Turnaround time on Kodachrome

When Kodak announced they were discontinuing Kodachrome and seeing all the hoo-ha on Apug about it, I rushed out and bought 6 rolls to see what the fuss was all about.

The first roll came back after just two weeks and I was blown away by the results. Ok, you need to be pretty spot-on metering-wise, but the colours and the feel were like nothing else.

The second roll went off about 4 weeks ago and I haven't had anything back. Has anyone got any idea of how long it's taking to process right now?

Then I got to thinking - these were pretty precious shots, photos of the kids etc - and there seems a lot of opportunity for them to go missing in the system. Has anyone lost films once sent off, and do other people think twice about sending a film half way round the world if the shots have importance?

Here in the US I generally get mine back in 8 to 11 days. It really depends in the day of the week I mail it out. Dwayne's days they turn the film around the day after they receive it. Since there are days without mail service that accounts for the difference I see.

I'm in the UK and find Kodachrome has been taking about 14 days to come back ever since the system of sending to Dwaynes via Kodak Lausanne came into force. Perhaps one or two days longer if sent at a w/e. My last one, received last Tuesday, unusually took just over three weeks, but I put that down to the postal workers strikes...other mail was a day-or-two delayed.

"Touch-wood-and-cross-fingers" :rolleyes: , I've never lost a film sent via Switzerland, but I do send films individually, rather then together in a batch
(better lose one film than several if a packet does go astray?).

I don't usually worry too much about Kodachrome's long trip, but on one occasion earlier this year where I knew my pics would have particular sentimental value (a special one-off family holiday) I deliberately shot a mix of K64 and E6. (Not sure if I was more worried about lost Kodachrome or cr*ppy UK E6 "professional" labs, but that's another story. )

Hope your four-week film arrives soon and that it's just down to the UK postal issues...let us know what happens.

I'm in the States, roughly 200 miles north of Parsons, KS.

If I get a Kodachrome roll out in the first morning mail of Monday, I'll get it back Saturday, sometimes Friday. This is very consistent.

In the UK also. My last roll was three weeks, the two before that were two weeks.

Could your roll be part of the postal backlog?

perkeleellinen said:

In the UK also. My last roll was three weeks, the two before that were two weeks.

Could your roll be part of the postal backlog?

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Y'know whenever these threads come up I'm always amazed - I've never had a roll take more than two weeks, sometimes less. I wish I had as much luck with the actual taking the photos part .

I imagine it could be part of the backlog though. The posties in London have been on strike on and off for months now - to the inconvenience of almost no-one, which ought to tell them something - so if it had to go near London to get to Switzerland it could have been caught up.

tim_walls said:

Y'know whenever these threads come up I'm always amazed - I've never had a roll take more than two weeks, sometimes less.

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Hah! My rolls regularly (always, in fact) have a three to four week turn around time. I wonder if it is because Canada Post is simply not as efficient as the USPS or the Royal Mail - or maybe they just can't read my handwriting on the package...

They process day of receiving the roll or next day. If you went there it would take only a short while, it's the transit time that kills you. You can get express shipping if you want. The abominable Walmart takes much longer but is cheaper if you want.

I drop Kodachrome at a local drug store in northeast Ohio. They only have 3 pick ups a week, going to Fuji, which has now contracted with Dwayne's to do Fuji's E-6. It goes in by their courier system and returns 12 days after the pick up date. It's $5.99 for a 36 exposure roll, about $2 cheaper than Walmart.

Lee

I sent off a Kodachrome film about three weeks ago but haven't received it back yet.

Tom

Thanks for that. Hopefully then, it may be down to Postman Plod being on strike recently.

I got five rolls back in about a week. They actually did a better job with it than they have done in the past. They even followed my do not cut or mount instructions. As someone said it is not like anything else. I have not been very excited about Kodachrome because there is not much you can do with it other than look at it on a light table. I finally figured out how to scan it accurately and have rediscovered the joys of Kodachrome.

Here in Austria, with the "Kodak PhotoPerfect" service available at a major food supermarket chains, it is between slightly less than 3 and more than four weeks. The film is first sent to an Austrian lab, then to Kodak at Lausanne, Switzerland, and finally to Dwayne's. It might be faster if I mail the films to Kodak Stuttgart, but this is too risky.

Before the discontinuation announcement, turn around wasn't usually more than 2 weeks from the UK, sometimes as little as 8 days. The four rolls I've sent off since have all taken 3 weeks or more, and that was before the postal strikes started.

If you email ch-kodachrome@kodak.com with the unique ID from the mailer label they can tell you if and when the roll was received in Lausanne. I once had a roll disappear in the postal system for 7 or 8 weeks before it was even logged in to Kodak's system!

Ian

Perhaps turnaround time or more distinctly the possibility of film going missing has reduced the potential of Kodachrome for professional use going back to whenever K14 was more available.

Tom

I received the roll of Kodachrome on Tuesday, so the film is still getting through.

Tom