Tin Can Kodachrome

Marvin · Jan 18, 2010

Just wonder how many remember when you got Kodak 35mm film in those little tin cans. I think they were color coded and I may still have one somewhere.
Marvin

DWThomas · Jan 18, 2010

Yup, can't really put dates on them, but they were common in the 1960s. I'm thinking the typical Kodachrome was yellow with a red top, but there were other colors -- maybe blue tops for early Ektachrome -- 'fraid I didn't file that data reliably. Ansco had stuff in a shiny aluminum can. I always liked the idea that metal cans were utterly light proof for carting exposed rolls around. Whereas over the last decade or two, the cans became black plastic and now pretty much translucent plastic, to me the latter seems needlessly risky.

Marvin · Jan 18, 2010

Yes I think the cans were more light tight than what we have today and they had a seal under the screw on cap. I think towards the end of their run Kodak stopped painting them and they were just bare metal. Back then each roll came with an exposure scale printed and packed with the film. I did not have a light meter so I just set the camera according to the chart.

bdial · Jan 18, 2010

I remember them.
Don't look at the prices they fetch on ebay though!:rolleyes:

Moopheus · Jan 18, 2010

Marvin said:
I think towards the end of their run Kodak stopped painting them and they were just bare metal.

That's how I remember them--when I first started buying film in the early-mid 70s, I think that was the standard package. I used mostly Plus-X and Tri-X then. I learned to expose from those little data sheets, too.

DWThomas · Jan 18, 2010

Marvin said:
I think towards the end of their run Kodak stopped painting them and they were just bare metal.

Yes, I have one here yet that has a plain aluminum can and a yellow top. I started shooting various slide films in 1958, so I'd be hard-pressed to put a date on the can. I can't even remember when the transition to plastic occurred.

Eric Rose · Jan 18, 2010

I probably have 15 or 20 of them in 35mm and a half dozen in 120. Great little cans and I use them all the time.

panchro-press · Jan 19, 2010

I'll take a wack at the colours. All had yellow cans. These are top colours:
Brown-Panatomic-X
Purple-Plus-X
Green-Tri-X

I think.

-30-

railwayman3 · Jan 19, 2010

bdial said:
I remember them.
Don't look at the prices they fetch on ebay though!:rolleyes:

Yes...I saw those prices and remembered the number which my Dad threw out, used to keep screws in, gave to we kids to play with, etc.!

I'm now slowly trying to collect a set in reasonable quality! It would be interesting to have a definitive list of the colors....I'm sure that panchro-press is right with those three, as each Kodak film has its own "trade-mark" color, which has carried forward even into present-day packaging

.

Clay2 · Jan 19, 2010

I still have yellow cans with blue tops.

Here is a yellow can with red top (Kodachrome)

http://www.kodachromeproject.com/forum/index.php

Best regards,
/Clay

Ian Grant · Jan 19, 2010

My 828 can is plain metal, the postal pouch red with a white address label, the film needs processing

Ian

Muihlinn · Jan 20, 2010

I have here a kodachrome II roll with a expiry date of 1966 which is white.
I also remember those half paper half woven envelopes...

Some shots here:

Dead Link Removed

tokam · Jan 20, 2010

I'm looking at a can containing an exposed roll of Kodacolor-X, (CX 135-20). Probably 1970 or thereabouts. The can body is plain alloy with embossed Kodak signage and the top is yellow. The film cartridge is yellow, including the end caps, with black printing. The film is marked Kodak Limited London.

LaGrassa · Jan 20, 2010

Not a film can, but I have a booklet entitled Kodachrome, Photography in Color published by the Eastman Kodak Company Rochester NY, cover price 25 cents. Not sure of the publication date, but 12-39 appears on the spec sheets in the back. The booklet covers a wide range of topics.

Tin Can Kodachrome

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