Kodachrome interview

[Photo Engineer]

Alexander, Kodachrome does not use a mordant. The dyes precipitate as they form and lock themselves in place by virtue of their lack of solubility in water or processing solutions. That process (in part) is what causes the relief image you see on the surface of Kodachrome slides and is what helps cause the extreme sharpness of the images.

PE

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

Thank you PE, that is very interesting. I was wondering why Kodachrome has that relief image on the emulsion side.

 

[nickandre]

I just got my couplers in the mail. They don't look too suspicious. Maybe I should try drinking them?

Off-topic : as for K40 Super 8, folks, I think there is an issue. I just read on a french forum that Dwayne's might stop the processing of old K40 stocks in late 2008, the news comes from the french guy who deals with them. I will translate and quote him soon. He says he'll have news at the end of the year, about eventual processing in 2009. I will also ask them directly. Because maybe it is time for me for a big winterly Super 8 party with my last Kodachromes...

At the end of EVERY DAY Dwaynes splices together all the rolls of super 8 they have and splice it to the end of the 35mm roll. This is not hard to do! Nor will it stop unless there's no film to do it with. If they'll process any width of kodachrome that fits in their machine, I see no reason they would stop processing them. Plus the rolls are 50 ft long so it doesn't take many to fill the void of a few buckets of 35mm rolls.

Plus if you looked you would notice that Witterchrome 40t (restocked K40) is back on the market. They have a bunch of DS8 and they split it and load it into cartridges. That means more K40 to process. Granted it costs an arm and a leg because the cost and high shipping is in euros. When you sell to the US that makes bad news bears. Not your problem though I bought one and the EXP date says something like 2010, which means they froze it. I only have two rolls, one from 2004 and the wittner one. Unfortunate I didn't get interested in that in 2004.

PE-Why does Fuji Velvia 50 also have this relief image? I know the Ektachromes I've seen to not. Does it have an exceptionally large amount of couplers that get puffy when converted to dyes or do they wash out or change form in the stabilizer or something I don't know?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Well, first off the machine has driver rollers like 3 sets of undercut rollers that can transport 35mm, 16mm and super 8 mm in one drive system. So the system works for 3 sizes but not for 120. Sheet films are another matter!

The lower the gelatin, the thinner the film and the more the relief image you get. I suspect that Fuji is using a polymer as well to increase this effect. We were working on this when I last did product development and I have coated Gold 400 with polymers to try to get that effect. I had a 10 L batch of polymer delivered to work with when they chose the final formula so it never got into a product I worked on.

But, that might explain what you see. IDK.

PE

 

[SVeron]

If they'll process any width of kodachrome that fits in their machine, I see no reason they would stop processing them.

Hello,

Of course, as I stated a few replies later, I asked Dwaynes directly and they told me exactly as you : as long as Kodachrome for slides is still manufactured, they don't plan to stop processing of 8mm or Super 8.

I was just wondering as I had read something about it on a french forum, and written by the guy who formerly sold a re-stock of K40 in France. I had a doubt because I didn't read anything about it in english forums and websites. Now I checked this info, I am registering to a few photo forums in France to bring them true facts about Kodachrome, for slides and for movie, because one can read many rumours or even false things. You know it's rare that french people will read english fluently, so they don't check informations on english websites.

So now, the average photographer in France believes that Kodak has stopped accepting slide films at the address in Switzerland, and others who know this service still works fear that the film will be sent to the US with so much danger for the film itself, to be lost, mishandled... And others don't trust the Kodak website saying they can send their slide films to Lausanne. That is really disappointing. It is time to tell about positive feedback from someone, so I will try.

Well, I speak, do I shoot ? Yes 17 rolls back last september, now another 20+ almost ready to be sent to Kodak... I will get 5 fresh rolls in the post this week... It is cheaper to order it from overseas, as a local lab sells it for 30 euros... for extreme emergency only ! One thing we all agree, I guess : if we like it, let's enjoy Kodachrome while it lasts !

Regards,

Stephane

 

[nickandre]

I'm still new to super 8, though I wish kodak had a filmstock to replace the K40. They just sortof slipped the 64T into the cartridges. I wasn't impressed with my first few rolls of it. It had the super 8 look, but I feel something was missing. It was a little grainy too. I think that was mainly due to the fact that the film is a tungsten, and not a type A film as all cameras were designed for. It's just a pain. Fuji has a 25asa stock for their single 8 which I've heard is really good, but it has the anti-halation backing like kodachrome so can only be processed in Japan (ridiculous turn around-like a month or two).
I've heard the 100d is good but costs more than any other film. It's $35 incl. processing from Pro8mm, and from wittner it doesn't matter because it's in euros and I'm with dollars. For now I received some negative film in a bulk auction and will be trying that out, including well expired rolls of the 50D.

 

[SVeron]

Hello,

They just sortof slipped the 64T into the cartridges. I wasn't impressed with my first few rolls of it. It had the super 8 look, but I feel something was missing. It was a little grainy too.

I have the same feeling about 64T for super 8. I went once to the top of the Zugspitze (highest mountain in Bavaria, Germany) and had K40 and also 64T to finish my film just in case I would be too long. I can see the change in the look : more grain, the feeling of having less light on the images. That is strange.

Fuji has a 25asa stock for their single 8 which I've heard is really good

That is also why I recently bought a Single 8 camera, so I can try Fujichrome 25 or 200T, Velvia, Astia, Provia or B&W single 8 bought at an interesting price (including processing) compared to Super 8. I will experiment in early 2009.

And, to be again in topic, I will post soon my link to my images shot in Kodachrome. I am beginning to scan, I began with the first roll of EIR I tried last year.

Oh, and I got today my fresh K64 from MX2 in the UK and they are 10/2009 #2558.

Stephane