Old Color Film Processes

[Ian Grant]

Yes, those resources are excellent, @Ian Grant. I'll have look to see if the book you mentioned is floating around too - might get lucky on the Internet Archive!

The 1938 copy of Colour Photography in Practice uses lines from "Alice Through The Looking Glass" under beach chapter title, and they are rather apt.

I did look and the last edition is not downloadable from the Internet Archive. The later editions have input from V Harnworth & L Mannheim.

Harnworth was a Director of Kodak Ltd, and researcher into colour processes, Mannheim worked for Curt Jacobson at Pavelle.

Ian

 

[EarlJam]

Given the location of the OP, a couple of lesser-known UK color processes to add to the mix.

First, Finlay Colour, from the late 1920s and early 30s, which placed an RGB filter over a B+W plate. Interestingly, this scheme well-predates but remarkably resembles the filter developed by Bruce Bayer at Kodak. My dad was stationed in the UK during WW2 and came home with a stack of these filters, although he didn't own a 5x7 camera and I don't have any negatives or prints that used this process.

Second, Dufaycolor was an additive-color process, similar to the later Polavision motion picture and slide films. My dad apparently shot a roll or two after WW2, as I have an image of his grandmother on a Dufay slide. Full image scan and a 100-percent scan below.

 

[Ian Grant]

This website is worth a look, many old long forgotten colour processes.

After John Thornton was pushed out of Thornton Pickard, the company he had founded he immigrated to the US and patented a Colour Cine film process. His Patent was licensed by Eastman Kodak, along with his Film Pack Patent), and was the basis for John Capstaff's early Kodachrome, a two colour system, the name was changed around 1930.

G E K Mees had a habit of re-using trade names, and revived the Kodachrome name in 1935 for an entirely different 3 colour reversal film.

Ian

 

[ozphoto]

Given the location of the OP, a couple of lesser-known UK color processes to add to the mix.

First, Finlay Colour, from the late 1920s and early 30s, which placed an RGB filter over a B+W plate. Interestingly, this scheme well-predates but remarkably resembles the filter developed by Bruce Bayer at Kodak. My dad was stationed in the UK during WW2 and came home with a stack of these filters, although he didn't own a 5x7 camera and I don't have any negatives or prints that used this process.

View attachment 421774

Second, Dufaycolor was an additive-color process, similar to the later Polavision motion picture and slide films. My dad apparently shot a roll or two after WW2, as I have an image of his grandmother on a Dufay slide. Full image scan and a 100-percent scan below.

View attachment 421775

View attachment 421776

This website is worth a look, many old long forgotten colour processes.

After John Thornton was pushed out of Thornton Pickard, the company he had founded he immigrated to the US and patented a Colour Cine film process. His Patent was licensed by Eastman Kodak, along with his Film Pack Patent), and was the basis for John Capstaff's early Kodachrome, a two colour system, the name was changed around 1930.

G E K Mees had a habit of re-using trade names, and revived the Kodachrome name in 1935 for an entirely different 3 colour reversal film.

Ian

@EarlJam thanks for these - I saw the Dufaycolor on the website @Ian Grant suggested, and I really like the look of this process.

And the Finlay Colour process looks *really* interesting also.

 

[Ian Grant]

It turns out my Colour Photography In Practice is actually the 1948 3rd Edition. D.A. Specer was the brains behind the Vivex process, which was a Dye Transfer process, using s specialised camera shooting separation negatives. Spencer says it had been discontinued by1948 but was essentially similar to 3 colour Carbo.

This 1948 edition is probably the best for older processes.

Ian

 

[foc]

Thanks for your kind offer, @foc. I’d love to see the old BJP info! Please post here when you can - others may be interested at some stage too.

Here are the pages from BJP 1974.

 

[foc]

Here are the pages from BJP 1981

 

[tcolgate]

Thank you! This is one amazing process - who would have thought potatoes could be used for creating photographs?!

For those that are unaware... Zebra are attempting to revive commercial production if autochrome plates. They did do an April Fool gag around it, but the underlying intent is real and they are making actual progress.

The First Complete Zebra Autochrome Plate! | Analog Color Process

The first Zebra Autochrome plate is here. Discover how colour screen and panchromatic emulsion finally came together! Contemporary autochrome

zebradryplates.com