KODACHROME

tjaded · Apr 25, 2007

Does anyone have any information regarding the number of rolls of Kodachrome that get processed either daily/weekly/monthly or annually? I suppose I could call Dwayne's, but I don't know if they would be comfortable sharing such info...

Thanks in advance,
Matt

copake_ham · Apr 25, 2007

tjaded said:
Does anyone have any information regarding the number of rolls of Kodachrome that get processed either daily/weekly/monthly or annually? I suppose I could call Dwayne's, but I don't know if they would be comfortable sharing such info...

Thanks in advance,
Matt

Why wouldn't they be comfortable?

They're just about the only ones doing so - so only they would know.

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Apr 25, 2007

You can send them an email, they've been very helpful with my questions.

Stan160 · Apr 26, 2007

I can't find the page any more, but sure I saw a article around the time the Lausanne lab closed which gave a volume of around 1500 rolls daily of existing business plus another 1000/day from Europe.

Ian

Snapshot · Apr 27, 2007

Stan160 said:
I can't find the page any more, but sure I saw a article around the time the Lausanne lab closed which gave a volume of around 1500 rolls daily of existing business plus another 1000/day from Europe.

Ian

That works out to about 650,000 rolls per year (assuming 5 processing days a week). Still looks like Kodachrome is alive and kicking.

tjaded · Apr 27, 2007

I called them and they said 35mm still photo is 1000 rolls per day. I didn't ask about movie film. The lab I work in used to be one of the authorized Kodachrome labs up until the mid 1990's, but it seems the big yellow made it too difficult to keep it. Too bad. I would love to be involved in keeping Kodachrome going (besides shooting it, I mean...) I've said it before and I'll say it again...if Kodachrome was available in 120 or 4x5, I would probably never shoot anything else!

dxphoto · Apr 27, 2007

I am new to slides... what kind e-6 slides film have the kodachrome look? maybe it is a stupid question....

copake_ham · Apr 27, 2007

dxphoto said:
I am new to slides... what kind e-6 slides film have the kodachrome look? maybe it is a stupid question....

Kodachrome 64* is (was?) famous for "its nice bright colors" as Paul Simon famously said.

More particularly, it really "wows" the reds and yellows; less so the blues and greens.

Fuji Velvia 50 is better on the blues and greens - but I find it does nice reds too - if not to the "wow" level. The older version of Velvia 50 has been discontinued - but a new formulation is supposed to be released soon (May 2007).

There is also Velvia 100 - which I've only used a few times but seems quite good.

YMMV and I'm sure others here will have alternative opinions.

* I think I might have once shot a roll of Kodachrome 25 - it is a "legendary" film.

Craig · Apr 27, 2007

Kodachrome has a unique way of rendering red, something I've never been able to match in an E6 film. I shoot lots of trains and Canadian Pacific is my favourite railroad, and their locomotives are red. I can tell at a glance if the film is Kodachrome or not, just by the way it renders that particular red.

PKM-25 · Apr 30, 2007

I just got back 40 rolls today. About 10 rolls of 200, one roll of 25 and the rest 64, it looks incredible with Leica aspheric lenses.

Matt5791 · May 5, 2007

Craig said:
Kodachrome has a unique way of rendering red, something I've never been able to match in an E6 film. I shoot lots of trains and Canadian Pacific is my favourite railroad, and their locomotives are red. I can tell at a glance if the film is Kodachrome or not, just by the way it renders that particular red.

yes - red is particularly striking with Kodachrome - combined with nice skin tones - something that I find Velvia can be risky for.

I am currently testing various colour reversal films prior to a trip to India in October - I would love to use Kodachrome but I just don't want to risk sending it thousands of miles for processing.

Velvia might seem an obvious choice for the often vibrant colours you see in India, and many many photographs of the plcae have been shot on that film - but I sort of feel I wanbt a more natural look rather than the saturated Fuji look.

Matt

copake_ham · May 5, 2007

Matt5791 said:
yes - red is particularly striking with Kodachrome - combined with nice skin tones - something that I find Velvia can be risky for.

I am currently testing various colour reversal films prior to a trip to India in October - I would love to use Kodachrome but I just don't want to risk sending it thousands of miles for processing.

Velvia might seem an obvious choice for the often vibrant colours you see in India, and many many photographs of the plcae have been shot on that film - but I sort of feel I wanbt a more natural look rather than the saturated Fuji look.

Matt

Matt,

I'd probably figure the same way. But when I think about the "colors" of India - particularly the reds and yellows of the clothing, the decorations and the markets - I have to think that only K-chrome can catch the vividness and richness of that end of the spectrum!

tjaded · May 5, 2007

Looks like you could pick up some almost short dated Kodachrome Pro at B&H for a good price! Plus, if what I've heard is right, Kodachrome is not affected by heat nearly as much as other color films. Actually, does anyone know if that is true or not? Anyway, Kodachrome buying time!....

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...421&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

tjaded · May 5, 2007

I just ordered some of that Kodachrome. I'm not even going to India! Heck, I'm not even going to Indiana....

copake_ham · May 5, 2007

tjaded said:
I just ordered some of that Kodachrome. I'm not even going to India! Heck, I'm not even going to Indiana....

You will never be disappointed with K-chrome.

Just remember it's environmentally-incorrect; it can only be processed by one place in the entire world etc.

It's like a recreational drug. So beautiful and, yet so dangerous.....

Enjoy, your K-chrome.

tjaded · May 5, 2007

I know...the lab I work in was one of the 5 or so Kodachrome labs in the 1990's. I wish they still did it, but San Francisco is not the city to do K-14 in! We still get people bringing it in for processing. I hate to turn them away.

dickie vaara · May 6, 2007

PKM-25 said:
I just got back 40 rolls today. About 10 rolls of 200, one roll of 25 and the rest 64, it looks incredible with Leica aspheric lenses.

Wow, is K25 still available, or are you fortunate enough to have some stockpiled?
Certainly one of the best films I ever shot.

Thx.

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · May 6, 2007

K25 is only available to those who hoarded it away, and I don't think they'll be letting go of it any time soon.
I got back 8 rolls of K64, and 2 rolls of Fortia SP from Dwaynes a few days ago. K64 records things much more naturally, but to the brown tones of an Australian summer it's what you'd expect, rather dull. Fortia is everything you hear about, saturation. When I don't need anything fancy and can get my hands on it, Kodachrome seems to work very well for me.

dxphoto · May 7, 2007

Is this film safe/necessary to be frozen in my kitchen?

vanspaendonck · May 7, 2007

Just bought 48 rolls of 35 mm Kodachrome 64 at Adorama at $ 4.44 plus shipping. These are dated March 2007, but I don't worry too much about that. Shot six rolls in Rome last week (Leica M6 TTL, mostly Tri-Elmar) and sent these to Dwayne's today.
Can't wait to see how they turn out.

BTW: during five days in Rome, I saw a million digital cameras and only two Leica M's, not a single TLR , no MF and no Graflex or other LF (but that was perhaps a bit much to ask for).

copake_ham · May 7, 2007

vanspaendonck said:
.....

BTW: during five days in Rome, I saw a million digital cameras and only two Leica M's, not a single TLR , no MF and no Graflex or other LF (but that was perhaps a bit much to ask for).

Here in NYC it's much the same thing - such that I've stopped looking to see if just maybe the shooter was using a film camera.

Today I saw a tourist shooting pictures of tulips growing in a concrete planter in front of an office building. She was using her cell phone. At first I thought - well there's another roll of film that never got sold. And then I realized - well there's another digi camera (P&S or dSLR) that never got sold!

PKM-25 · May 8, 2007

dickie vaara said:
Wow, is K25 still available, or are you fortunate enough to have some stockpiled?
Certainly one of the best films I ever shot.

Thx.

I have a large stock of it, 2000-2003 emulsions for a big project that I am starting to use before it loses D-Max. All frozen along with 1,400 rolls of 64 and several hundred rolls of 200.

A lot of the 25 will be shot in a Hasselblad XPan.

gregrudd · May 8, 2007

I am in Australia with some older pre-paid processing K64 is there any where in Australia that is still accepting K64. Note I am not worried about having to pay to get K64 processed. My question to the Australian users is where do you send your K64 off to. If it is not that expensive I detect a rather large purchase is on the way.

Noons · May 8, 2007

dxphoto said:
I am new to slides... what kind e-6 slides film have the kodachrome look?

this kind:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~nsouto/photos/bestk64_NIscreen.jpg

just joking! that is a K64 copy of a K25 original.
;-)

Renato Tonelli · May 8, 2007

In 35mm color I used to shoot Kodachrome and only Kodachrome until two of my rolls went missing. Now I'm using Astia and may go back for the Kodachrome colors.

KODACHROME

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