Kodak Ending Kodachrome

(hey look at me, I'm posting news before Nando ).

Anyway this was announced today: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2709&gpcid=0900688a80b4e692&ignoreLocale=true&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=3342

And I couldn't help but play this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujhdf9_IO4w

Very sad news. Nobody is going to write a song about a sensor. I'm afraid that the writing was on the wall. Processing is more difficult with Kodachrome than with E-6. For a very long time now, Dwayne's was the only lab left in the world that still processed it. Hopefully, they'll still process K64 for a while. Ken still has some rolls of it to use up.

There is something about Kodachrome's colour. Moreover, it preserved extremely well. I once scanned a large amount of Kodachrome slides for a friend that dated back to the late 1940's to the 1960's. Included were photos of a very important Canadian artist in his teens. The photos were stored in period metal boxes designed to store mounted slides. The scans were so vivid that it looked like the photograph was taken yesterday. I also scanned Kodachrome slides brought in by a student dating back to the early 1950's. The photos were taken at a US military base somewhere in the Nevada or Arizona desert. The student speculated some photos may be from the Nevada (Nuclear) Test Site but we actually can't tell from the photographs. Again the colour was spectacular. Old E6 slides don't seem to fair as well over time. I scanned quite a few E6 slides from the 1970's and 1980's but the results are always duller. Perhaps the E6 slide film from those days weren't as advanced as they are now.

Personally, I do like Kodachrome slides but never desired to use it. Kodachrome can get weird under some circumstances. For colour, I preferred negative print-film over slide-film because of its greater exposure latitude. Keep in mind that many of my cameras don't have built-in meters and never meter every shot - I don't have the patience for it. I very much like the new Ektar 100. It has finer grain that any slide film I've ever encountered, outstanding dynamic range and good exposure latitude. But it does have a different look than Kodachrome. It also just a quirky - I find that there is usually too much green in outdoor shots and way too much red in indoor shots - this may be problematic for printing straight from the negative. Fortunately, it is easily corrected without much effort once scanned. The Ektar 100 was specifically made for scanning.

A photo of my mom taken with Ektar 100 (Leica MP with 50f1.4 Summilux ASPH):


I found that Kodak 400UC can resemble Kodachrome in some ways after toning down the saturation. (Voigtlander Bessa-T with 35f1.2 Nokton-Aspherical)


However, its not like the real thing.

If Kodak every get rids of Tri-X, all hell is going to break loose!

First thing I did this morning after hearing the news is to buy the last 4 rolls of it at Camera Craft. I'm planning on shooting it during my Newfoundland vacation later this summer.

As much as I love Kodachrome on-screen, it looks even better on a light table. I will try to remember to bring some next time we all get together. I would think about getting a nice projector but I really don't shoot colour slides very often.

I really like how it renders with my classic Russian Jupiter-3 lens (thanks Nando)

Steve McCurry comments on Kodachrome:


Kodak's Kodachrome Slideshow:
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=15398&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=198

This article in the Toronto Star was one of my favorites.

I have my 4 rolls in the fridge but I may be ordering more this week for my trip.