Resurecting Kodachrome would require some renewed love and passion for color transparencies first. Given the poor level of appreciation for color film photography in general from many here who see monochrome prints as the only form of analog photography with any artistic value, and for color positives in particular and more so projected color slides, my dream of being able to shoot Kodachrome in 135, 120, 4x5 and 8x10 is likely to remain just a dream.
I think the best time for reviving Kodachrome was just a few months after the end of Kodachrome, when Kodak could have made a big buzz, when the mass media attention was high about the lost of Kodachrome, by introducing an upgraded version of their K14 minilab (which they could rent to brick and mortar photography shops around the world which could actually give them some business to make since the printing part of their business sank), a version which could also process 120 and 4x5, with built-in non-analog aquisition capability coupled with RA4 printing or even better Cibachrome printing.
Now I really hope Film Ferrania come up with some lovely color slide film before everyone lets E6 die without saying a word, so they can breath-in some new love and passion for transparencies before it's too late. Nothing compares to a piece of well exposed chrome projected or on a light table through a good loupe and Kodachrome was king at that.
I agree, I have always questioned why Kodak did not roll out more K-labs worldwide?
I would have thought this would have solved the whole kodachrome processing issue once and for all?
I must say im amazed how long Kodachrome actually did last, considering the state Kodak was in.
They could have heavily promoted it earlier in the peace and attracted young photographers to experiment with it in much the same way that lomography has caught on with alot of people.
At least Kodak have at long last recognised this gap in the market and are releasing new products like super8 cameras etc. Perhaps they will release E100g and e100vs again? Who knows? Fingers crossed.
Main thing is we Have Ferrania come to the rescue which will see some new E6 offerings, and we will soon have the fastest E6 film ever made!
Ferrania (3M at the time) had scotchchrome 3200, and they have said they plan to introduce all these speeds once more!
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Its very possible they will be experimenting with prototype formulas that never made it to the market also, so we may very well see some new and exciting E6 films that give similar results to Kodachrome! Lets hope! Its the year 2016, im sure we can get a film to replace it if there is enough R&D done.
Remember that today analog photographers are not always after perfection and "accurate" colours anymore, we are after the unique traits a film offered.
This was one of the reasons Kodachrome possibly lost market with more "accurate" E6 films, not that there was anything wrong with Kodachrome, as i believe its skin tones were good, and alot of photographers did appreciate the film for what it was.