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

Back to the topic, what Kodak could do is to process the film centrally (i.e. at Rochester) and scan it (yes, SCAN it) at very high resolution (i think good 24 or 36MP could be extracted from such a neg), uploading the files to a 'cloud' server, before mailing the slides back to the user.

In this way,

a. the user will be able to see the results quicker than waiting for the courier to return the film (significant for us international users)
b. great scans will simultaneously be made AND backed up to a server -- something which is a big bonus in an era where flatbed scanners are terrible and really good scanners are really expensive

The part in bold, for me, is very significant. I know this is not DPUG but we're talking about the resurrection of K14 in year 2016, and how do we share our analog images here in APUG, Flickr, etc? You know the answer.
 
Kodachrome ain't exactly 'coming back' to me.

Fact is, it never left me.

 
Likewise, I was looking at Kodachrome slides for the 60's vacations; just incredibly beautiful, like they were made yesterday. Yes, bring it back. In fact make large format sizes.
 
Place your bets now as to how many pages this thread will get to -- I'm going on record now as calling it at 26 pages.

21 of which will be comprised of people bickering over pointless minutiae and the rest of the pages taken up by people posting their pictures that have nothing to do with the topic but couldn't resist showing off their work, regardless.
 
Colin Corneau said:
21 of which will be comprised of people bickering over pointless minutiae and the rest of the pages taken up by people posting their pictures that have nothing to do with the topic but couldn't resist showing off their work, regardless.
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I have no pictures to show, so i'll start bickering over pointless minutiae. Thanks for giving me a great idea.
 
61 MGA and I'm with you
 
I'm not arguing with you, I have my Dad's Kodachrome from late 40s, beautiful! But the Navy boys in that photo are shot on 8x10, with huge flashbulb array fill flash. 8x10 Fujichrome Provia would look pretty good too
 
If you want to chain anyone in a barn, Ron is the guy! Sorry Ron, Just kidding.

He is great and is the world's expert on Kodachrome. Much more than me.

PE
 
Photo Engineer said:
If you want to chain anyone in a barn, Ron is the guy! Sorry Ron, Just kidding.

He is great and is the world's expert on Kodachrome. Much more than me.

PE
Click to expand...

That was clever...
 

I like you idea and somehow agree with it. But I think scanning should be optional. IF Kodak was to release Kodachrome again, at what price should they sell it? and does it include shipping and processing? Being that Velvia 50 here in The Netherlands almost costs €15 and that does not include developing.

What if you don't like your slides being scanned, I don't think a lot of people are willing to pay an all-in-amount of money for a service they haven't asked for.

However, seeing there is a growing need for high quality scan services, I like your idea that Kodak could provide optional scanning.
 
Kodachrome will return, its not a matter of "if" but when!
 
Basically the same tried model by a lot of C41 labs. I don't know if there is a specific term for these "3.0 approach".
At the end it'd be structured just as the current labs might be, with different scanning tiers aside of the processing. The advantage of Slides are the lack of interpretation/solid reference they are and because thefiles are manually adjusted/graded it is very labor intensive.

Pricing schemes won't be cheap for large files if they follow the current model.

There is a two student team in RFF (quejai) that is working in an open source "tiling-stitching" scanner. Interesting idea and execution.

I know scanning is not the core workflow in APUG but discussing it is just business sense.
 

i'm still looking for the email of the guy in austrailia with the dingo.
 
Prest_400 said:
. The advantage of Slides are the lack of interpretation/solid reference they are and because thefiles are manually adjusted/graded it is very labor intensive.
Click to expand...

You can also have scans with "lack of interpretation" if you're the central lab. Calibrate scanning to the colors and exposure to a properly exposed current batch of film, and scan all films under those parameters.

Whichever color casts or exposure diferences they are on the film, they stay.

And IMO preferable to an operator adjusting manually or (worse) auto-corrections.

Since pictures would go to a cloud server, Kodak could also implement an app to let you pick some of your frames to a Kodak contest, or to be able to link to them in a way Kodak openly certifies that this image was made with actual Kodachrome film,

or share directly to tumblr, flickr, etc.
 
twelvetone12 said:
#certifiedgenuinekodachrome #nofilter
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I mean, Kodak could be like a third-party that can reliably certify (sort of a Bureau Veritas) that the image hosted on his servers:

1. has been shot on actual kodachrome film
2. has not been manipulated in exposure or color balance
3. has not been manipulated in any way, nor cropped

This is VERY meaningful for pretentious hipsters like me. No, seriously.

I'll go even further: This could be the key to further analog revival.
I think Kodak should offer this service in general, they can do it for E6 films as well, as long as they are Kodak.
 
I would love for Kodachrome to return. I grew up in the 60's and 70's shooting it in a Kodak Instamatic (fixed lens, 1/125s shutter, f8) and later a Yashica MG-1. I have slides from a European trip in 1981 that look brand new.

On the other hand, I would probably buy 5 rolls or so and then go back to Velvia 50 or the new Ektachrome. The nostalgia factor would wear off quickly, and E6 films are easier to scan. I last shot Kodachrome in the early 1980's. I switched to C-41 as at the time as a was in school and in training and projecting slides wasn't practical. I suspect that after some initial excitement, that many users would remember why they stopped buying Kodachrome the first time around.

I think that would be obvious to Kodak, and I suspect if any form of Kodachrome emerges, it would be a E6 film with Kodachrome color balance.
 

I see your point, but personally I'm not interested in any all-in processing service which includes scanning. I've tried these in the past with both slide film and C-41 lab services and found that the scans are generally not of good quality. And I usually find that, when I scan my own films (which, with normal care, I can do at better quality then ordinary lab scans) there are probably only half-a-dozen or so shots from each film that I find good enough to want to scan or print for further use. Same when printing my B&W negs, I don't need prints of every single one, just the "best" ones.
 

If it is going to be scanned then why bother to use film?
 
Sirius Glass said:
If it is going to be scanned then why bother to use film?
Click to expand...

Sirius Glass,

I think you already do know the answer.

Capturing images using film and film cameras gives you most of all the advantages and delights film photography has to offer, even if displaying such images is not done on the analog domain. And what I propose does not prevent in any way to take the film (which SHOULD return to the photographer) and use it as usual, in the analog domain.

Again, if i had such a service, it will be useful for me; i would use the slides for projection and to delight looking at them, while the scans I could use, for example, for sharing over the internet.
 

Now that you mention it, I can remember when I was small the mailman bringing the yellow box when slides had arrived in the mail. That was the nights entertainment, loading up the cubes in the Bell and Howell projector and looking at them.
When I started shooting slides I dropped off Kodachrome at Woodwards, then London Drugs after Woodwards closed. I think if I get the film in on Monday, I'd have it back by Friday for sure, sometimes quicker.

Yes, it was the red ends on the film cassette that indicated processing included.
 
Prest_400 said:
The advantage of Slides are the lack of interpretation/solid reference they are and because thefiles are manually adjusted/graded it is very labor intensive.
Click to expand...

i've skranned slides ( 35mm-4x5 ) for 20 years ( off and on )
it is no more or less labor intensive than scanning anything else.
a mini lab that processes a roll of c41 film uses an automated process,
to get the images on a cee dee, and if you ask happy D ( dwaynes in parsons kansas )
to process and put your slides on cee dee it takes no more or less time than it would for negative film
and otherwise it would cost more $$ &c ...
 
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