Let's give Ferrania a chance before we condemn their film with faint praise. Their Scotchrome and Solaris color neg were perfectly usable and the fast version had, I believe, a higher speed than any other film....and a check on their website shows that dozens of companies were happy to use the neg film under own-brand labels.
And, even if the "new" version were no better than the 25ASA version from the 1950's, this might appeal to those who want a retro look (dare I say Kodachrome enthusiasts, and those who are still keen to use Rollei Digibase, despite the apparent light piping problems being discussed in another thread right now). I still have Ferrania slides home processed by my late Father in the 1960's Johnsons-of-Hendon kit, and the colors are not awful, just a nice pastel period look. We have a few scanned and printed, in frames, and there is almost a watercolor look to them.
Yes i agree, that is indeed the reason people like me are shooting Digibase (im using the same product from Wittner-Cinetec and i know i will expect some light piping) is because im after the retro KODACHROME look!
I dont think it resembles 100% kodachrome, but its reds certainly seem to look close.
Im not after perfection, just retro photos that look like they were taken 40 years ago or more.
Sad to see that Agfa has stopped this film, but at least ive got a stockpile in the freezer.
I dont think you see where i was coming at.
If you read enough threads about Kodachrome, you will see that there were a number of photographers who stopped shooting because they didnt find much difference between the "modern" Kodachrome and Ektachrome, so the inconvenience of processing was not worth it to use Kodachrome.
That, and they preferred the tones of the older kodachrome and KodachromeII, which were significantly different than the modern Kodachrome (which may have been technically superior in colour accuracy) but looses that vintage appeal that is starting to come back.
The other main advantage with Kodachrome was that it was archival and did not fade, old Ektachrome films tended to shift to cyan, Lets hope the new E6 does not do the same.
Anyway, im not saying that Kodak should try and resurrect the Kodachrome, all Im trying to say is that there could have been other options explored with Kodachrome before they scrapped it. With the right marketing and product decisions, i think they could have pulled it off with some unique new products and target a new customer base other than professional photographers who mostly have gone digital.
Of course Kodak was going through a bad patch at this time and was about to file bankrupcy.
Kodak needs to do the whole retro thing, and i think at long last they have recognised this, as is evidence with their new super 8 camera.
Lets hope they bring back E6 and perhaps some new or resurrected films.
It also is concern to me that kodak pretty much have stopped all R&D, this means they only will continue to make existing products, which may not see an issue, but im sure there are more improvements to be made with film that may possibly compete with digital, e.g the ongoing refinement of resolution and grain etc.
Might not seem an issue to you now, but remember down the line that alot of skill and knowledge will be lost as those who worked in R&D die off, you are left with alot of workers who only know how to make a product and not understand how it works.
Quality control can drop off, and this has happened with Vacuum tubes (as i build valve amps) most modern tubes have low quality, but mainly because most of the factories that remain have little or no engineers left and they simply are running the machinery to produce the tubes and know nothing about the technology involved other than how to assemble and test the tubes and thats it. But thats another story, sorry for my rant, no offence to PE or anyone else, but im just sharing my personal view on Kodachrome, i dont know why people get so upset about it TBH, or even why they reply on these threads if it upsets them so much lol