Kodak ‘Investigating What it Would Take’ to Bring Back Kodachrome

Photo Engineer · Jan 9, 2017

At this time, there are NO plans to bring back Kodachrome film or the name in any way shape or form. Too difficult.

I see one possible scenario:

If the new E6 survives in the market and makes a profit, then a study on Kodachrome would be undertaken to see if it were feasible. If so, then it might be sold with processing included and they might use a Kodak plant for processing it. This would be a few years away at best.

PS, the chemicals are no worse than E6 or C41.

PE

Nzoomed · Jan 9, 2017

Photo Engineer said:
PS, the chemicals are no worse than E6 or C41.

PE

Correct

RattyMouse · Jan 9, 2017

Nzoomed said:
I know as far as toxicity, that with the last version of Kodachrome at the time, that the Kodachrome MSDS claimed that the chemicals were no more "dangerous" than any other film chemistry, I doubt any regulations have changed much since 2009, so dont expect the emulsion will be affected much either.

Chemical regulations, in the USA, have changed ENORMOUSLY since 2009. You do realize that there are entire departments in government who outlaw chemicals every single year, year after year?

keenmaster486 · Jan 9, 2017

I swear, if they do this I will immediately film a video of me doing twenty jumping jacks, one for each frame in a roll of Kodachrome.

You have my word.

Nzoomed · Jan 9, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Chemical regulations, in the USA, have changed ENORMOUSLY since 2009. You do realize that there are entire departments in government who outlaw chemicals every single year, year after year?

Have you read PE's post above???

Marcelo Paniagua · Jan 9, 2017

BrianShaw said:
Is it April 1st already? My, my, how time flies!

It happens when you get older

keenmaster486 · Jan 9, 2017

I actually think it would be nice if they brought back the original Kodachrome, and not K12 or K14. Nothing ever quite had the same ultra soft, ultra pastel colors of the original Kodachrome and Kodacolor of the 30's and 40's, before the antitrust debacle.

MattKing · Jan 9, 2017

keenmaster486 said:
Nothing ever quite had the same ultra soft, ultra pastel colors of the original Kodachrome and Kodacolor of the 30's and 40's, before the antitrust debacle.

How old are you???
Unfortunately the early Kodachromes aren't nearly as long lasting as the K-12 versions.
My Dad, in or about 1950, from a Kodachrome slide that is a lot more green, and a lot less detailed than this scan appears:

The Kodachromes from Kodachrome II on are in a lot better shape (that is me with the brown jacket in front of my Dad).

cowanw · Jan 9, 2017

I am looking forward to new Agfa Neu.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2017

faberryman said:
Wow! You're a real jerk. And by the way, transparency film does not resolve at the molecular level.

Oh so you still think that a pixel is smaller than a film grain. In what universe?

Nzoomed · Jan 9, 2017

MattKing said:
How old are you???
Unfortunately the early Kodachromes aren't nearly as long lasting as the K-12 versions.
My Dad, in or about 1950, from a Kodachrome slide that is a lot more green, and a lot less detailed than this scan appears:

View attachment 170708

The Kodachromes from Kodachrome II on are in a lot better shape (that is me with the brown jacket in front of my Dad).

View attachment 170709

I know the very first Kodachrome had a fading problem, but i thought Kodak rectified it quite early in the peace.
Looking on this page here, it seems to be around 1937 when they fixed the fading.
http://www.paulivester.com/films/filmstock/guide.htm
I do agree with keenmaster486 that the vintage kodachrome was rather appealing, however there could be some real issues with bringing that back, let alone k-14 kodachrome.

Its quite possible that Kodak may be able to improve on the k-14 version and make one that even has more punchy reds etc.

Who knows, its all up in the air, but I think its positive that Kodak have claimed that they are looking into what is involved in resurrecting Kodachrome.
main thing is that they are giving us back deleted products, and thats something we should all be obligated to embrace if we want to continue shooting colour film.

MattKing · Jan 9, 2017

Nzoomed said:
I know the very first Kodachrome had a fading problem, but i thought Kodak rectified it quite early in the peace.
Looking on this page here, it seems to be around 1937 when they fixed the fading.
http://www.paulivester.com/films/filmstock/guide.htm

The site you linked to is, of course, a movie film oriented site.
The processes and film stock were the same for the still film Kodachrome and movie film Kodachrome, but the handling and storage of movie film and slide film tends to differ a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if the (originally card stock) slide mount material and the adhesive used therewith may also play a role.
I have thousands of slides that were shot by my father, starting soon after he started work at Canadian Kodak in 1947 (although he shot more Kodacolour initially). The volume of slides really increased in 1961, when he moved out to the Kodachrome/Ektachrome Kodak lab in North Vancouver, BC. The Kodachrome II and later slides are in apparently excellent condition (so far) but the earlier ones are hit and miss.
Many of those Kodachrome II slides are in 828 format, including the second one shown above.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 9, 2017

Cholentpot said:
...
I predict that Kodak is going to turn out some sort of tweaked sensors for digital cameras, maybe make a swappable sensor camera for really really cheap and charge for a Kodachrome Sensor or a Portra Sensor...

If anything, it'd be a camera mode or a postprocessing app.

My Fuji X-Pro1 has a variety of film simulation modes. I believe the default simulation is Provia for medium tonality and saturation.

I've not played around with it because I'm happy with my results so far.

skorpiius · Jan 9, 2017

I wonder how successful an attempt to create another E6 transparency with a Kodachrome 'look' might be.

semi-ambivalent · Jan 9, 2017

Photo Engineer said:
At this time, there are NO plans to bring back Kodachrome film or the name in any way shape or form. Too difficult.

I see one possible scenario:

If the new E6 survives in the market and makes a profit, then a study on Kodachrome would be undertaken to see if it were feasible. If so, then it might be sold with processing included and they might use a Kodak plant for processing it. This would be a few years away at best.

PS, the chemicals are no worse than E6 or C41.

PE

I would think Kodachrome (and Ektachrome, to a lesser extent) would require some pretty small, for Kodak, coating capacity unless they really take off. Does Kodak have any excess capacity to squeeze in one or two more emulsions for these or did Perez blow it all up? What a headache, to schedule production shifts between coating products as different as the Vision line, Tri-X, color print, 5222 and who knows what else. And now these two "announcements"? Maybe you should dust off your resume...

s-a

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2017

If you look back at the dreaded Kodachrome has been deleted thread there were some that wanted to chain PE's leg to the grandma's barn so that he would produce Kodachrome in grandma's cesspool. So I do not think that PE would want to come out of retirement to revive Kodachrome. Remember this is not Project Lazarus we are talking about.

Meyer Trioplan · Jan 9, 2017

MattKing said:
The site you linked to is, of course, a movie film oriented site.
The processes and film stock were the same for the still film Kodachrome and movie film Kodachrome, but the handling and storage of movie film and slide film tends to differ a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if the (originally card stock) slide mount material and the adhesive used therewith may also play a role.
Many of those Kodachrome II slides are in 828 format, including the second one shown above.

I have a lot of Kodachromes ranging from 1937 to the 1960s, and while the ones taken in 1937 and 1938 (some on the 828 stock) have largely faded, those taken just a year later and onwards generally tend to be exceptional in their color fidelity and preservation. Many of these are glass mounted, so that is likely to have helped to a large degree as well, but even the bulk of the cardboard mounted ones are amazing.

This is admittedly the Kodachrome color palette that I would most love to see return, 10 ASA and all, but I'm not holding my breath.

Photo Engineer · Jan 9, 2017

Coating need may be too small for a product to be useful as a product!

Ektachrome that looks like Kodachrome is a real reach but possible.

Did you know that EDTA is class as a very toxic chemical but is used intravenously as a medication for heavy metal poisoning? How can it be used both ways??? I'm wondering what the guys are up to classifying things helter-skelter and the result being meaningless. No color process is better or worse than any other, but the original Kodachrome process was a kludge that had to be changed to a more modern method. The colors were due to severe process crosstalk.

PE

chriscrawfordphoto · Jan 9, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
Is this Kodachrome revival a replay of the new Coke and back to Coke Classic which was really a ploy to remove cane sugar from Coke and replace it with corn syrup? If one tasted one next to the other, one would notice the difference, however leaving months in between for the old stock to disappear for a while meant that the Coke Classic could be foisted on the public. That way the average Joe Public was hoodwinked. Yet the original formula was and is still available in Mexico so you can go there, bring back a can of the original stuff and see how they ruined it.

Kroger and Walmart both sell Mexican coke in their stores where I live. It comes in glass bottles, and costs more than American Coke, but it is better tasting!

MattKing · Jan 9, 2017

Photo Engineer said:
No color process is better or worse than any other, but the original Kodachrome process was a kludge that had to be changed to a more modern method. The colors were due to severe process crosstalk.

Ron:
I'm not sure referencing standards of accurate colour reproduction is the argument that is likely to succeed with those who seek the return of the original forms of Kodachrome,

Prof_Pixel · Jan 9, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
Oh so you still think that a pixel is smaller than a film grain. In what universe?

Film grains (and pixels) come in a wide variety of sizes. Trying to compare resolutions is a lot more complicated than just grain/pixel comparisons.

flavio81 · Jan 9, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
there were some that wanted to chain PE's leg to the grandma's barn so that he would produce Kodachrome in grandma's cesspool.

Great idea! Why didn't I think of this before?

flavio81 · Jan 9, 2017

MattKing said:
Ron:
I'm not sure referencing standards of accurate colour reproduction is the argument that is likely to succeed with those who seek the return of the original forms of Kodachrome,

Exactly. That's why the talks about releasing an E6 film with K14 colors. That is, "wrong" colors.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2017

flavio81 said:
Great idea! Why didn't I think of this before?

The two letter troll already did.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2017

MattKing said:
Ron:
I'm not sure referencing standards of accurate colour reproduction is the argument that is likely to succeed with those who seek the return of the original forms of Kodachrome,

The nuevo Kodachromestas never cared about accurate color nor accurate colours. They just want Kodachrome at any cost at a reasonable price.

Kodak ‘Investigating What it Would Take’ to Bring Back Kodachrome

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Kodak ‘Investigating What it Would Take’ to Bring Back Kodachrome

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