Reports of (Colour) Kodachrome Home Processing Emerge from Sydney

Photo Engineer

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Fuji and Sakura had many many labs that processed this film all over the far east. A roll of Kodachrome in 1959 was $10 processing included, and a roll of the Japanese variety was about 1/2 that or less. That was a lot of money back then.

When K-14 came out, Fuji and Sakura bailed out in favor of E6 even though Kodak ended up giving the patent away.

PE
 

Brian C. Miller

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Photo Engineer said:
Fuji and Sakura had many many labs that processed this film all over the far east. A roll of Kodachrome in 1959 was $10 processing included, and a roll of the Japanese variety was about 1/2 that or less. That was a lot of money back then.
Click to expand...

According the BLS inflation calculator, that $10 in 1959 is $78.23 today.

And people think that film is expensive now! Wow, I'd never shoot color at that price.
 

wblynch

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Back in 1959 typical American families shot, what, 4 rolls of film per year? That was black and white. Color was too expensive. Color slides were for rich people that drove Jaguar sports cars, wore Berets, smoked pipes and owned Leica cameras.

Why do you think the neighbors bored so quickly of their African Safari or Paris Vacation slide shows?
 

MattKing

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Brian C. Miller said:
According the BLS inflation calculator, that $10 in 1959 is $78.23 today.

And people think that film is expensive now! Wow, I'd never shoot color at that price.
Click to expand...

The thing to remember is that the price essentially stayed the same right through the mid 1980s at least, so effectively it got cheaper every year.

And just think how much extra money you would have had available without cel phones and cable TV
 

Photo Engineer

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Ummm, minimum wage in the US was about $0.75 / hour in 1959. There was not much disposable income even though things were less expensive. Hamburger was $0.25 / lb and hamburgers were the same at most places. Color prints were $0.28 each but B&W were $0.08 each.

PE
 

Nzoomed

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Ive created a wiki here for this very purpose, its called Kodachromia
you can find it here at http://kodachromia.wikia.com/ i can make you an administrator if you like, to allow you full access.
 

Worker 11811

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This is great news but, since the supply of viable Kodachrome that can be shot and developed into photographs is getting smaller every day, we would be just as well talking about the breeding habits of the dodo bird.

I would love to try developing Kodachrome at home. I like to experiment with things like this. I would have a lot of fun trying to invent my Kodachrome developing machine. I love to tinker and invent things but what use would it have? There just is no more Kodachrome. All my experiments and all my inventions, even if they worked perfectly would be for naught.

Theoretically, it has been proposed that, if there is demand, Kodak could start making Kodachrome again but that's all just theory. There would have to be a HUGE swell in demand for that to happen. It's about as likely as me hitting the lottery tomorrow. It could happen but it ain't gonna' happen.

Yes, I agree that this should be news but few people beyond the membership of APUG understand what it means to develop Kodachrome at home and, of those who do, few care.

The, let's just assume that lightning strikes and Kodak starts making Kodachrome tomorrow. Would anybody develop it at home? No, if there is that much demand for the film, all those businesses that have K-Labs would be taking them out of mothballs. I might have a chance to develop and market my home Kodachrome machine but, at what cost?

I would love for Kodachrome to come back again but I'm not holding my breath.
 

hrst

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Randy,

There is still one point in practicing the process; that is, planning to make your own Kodachrome type of film in the future.

Because the fact that the Kodachrome process is complex but the film is comparably simple, the process needs to be there first before it makes any sense to start R&D on the film.

There are many APUGers who have done their own B&W emulsions. It's just a matter of going further. A lot further.

Of course, it should be stressed that it will be a very very long road, but it is not impossible.

I consider it from this viewpoint; if I'm ever going to try making color film, it will probably be something like Kodachrome because of the simplicity, and then the process must be there. Of course, at that point the development process suddenly becomes the more simple side of the whole story.
 

Stephen Frizza

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Ide rather process the film than try and make the emulsion! From what i have head and read making the emulsion is not a simple feat. the principle is simple but the engineering behind it is actually quite delicate and complex.
 

Nzoomed

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Stephen Frizza said:
Ide rather process the film than try and make the emulsion! From what i have head and read making the emulsion is not a simple feat. the principle is simple but the engineering behind it is actually quite delicate and complex.
Click to expand...

Yes, quite true, but as PE pointed out here, is that C41 films are far more complex than kodachrome!
And i would believe that too, E6 films are probably just as complex as C41 too, since there is a complex arrangement of couplers in the film itself.

Who knows?
If a relatively simple K-14 type process can be acheived with constant results, it may move film manufacturers such as Ilford to do a run of a kodachrome type emulsion, who knows?
Either way, ive gotten over kodachrome not being available anymore, but im keen to see E6 going, as im starting to shoot on E6, which as a young photographer, have never even touched before.
 

Photo Engineer

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In order of film complexity from lowest to highest:

Kodachrome, E6 films, C41 films.

In order of process complexity from lowest to highest:

C41, E6, Kodachrome.

Any hints in this to you all?

BTW, all chemicals have been discontinued, all processing and film manufacture is discontinued. And yet... And yet, Steve has managed to make the process work. The complexity of Kodachrome is similar to the complexity of Polaroid instant products. And the situation in some regards is similar to TIP. And yet, there is no Azo paper, but I can make a work alike and Steve can reproduce (resurrect) the Kodachrome process from scratch.

There is a lesson to be learned here for everyone.

PE
 

Swellastic

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I know that this is dedicated to the Kodachrome celluloid product and I'm sure that most people, myself included, recognise Kodachrome as the slide film made by Kodak invented in the mid thirties.

However, it might be interesting to note that the years leading up to the First World War, the word "Kodachrome" was in fact used to denote another product that used a 2 colour process. You took two different negatives through filters and made two glass plates which were bleached and dyed – one in a kind of bluish green and the other a sort of burnt orange colour, and when you took these two positive transparencies together in registration on a light table, it made the appearance of a full colour photograph.

I remember hearing of this process in a video somewhere, I cannot recall where (sorry about that >.<), but the original Kodachrome process might in an interesting process to undertake if one manages to find out how it works. It doesn't strike me as a overly complicated procedure, but I am having a hard time finding relevant literature on the matter. Perhaps someone here might be able to discover something? Vires in numeris, after all, right?
 
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holmburgers

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Swellastic said:
I know that this is dedicated to the Kodachrome celluloid product and I'm sure that most people, myself included, recognise Kodachrome as the slide film made by Kodak invented in the mid thirties.

However...
Click to expand...

Swellastic, I'm glad you brought up John G. Capstaff's Kodachrome; maybe the most affecting 2-color process to date.

This post over at New55 has all the pertinent links and gives some idea of the method.

I've done quite a bit of looking-in to this process and think that it'd be pretty easy to do actually. There are many promising ways to go about it, none more difficult than carbon transfer or toning a b&w print. Shoot me a pm if you're interested.

You can see them in person at GEH.
 

Roger Cole

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It's almost as if there is a fixed, finite and rather high level of complexity to any three color process, and different processes divide this complexity up differently between the emulsion and the processing!
 
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Swellastic

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Oh, gosh giddy golly. Thanks a lot for these links. I haven´t read through all of it yet, but I will be a happy camper while I work myself through this new information.

The thing that jumps out at me immediately is whether or not we know anything about the availability/composition of the dyes. Has there been any kind of publication on this? Is there some kind of patent that Kodak or someone else filed that might divulge some information?

Pardon me for posting so soon without reading properly through all the information that has so graciously been provided to me. It's just that this really got my heart racing as this process really seems quite worthwhile to pursue. So pardon if I seem impatient. I am young and ignorant in many of these matters, and I tremble before giants.
 

holmburgers

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Swell, I'm encouraged by your enthusiasm! It's a very interesting story about the dyes, and no they have never been named. However, many dyes will have the same properties.
 

Photo Engineer

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There are abundant patents and other information on the couplers and dyes for Kodachrome and the dyes for Polaroid and Kodak instant products. These are no secrets in either process sequence.

Polaroid used Azo dyes coupled to hydroquinone to make dyes which would diffuse. Kodak used couplers which formed dyes which stayed in place after processing. I refer you to the patents rather than repost information here.

PE
 

Stephen Frizza

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I don't want to throw a spanner in the works but has anyone here seen or used Ilfords colour transparency film which is 2iso, it is based on the same technology as Ilfochrome? if i were to attempt to make any colour film (WHICH I AM NOT) I would first strive to make this type of colour film. Just throwing it out there......
 

Photo Engineer

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I have said before that a dye bleach material would be the easiest color material to recreate or to engineer in your darkroom.

Due to the nature of dye bleach, it will be slow and grainy.

PE
 
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