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

[Theo Sulphate]

... When DoD stopped subsidizing HIE, Kodak could not longer afford to make HIE and maintain the HIE processing capability.

Interesting - I didn't know that. Thank you.

 

[Cholentpot]

You can get Trix at any grocery store and combines well with milk.



I think the idea of old films having "a lot of silver" or recent films having "too few amounts of silver" is a myth, probably started by EFKE when they marketed their films as "silver-rich".

If you can achieve good, high D-max (maximum density) with a film, then what's the use on worrying about how much silver is there in?

I'll leave Photo Engineer to educate us on this one.

They're Grrate!

 

[Nzoomed]

This guy on the Film Photographers groups is telling everyone that he will develop your Kodachrome rolls for $25. The results are mediocre with some decent color shifts but it is color and Kodachrome (You will need to be a member of the Film Photographer's group to view) https://www.facebook.com/groups/119931904758842/permalink/1226654574086564/

WOW !

This is awesome news!
Im keen to see what the results are like if anyone has had processing done through him, might be a good enough incentive to make me try shooting my Kodachrome in my freezer...

Probably worth letting Kodak know also

 

[Nzoomed]

I have posted my suggestions for improved processing in the other thread.

PE

What thread is this?
There are tons of Kodachrome threads.

I feel that the news from Kelly-Shane Fuller being able to process the film is good news.
Imagine if he had access to the real K-14 chemistry?

If it can be demonstrated that others have been able to process this film, it may be enough of an incentive for Kodak to reintroduce the film, along with a more improved process that people can replicate with simple premixed chemistry kits on a smaller scale to the K-Lab type of premixed chemistry.

If people can process Kodachrome with improvised chemistry at home, then I think its safe to say that it would be a piece of cake for Kodak to make the necessary dye couplers needed again.

 

[Photo Engineer]

The active thread on Kodachrome here on APUG.

Today!

PE

 

[skorpiius]

This guy on the Film Photographers groups is telling everyone that he will develop your Kodachrome rolls for $25. The results are mediocre with some decent color shifts but it is color and Kodachrome (You will need to be a member of the Film Photographer's group to view) https://www.facebook.com/groups/119931904758842/permalink/1226654574086564/

In for all of the Lomographers to buy up old Kodachrome stock so they can have this gentleman process them with those sweet sweet colour shifts.

 

[keenmaster486]

In for all of the Lomographers to buy up old Kodachrome stock so they can have this gentleman process them with those sweet sweet colour shifts.

*barfs*
Noooo, noooo, please, no!

 

[Sirius Glass]

In for all of the Lomographers to buy up old Kodachrome stock so they can have this gentleman process them with those sweet sweet colour shifts.

Please say it is not so!!

 

[LAG]

In for all of the Lomographers to buy up old Kodachrome stock so they can have this gentleman process them with those sweet sweet colour shifts.

Gentleman? How generous you are!
Sweet colour shifts? How funny you are!

What a disastrous, irresponsible, and disrespectful way to treat film, I would say!

Good luck!

 

[skorpiius]

Lol, I am not actually assuming that will happen.






I hope.

 

[Meyer Trioplan]

I'm actually going to try out Mr. Fuller's K-14 alternate developing. I just shot a roll of K-25 rated at ISO 8 in bright light with different brightly colored subjects and look forward to seeing what I get. Took along a Vectis to shoot the same scenes to compare colors.

Do I expect realism or true Kodachrome look as I remember it? Nope, but this is one of those things that makes this hobby fun to someone who recalls shooting Kodachrome starting in 1989.

 

[farmersteve]

Here is the other thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[MattKing]

I've been mulling this over, and I think they might be considering the following:
1) Kodachrome was always best suited to a market with a small number of specialized, high quality (and in the past high capacity) processors;
2) the efforts they are currently making to expand the presence of cine film in the market seems to also be focusing on a small number of specialized, high quality processors;
3) the Kodachrome name has stubbornly held on to a fair bit of cachet;
4) there is at least a notional advantage to colour film not having to carry built in dyes around with it as it makes its way through the distribution chain, to the retailer, to the end user, and then to the processor; and
5) Kodachrome could be made with really thin emulsions, which contributed to sharpness, and in the current market, sharpness is really popular.
With all that being said, I take very seriously PE's doubts about the practicality of the idea.

 

[Craig]

I think in this day and age of instant gratification, the idea of sending a film away, possibly to a foreign country, to be processed with a time frame in weeks will render it commercially unviable.

 

[keenmaster486]

I think that "instant" philosophy will slowly change over time.

Eventually, people will tire of instant gratification and want to hearken back to a time when you *gasp* ordered stuff from the Sears-Roebuck Catalog! And no free two-day Prime shipping either!

 

[mshchem]

For decades the US Department of Defense paid Kodak to continue making HIE after digital IR imaging was perfected and widely in use just so that IR film would available in case they ever decided that DoD needed it again. HIE was considered a national asset. When DoD stopped subsidizing HIE, Kodak could not longer afford to make HIE and maintain the HIE processing capability.

Somebody needs to tell the new US President that, Bill Clinton had faster and better infrared film than He does. And that undocumented workers are easily spotted with HIE. That would probably be enough
Best Regards Mike

 

[Nzoomed]

There seems to be an awful amount of Kodachrome discussion here, so perhaps all we need to do is point Kodak to these threads? lol

 

[kruiwagen]

I think in this day and age of instant gratification, the idea of sending a film away, possibly to a foreign country, to be processed with a time frame in weeks will render it commercially unviable.

Then why shoot film in the fist place?

 

[Wallendo]

Restarting Kodachrome would cannibalize sales of new Ektachrome. I don't know if there is enough demand among still photographers to make Ektachrome sustainable, and like many, suspect the main driving force behind the re-emergence of Ektachrome relates to Kodak's Super 8 film initiative. Unless Kodak sees some market in Super 8, Kodachrome's return is unlikely. Since most Super8 film will eventually be scanned, software could be used to make Ektachrome look like Kodachrome.

 

[Craig]

Then why shoot film in the fist place?

There is a difference between dropping off some E6 have having it back in 4 hours, or my local drugstore still does C41 in an hour and Kodachrome. The last few rolls that I sent to Dwanes were about a month from when I mailed them to when they came back by mail.

 

[railwayman3]

Then why shoot film in the fist place?

Why do some people still spend hours laboring with brushes, pencils, inks and paints when they can take an instant digital snapshot.....maybe because they enjoy the creative process and prefer the finished results.

 

[Diapositivo]

The long wait could - if Kodachrome comes back - somehow contribute to the "mystic" of the material, something to lay down and wait, like cheese, sauercraut, or wine. The sweet waiting for the postman... the joy of reliving the emotion of the shots when the memories begin fading... the entire opposite of what people do now with smartphones, looking at the world in front of them through the pictures they have taken a moment before.

 

[kruiwagen]

There is a difference between dropping off some E6 have having it back in 4 hours, or my local drugstore still does C41 in an hour and Kodachrome. The last few rolls that I sent to Dwanes were about a month from when I mailed them to when they came back by mail.

There is a difference. But I think this difference doens't matter to someone who is driven by instant gratification. Someone who wants results in seconds or minutes doesn't even care to bother waiting for hours or days.

The long wait could - if Kodachrome comes back - somehow contribute to the "mystic" of the material, something to lay down and wait, like cheese, sauercraut, or wine. The sweet waiting for the postman... the joy of reliving the emotion of the shots when the memories begin fading... the entire opposite of what people do now with smartphones, looking at the world in front of them through the pictures they have taken a moment before.

My thoughts as well. That's why I personally don't mind waiting for weeks.

 

[Nzoomed]

There is a difference. But I think this difference doens't matter to someone who is driven by instant gratification. Someone who wants results in seconds or minutes doesn't even care to bother waiting for hours or days.


My thoughts as well. That's why I personally don't mind waiting for weeks.

I agree, I couldnt care how long I would wait to get something special back to me in the mail.

If i want fast turnaround, I just use C41...

 

[Sirius Glass]

Restarting Kodachrome would cannibalize sales of new Ektachrome. I don't know if there is enough demand among still photographers to make Ektachrome sustainable, and like many, suspect the main driving force behind the re-emergence of Ektachrome relates to Kodak's Super 8 film initiative. Unless Kodak sees some market in Super 8, Kodachrome's return is unlikely. Since most Super8 film will eventually be scanned, software could be used to make Ektachrome look like Kodachrome.

OK another reason not to use Kodachrome, I do not want to eat other photographers!