say that the results are acceptable. I might even go as far as to say this is somewhat like processing an ECN-II film with C41. It's very interesting too; using commercially available chemicals to develop an obsolete film.

trendland · Dec 29, 2017

Sorry but I may correct myself cause I overread one sentence (just from fast reading).
She is using seperately CMY baths with special colors ??
Thats indeed amazing. Ok nice experiment - but I doubt to long live stability from such colors.
That was the most advantage of Kodachrome !
So at last - sorry to say - same procedure : Not my way .....

NOTING TO DO WITH K14...

with regards

Young He · Dec 29, 2017

Heh yes you are right; the process is too complicated for regular use. I would expect the stability would be similar to ordinary C41, but definitely not as long as the 165? predicted years for Kodachrome slides. Of course, the stability will probably be affected if a stabilizing bath is not used, or improper bleaching, or if the rockland product does not use the correct couplers. I am not an expert though; hopefully PE can come along and offer his opinion.

Cholentpot · Dec 29, 2017

trendland said:
Sorry but I may correct myself cause I overread one sentence (just from fast reading).
She is using seperately CMY baths with special colors ??
Thats indeed amazing. Ok nice experiment - but I doubt to long live stability from such colors.
That was the most advantage of Kodachrome !
So at last - sorry to say - same procedure : Not my way .....

NOTING TO DO WITH K14...

with regards

K-14 is not the point.

The point here is people with rolls of Kodachrome have an option besides for B&W. Someone came up with a way to salvage more data off of a process that is dead. So,

I DON'T CA
RE IF THIS ISN
'NT . KODACR
ME ! SOMEONE GOT
COLOR OFF. OF KODAC
ROME

trendland · Dec 29, 2017

Young He said:
Its not exactly a substitution, just using different couplers and slightly different developing chemistry. I would say that the results are acceptable. I might even go as far as to say this is somewhat like processing an ECN-II film with C41. It's very interesting too; using commercially available chemicals to develop an obsolete film.

Cholentpot said:
K-14 is not the point.

The point here is people with rolls of Kodachrome have an option besides for B&W. Someone came up with a way to salvage more data off of a process that is dead. So,

I DON'T CA
RE IF THIS ISN
'NT . KODACR
ME ! SOMEONE GOT
COLOR OFF. OF KODAC
ROME

Yes - I have had thoughts on this before.
But (to me) it is no way.
My last Kodachrome I bought somewere around 2002 ? I was forced to pay much more because Kodak stated it will be discontinued. So pricing was very high after this. Later I don't wanted Kodachrome64 - so that was the end to me.
With much interesst I folowed eBay auctions of all kind of Kodachrome stuff - after Dwaynes stopped developing......

.......
And now my thoughts are again with this group of people : WHAT A PITY - someone sold them Kodachrome films

with regards

bvy · Dec 29, 2017

I really don't understand any of the posts here after first one, but...

If the images on the home page are home developed Kodachrome, I'd say this is pretty impressive work.

trendland · Dec 29, 2017

Young He said:
Heh yes you are right; the process is too complicated for regular use. I would expect the stability would be similar to ordinary C41, but definitely not as long as the 165? predicted years for Kodachrome slides. Of course, the stability will probably be affected if a stabilizing bath is not used, or improper bleaching, or if the rockland product does not use the correct couplers. I am not an expert though; hopefully PE can come along and offer his opinion.

A complete different issue would be - Young He - if this solution is a (from my point of view that doesn't matter if it would be then an experimental development) type of approach to use it with EVERY bw film.
But I have to think about - I belive it isn't possible because the special design of Kodachrome bw basis.
IT OBVIOUSLY WILL NOT WORK WITH ILFORD PANF, ROLLEI RETRO 80S, TMAX100.........very sad about.

with regards

PS : Sure PE has something to say about .... we should wait for a while

Cholentpot · Dec 29, 2017

trendland said:
Yes - I have had thoughts on this before.
But (to me) it is no way.
My last Kodachrome I bought somewere around 2002 ? I was forced to pay much more because Kodak stated it will be discontinued. So pricing was very high after this. Later I don't wanted Kodachrome64 - so that was the end to me.
With much interesst I folowed eBay auctions of all kind of Kodachrome stuff - after Dwaynes stopped developing......
.......
And now my thoughts are again with this group of people : WHAT A PITY - someone sold them Kodachrome films

with regards

Some film is better than no film.

I shoot ECN-2 all the time and develop in C-41. The film police have not yet knocked on my door at 2am. Nothing has blown up and the negatives are safely scanned. On the positive side I got cheap color film that lets me feed my cameras for another while. If I wanted perfect I would join the darkside.

trendland · Dec 29, 2017

Cholentpot the film police several times knocked on your door !!!
The district federal marshal was informed about issues concerning you.
BUT YOU WASN'T AT HOME !
NOW SEVERAL FILM SWAT UNITS ARE ALARMED - THEY ARE ON THE WAY....

trendland · Dec 29, 2017

Young He said:
First of all, please note that I had nothing to do with the processing. I just saw something cool on Reddit and wanted to share. Someone has possibly already posted about this, but here goes. I will not mention anything that I do not know, as I might mislead someone or give people wrong information.

This person (a woman I believe) has been doing this for quite some time now; several months or even more, but I just found out. She has used the Rockland polytoner product that is available at B&H and Freestyle photo, and regular c41 developer. She puts the polytoner couplers into separate CMY solutions and processes similarly to regular kodachrome.
Here is the link to her website.

Dead Link Removed

This is very interesting; if this has already been posted about I apologize, but this is really cool. The results have remarkable colors and the method used to process is fascinating. Several people have had the idea of using the Rockland polytoner, but this is the first time I have seen results. Maybe more people will try this? I definitely want to try this now.

Edit: I believe she has used a method similar to one posted last year on the Kodachromia wiki, originally I thought she made the post but it turns out it was another person.

Last question : Are you sure the posted content is real? (from the tumblr site) ?
It may be a fake?
The pictures looks not like coming from Kodachrome.
If they are Kodachrome the question is :
Are this pictures processed with alternate solution or are this pictures just Kodachrome examples (from original k14 developing) because they are marked as Kodachrome?
At last we have just a nice diagram ?

Look at the complete process pls. with several reverse exposure steps.

with regards

locutus · Dec 29, 2017

trendland said:
I have some doubts if a normal female creature is able to fulfill such complicate task......

What, seriously!?

bvy · Dec 29, 2017

trendland said:
I have some doubts if a normal female creature is able to fulfill such complicate task......

Bravo. Happy 1918 to you.

Young He · Dec 29, 2017

Yeah, I had my doubts as to whether the images on the site were actually kodachrome or not, but I will trust them for now. You are quite right, trendland, that this will not work on black and white film. However, I believe that this will work on black and white paper with a two color red and green process, similar to the original two color kodachrome. As multigrade paper has two layers of differently sensitized film one could possibly expose one layer, develop it, then expose the second layer and develop it to give a color image.

Rudeofus · Dec 29, 2017

@Young He : With two separately sensitized color layers in multigrade B&W paper you are still one layer short of an actual color image, although there was a color cine film product at some point in time which got away with two color layers.

Either way, Rockland's color couplers will likely not yield perfectly correct and long term stable dyes with CD-4 (or any other color developer FWIW), but it will yield a color image that can be reproduced and corrected through other means. In a somewhat recent thread I heard about a Kodachrome film recording of one of the last space shuttle starts, three rolls of movie film which were never developed until now. This, and similar found film instances would be perfect applications for this process. Many things which were highly complicated fifty years ago, such as reexposure with well defined light wave length, have become trivial tasks with today's resources.

mshchem · Dec 29, 2017

I would settle for a good 5 liter Kodak E-6 kit. Those were the good old days.

Young He · Dec 29, 2017

@Rudeofus I do realize that the color will not be very good, but a two color process is possible and several color film systems used two color, such as an early Kodachrome and technicolor. I would think that Rockland's couplers use the same couplers as ordinary c41, although I might be wrong.

Rudeofus · Dec 30, 2017

Rockland's couplers are vastly different from anything C-41, for many reasons:

C-41 color couplers are heavily ballasted to render them insoluble, contrary to Rockland's couplers, which have to be water soluble.
Since C-41 color couplers are embedded in the emulsion, they are used in milligram doses per m2 and as a result much less cost sensitive than water soluble couplers in a color developer. C-41 film makers simply have more and better options to make a good product.
During their golden days Kodak was an absolute powerhouse of synthetic chemistry, their research budget easily surpassing the whole photographic industry today. Since the field of chemistry generally does not follow Moore's law, even Kodak's thirty year old products are not trivially available today.

PS: Rockland's couplers are posted in their MSDS, and they are nothing like the mind boggling dye coupler molecules found in Kodak's and Fuji's patents.

PPS: I am aware of two color processes, and even posted a link in my previous post.

@mshchem : An E6 kit will not help you with Kodachrome film stock.

mshchem · Dec 30, 2017

Rudeofus said:
@mshchem : An E6 kit will not help you with Kodachrome film stock.

I know. I just wish I didn't have to pay 200 bucks for a Fuji kit when I used to be able to buy a Kodak E-6 5L kit for 60 bucks. Any claims of Kodachrome development I tend to group with Bigfoot sightings.

Young He · Dec 30, 2017

Although rockland's couplers might be completely crap compared to Kodak's, I assume they offer fairly long-lasting dyes. People have been using this product on black and white prints, so I assume it's not that bad and will last a decade or two at least. The old films and whatnot did not have very good couplers, yet they still last quite some time, albeit with some fading.

AgX · Dec 30, 2017

What counts is the not the coupler as such, but the final product of developing agent and coupler.

By the way, the diagram given is erroneous, but basically it refers to the 2nd Kodachrome process.

railwayman3 · Dec 30, 2017

bvy said:
I really don't understand any of the posts here after first one, but...

If the images on the home page are home developed Kodachrome, I'd say this is pretty impressive work.

+1. I really can't see why some people seem to want to make harsh posts....unless it's indigestion through too much booze and food over Christmas, or a need to get out for some fresh air ?.

The OP has drawn our attention to a link, which may be of interest. If it's not, or if you don't believe it, just click your mouse and move on to something which does interest you ?

trendland · Dec 30, 2017

AgX said:
What counts is the not the coupler as such, but the final product of developing agent and coupler.

By the way, the diagram given is erroneous, but basically it refers to the 2nd Kodachrome process.

That was also my idea - the diagram is wrong/the full process is wrong.Also from other points.
Look at the step removing rem - jet.
Does it realy come at last?
If I remember correct the ramjet has to remove between other steps (somewere in the middle) so it is to be removed earlier.
with regards

mshchem · Dec 30, 2017

Point taken. Looks pretty good. Who am I to judge? I spent a couple weeks developing Fujichrome Provia F in a 60 year old E-1 Ektachrome kit . I think I was getting similar results, maybe not so good. This is what makes analog so darn fun, anyone can use an i-phone. (Well I can't to darn confusing)
Best Wishes, Mike

Kodachrome home developed!!!!!! (not me)

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