Should all Kodachrome users switch?

[StorminMatt]

So a premium high quality C41 process colour negative film like Ektar 100 makes far more sense and is now a viable option for advanced amateur & professional photographers.

I disagree. When it comes to making prints, shooting digital with a good DSLR does a damn good job. But digital CAN'T give you a transparency! The way I see it, film has the best chance of surviving by doing what digital can't do rather than trying to beat it at its own game.

 

[hoffy]

In America?
There is no "dramatic slump" in E6 use where I am (Geelong/Melbourne Australia), with the turnaround 1.2 hours in one small pro lab and 2 hours for another, of 6 within easy reach (as opposed to "known extant", meaning plenty more but scattered around).

Lucky you! As far as I know, there are only 2 E6 labs in Adelaide and both have a waiting time of days. Even my local lab has a C61 process delay of one run a week...

I think I am getting off topic here, sorry.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Lucky you! As far as I know, there are only 2 E6 labs in Adelaide and both have a waiting time of days. Even my local lab has a C61 process delay of one run a week...

I think I am getting off topic here, sorry.

I don't think it's off-topic. We cannot pretend that E6 will be around forever. The availability of E6, now and into the future, will determine whether photographers stay with film or move to the you-know-what, for speed, immediacy and convenience if not quality. I have been troubled in sourcing quantities of 5x4 E6 sheet film, never available in Kodachrome. It is now less commonly available than ever before, the general consensus being that "not many" photographers are using it. What are they using then? Guess!

 

[Ian Grant]

Certainly around where I lived in the UK, near Birmingham, there has been a huge drop in E6 processing, and I know that's the same in London & elsewhere.

My local UK lab stopped E6 processing at least 7 or 8 years ago it was farmed out to another large lab, that 2nd lab in turn cut processing to 3 days a week. Professional use of film has slumped not just E6, first it was Kodachrome then E6 & C41. The wedding photographers are still one of the largest professional sectors using film.

I think if you looked around most cities in the world you'd find an enormous difference in the number of labs and the turnaround times compared to 10 or 12 years ago.

That doesn't mean you still can't get a fast turnaround on E6, most large cities had a reasonable number of labs offering the service but that number has dropped, many labs say they offer the service & farm the work out, if your lucky and the lab you chooose has a good clientèle of commercial photographers regularly shooting E6 then they can afford to offer a 2 hour turnaround, but it's no longer the norm.

I disagree. When it comes to making prints, shooting digital with a good DSLR does a damn good job. But digital CAN'T give you a transparency! The way I see it, film has the best chance of surviving by doing what digital can't do rather than trying to beat it at its own game.

I shoot both film & the other commercially I have no choice, but I much prefer film - B&W and Colour for my own work and a few select commercial assignments, so a C41 equivalent of Kodachrome is potentially idea.

Ian

 

[hoffy]

You talk about farming out E6 processing. Even the local labs don't do that anymore. When I inquired after starting to shoot the gear again, my local said that I would then have to pay for courier charges, which would add around $20-$30 for each batch (not very viable when you may only shoot 1 or 2 rolls every so often). I do, though, understand that somewhere like Adelaide will see services such as this disappear quicker then bigger markets.

I, though, am a little curious about the Kodacrome. I have never shot it in my life. All this talk about it has now made me interested.....but the reality is that I will probably never use it.

Cheers

(on a side note for the Australians, Check out the BBC doco that is currently being shown on SBS "The Thirties in Colour". While its Movies, some of the footage (which I assume is mostly shot on Kodacrome) is pretty good and not all of it has lost its "colour")