What distinct colour film 'looks' have we lost?

skorpiius · Jan 9, 2018

So I'm speaking about very distinct looks. Of course every colour film is unique to some extent, but I'm meaning entire categories of looks, for example:

Contrasty & Saturated: Ektar, Velvia, etc
Low contrast/Portraiture/Weddings: Portra, 400H, etc
Relatively neutral between the two above: Gold, Superia, etc
Kodachrome.

Is there any category of looks I've missed, either that still exist or more of interest to me, don't anymore?

E. von Hoegh · Jan 9, 2018

Agfachrome, the stuff only Agfa processed. It was wonderful for earth tones, ancient stonework, etc..
I liked their E6 films as well.

Born2Late · Jan 9, 2018

KODACHROME!

skorpiius · Jan 9, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
Agfachrome, the stuff only Agfa processed. It was wonderful for earth tones, ancient stonework, etc..
I liked their E6 films as well.

Interesting, do you know when it was discontinued?

jim10219 · Jan 9, 2018

Aerochrome! Talk about unique color!

E. von Hoegh · Jan 9, 2018

skorpiius said:
Interesting, do you know when it was discontinued?

No, I haven't used it since the early 80s. The proprietary Agfa that is. It was DIN 18, the slides I have from the late 70s have aged as well as Kodachrome.

Bob Carnie · Jan 9, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
Agfachrome, the stuff only Agfa processed. It was wonderful for earth tones, ancient stonework, etc..
I liked their E6 films as well.

I was going to say that Agfa Colour Paper in the 70's had a very distinct look much like described by E.von Hoegh. I remember when looking at these prints compared to the Kodak of the day I thought the Agfa prints colour palette were more pleasing, so I am not surprised that the film could be described this way.

antmar · Jan 9, 2018

Born2Late said:
KODACHROME!

+1

MattKing · Jan 9, 2018

Grainy and strange colour - High Speed 3M slide film

EdSawyer · Jan 9, 2018

aka Scotchchrome 1000

Patrick Robert James · Jan 9, 2018

Agfa. I loved the Optima films. The color paper was definitely different too.

You can say that about any film that is gone though. Many were different in their own way. Konica, Ferrania, etc.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2018

Kodak HIE
Kodak UltraColor
Kodak VividColor

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2018

Born2Late said:
KODACHROME!

I am sure that the muddy looking skies will be missed by someone, but I cannot imagine whom.

E. von Hoegh · Jan 9, 2018

One that's gone that I don't miss is the mid-90s Fuji 50. Grass green and similar greens looked like cooked broccoli. But then I'm not a fan of color-enhanced films.

Sirius, did you perhaps use your Kodachrome in Los Angeles? I'm looking at some right now, the skies definitely are not muddy.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
One that's gone that I don't miss is the mid-90s Fuji 50. Grass green and similar greens looked like cooked broccoli. But then I'm not a fan of color-enhanced films.

Sirius, did you perhaps use your Kodachrome in Los Angeles? I'm looking at some right now, the skies definitely are not muddy.

No, I had the problem in 1964 during the New York World Fair and the rest of that summer. I also had it in the Washington DC area. After that summer I refused to use Kodachrome even when I was given to me.

E. von Hoegh · Jan 9, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
No, I had the problem in 1964 during the New York World Fair and the rest of that summer. I also had it in the Washington DC area. After that summer I refused to use Kodachrome even when I was given to me.

In those areas, they skies probably were muddy, all those cars had road tubes.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
In those areas, they skies probably were muddy, all those cars had road tubes.

What do your mean "road tubes"?

E. von Hoegh · Jan 9, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
What do your mean "road tubes"?

A primitive crankcase ventilation system, it vented blowby from the engine crankcase directly to the atmosphere, contributing significantly to smog in urban areas. Positive crankcase ventilation (Federally mandated in 1968) which sucked the blowby into the engine's inlet tract eliminated that source of pollution, and kept engines cleaner inside.

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2018

Ok I understand. So are you saying that Kodachrome specialized in capturing that back then?

E. von Hoegh · Jan 9, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
Ok I understand. So are you saying that Kodachrome specialized in capturing that back then?

I don't know, I was three during the '64 World's Fair and so was not taking pictures. I'll dig out some my father took in the early 60s and see what the skies look like.

skorpiius · Jan 9, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
Kodak HIE
Kodak UltraColor
Kodak VividColor

Of course, how could I forget HIE

Sirius Glass · Jan 9, 2018

skorpiius said:
Of course, how could I forget HIE

Color HIE, was it called IR Ektachrome?

BrianShaw · Jan 9, 2018

PolaChrome.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 9, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
...
Sirius, did you perhaps use your Kodachrome in Los Angeles? I'm looking at some right now, the skies definitely are not muddy.

Likewise. My family and I have Kodachrome II 8mm movies made between 1964 and 1978 in Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Venice, and Santa Ana - the skies in the film are a nice "powder blue" and remain so to this day:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_blue

BrianShaw said:
PolaChrome.

Wow. Did you actually get to use it? I deeply regret not becoming interested in Polaroid until 2005 - when they were on the brink of extinction. I would have loved to use all the film types they had - even Polavision!

That said, I like the pastel-like colors that SX-70 film rendered.

Cholentpot · Jan 9, 2018

Ektar 1000.

Some very nice fog...

Just kidding. I got a few rolls of the stuff and it had a nice grain pattern. Almost like shooting film made out of pebbles.

What distinct colour film 'looks' have we lost?

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