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

[farmersteve]

Never say never!

https://petapixel.com/2017/01/09/kodak-investigating-take-bring-back-kodachrome/

 

[faberryman]

Do they really think there is a market? I don't see a bunch of digital photographers running out and buying film cameras and lenses to shoot and scan slides, so they are likely going to have to steal customers from existing Fuji and rebranded Fuji transparency film.

Anybody out there want to scan a Kodachrome and post an image so we can compare it with 36+mp full frame digital.

 

[jgcull]

That's funny, sort of. Why didn't they just not take it away??

 

[Born2Late]

Do they really think there is a market? I don't see a bunch of digital photographers running out and buying film cameras and lenses to shoot and scan slides, so they are likely going to have to steal customers from existing Fuji and rebranded Fuji transparency film.

Anybody out there want to scan a Kodachrome and post an image so we can compare it with 36+mp full frame digital.

I have one of those 36 MP cameras (Nikon D800) and yes, I would jump on Kodachrome in a heartbeat!

 

[Sirius Glass]

OH NO not another series of Kodachrome again! We will all be killed! We will all be killed!

 

[RPC]

That's funny, sort of. Why didn't they just not take it away??

They took it away with good reasons. And if they're smart, they'll remember those reasons.

 

[pdeeh]

I'm considering marrying Scarlett Johansson.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Has there been a dramatic upsurge in demand for slide films??? The reason for their decline is that they require some sort of viewing device either a screen and projector or at least a simple viewer. Today's society is unwilling to bother. They're even loath to have prints made. Perhaps it makes sense to sort of sneak in the backdoor by offering MP film.

 

[shoot6x7]

I have a small scanning business where we market to seniors and their children to 'digitize' their heirloom transparencies. Scanning 40 year old Kodachrome slides is a joy. They look like they were made last week. The colour, the quality is fantastic. Especially when compared to 40 year old E6 type slides which are faded and thin.

 

[Vilk]

Anybody out there want to scan a Kodachrome and post an image so we can compare it with 36+mp full frame digital.

Anybody out there want to project a 36 MP full frame digital on screen next to a Kodachrome projection?

 

[darkosaric]

I'm considering marrying Scarlett Johansson.

She used Leica M6 in movie "Vicky Christina Barcelona". I would say go for it !

 

[Cholentpot]

If this happens there will be many hats to eat on APUG.

I don't think the K-14 process will come back but they may brand an E-6 as New Kodachrome or something...

 

[pdeeh]

She used Leica M6 in movie "Vicky Christina Barcelona". I would say go for it !

I should have said ... I'm `Investigating What It Would Take` to marry Scarlett Johansson, of course

 

[flavio81]

I have a small scanning business where we market to seniors and their children to 'digitize' their heirloom transparencies. Scanning 40 year old Kodachrome slides is a joy. They look like they were made last week. The colour, the quality is fantastic. Especially when compared to 40 year old E6 type slides which are faded and thin.

My family has some Ektachromes from 1981 that look just fine...

 

[flavio81]

OH NO not another series of Kodachrome again! We will all be killed! We will all be killed!

Set defense readiness condition to DEFCON 3!
Prepare for potential menace of multiple K14 threads!

 

[bdial]

April 1 seems kind of early, did we somehow miss January, February, and March?

OTH, transparencies are easier to deal with in scanning, maybe that is part of their motivation.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If this happens there will be many hats to eat on APUG.

I don't think the K-14 process will come back but they may brand an E-6 as New Kodachrome or something...

No the Kodachrome structure and process requires a different development than the Ektachrome family.

 

[MattKing]

I'm considering marrying Scarlett Johansson.

Well, she tried marrying a Canadian, and it didn't work. Maybe you will be the right choice ....

 

[MattKing]

No the Kodachrome structure and process requires a different development than the Ektachrome family.

Which Kodachrome structure? The original, K-12, K-14 or?
They could easily slap a "New Kodachrome" name on anything. Then there would be lots of new Kodachrome threads on APUG.
Maybe they could tweak the Vision product to provide customers with a choice of three products - optically printable negatives, projectable slides and scans - all from the same roll.

 

[Huss]

Martin Freeman used a Leica M6 in the movie "Whisky Tango Foxtrot"
Perhaps someone should dive on that grenade? (not that there is anything wrong with that).

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hmm, I did not think of that. I A*S*S*U*M*E*D that they were talking about bringing back the real Kodachrome not a pseudo Kodachrome. Will they bring back the muddy gray-brown skies of the mid 1960's Kodachrome 64 for the real nostalgic look?

 

[NJH]

My family has some Ektachromes from 1981 that look just fine...

I scanned a box of slides for my Mum, all taken between 1966 and 69. All the Kodachromes look fine but there was also an Ektachrome slide in there and that looked fine and scanned OK also but not as punchy as the Kodachromes. There was some other non-kodak film in there that have faded badly though, not sure what it is but they were mounted by Boots in plastic mounts whereas all the Kodak stuff was in Kodak cardboard mounts with the month and year printed on them, really neatly done.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Maybe we need an Old Film Revival forum. That way, proponents could indulge their wishes there and those who've grown weary can simply put the forum in the 'ignore' category.

Personally, I'd love to see Kodachrome ciné film - along with the old High Speed Infrared and Tech Pan.

 

[flavio81]

I scanned a box of slides for my Mum, all taken between 1966 and 69. All the Kodachromes look fine but there was also an Ektachrome slide in there and that looked fine and scanned OK also but not as punchy as the Kodachromes. There was some other non-kodak film in there that have faded badly though, not sure what it is but they were mounted by Boots in plastic mounts whereas all the Kodak stuff was in Kodak cardboard mounts with the month and year printed on them, really neatly done.

Yes, but 1966 Ektachrome is not the same as 1981 Ektachrome which is not the same as 2000 Ektachrome and so on...

Let's get REAL: Pro photographers used Kodachrome 25 and 64 until something called "FUJICHROME VELVIA 50" appeared, with ultra saturated colors, quicker processing, and fairly good image stability; they migrated en masse to it (and then to Provia, Astia, and the new Ektachromes), and Kodachrome died because of lower demand.

If Kodak wants to resurrect Kodachrome they can do it, it should not be impossible at all if they are able to resurrect Ektachrome.
They can simply offer to process it themselves worldwide by having a machine on USA.
Making the actual film is probably easier than making E6 film -- i'm taking a guess here, of course.

Of course, this means that all the "New Kodachrome" rolls in the world would travel to USA to be developed, back and forth, generating more carbon emissions, so an APUG thread about this will appear, encouraging people not to shoot Kodachrome, save the environment, you know?!

But while it is technically possible, the problem is if all this strategy is profitable, and I don't see how this could be profitable, unless they do it with big fanfare, lots of press to cater to the hipsters and to the APUGgers who start "bring back Kodachrome" threads...

 

[removed account4]

If this happens there will be many hats to eat on APUG.

I don't think the K-14 process will come back but they may brand an E-6 as New Kodachrome or something...

i think this is it
they are going to make another film
and call it kodachrome, like olympus brought back the "pen" camera
and polaroid brought back the bad AA battery, and polaroid swing brought back the harry potter moving image telephone app...
unless they are going to rebuild their processing and printing plant again, from the ground up ....
not sure if happy D kept the kodachrome processing machine after the last roll went through it ...
or if the plant in switzerland still has the machine to process the 8mm/16mm motion picture film ... otherwise it might be tricky,
unless they contract that guy in australia who has figured out a way to do it with hair dye, ammonia, no-doze pills
peppermint schnapps, dingo urine, wallaby tears and molasses.

pdeeh, you are a lucky guy !