Any investors for Kodachrome yet?

[Gumby]

... somewhere I must still have a copy of that eBay item where a small scale lab in the US was selling their Kodachrome processing unit. From memory, starting bid was around $5000 and they explicitly that the unit is only for self-collectors and a truck is required .... Support in getting this thing to work was promised ...

Cool! Just the thing for one-half of the Kodachrome investor community!

 

[Gumby]

Was it "FOB Parsons, KS; not available until 1/1/11?"

 

[ampguy]

I doubt I'll offer it as a service, but I plan to use it and develop it myself forever.

 

[gb hill]

If it wasn't profitable for Kodak it surely won't be viable for anyone to invest in. Besides I don't really see a remarkable difference to justify using Kodachrome over current C41 color films. Yes I'm shooting my last roll of Kodachrome right now but it's mainly out of nostalgia. I think the new Ektar 100 looks better than Kodachrome! But before you rail on me remember I'm judging by what I see on my comp. screen & Ektar is made to scan better than Kodachrome!

 

[dmr]

Was it "FOB Parsons, KS; not available until 1/1/11?"

Rocky Mountain Film had a K-Lab for sale not too long ago.

I'm sure that Dwayne's uses the larger (K-Line?) units.

 

[Al Patterson]

Well, it would be cool if Kodachrome could continue, but I hear Paul Simon and "the Fat Lady" singing...

And BTW, in some areas I hear it is getting tough to find some of the E-6 Chromes these days. They seem to be forcing us to digital, even if we choose to go there kicking and screaming.

 

[bwcolor]

I question the future of E6. Reading interviews concerning the new Portra and Ektar films, Kodak representatives said that these films were developed in part as a response to the shrinking E6 lab availability. Certainly, they haven't yet thrown in the towel, but E6 will go prior to C41.

 

[PKR]

I thought Steve McCurry said that one of Kodak's modern films emulated kodachrome very closely (E100 I think).

If there's something that's currently a near-duplicate of kodachrome, I doubt there would be any financial reason for a resurrection.

Kodachrome is a B+W film with dye impregnation. Ektachrome is a dye coupler film. Kodachrome is very stable and the dyes hold. I've been scanning Kodachrome from the 70s to date. No difference in the dye structure over 40 years. Ektachrome that's 40 years old is a joke; the yellows go first, then the reds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome


Kodak is in such bad financial shape, they would sell anything. They sold their SOTA LCD lighting and display technology a couple of years ago to the Koreans. It would have made them a lot of money.. no development funding.

 

[davidbivins]

Hear hear, PKR. Kodachrome's demise is a shame because it was a truly archival film. Nothing currently available can replace it. You can get colors that remind you of Kodachrome today, but they won't last.
I feel like I'm chasing dying formats. I'm shooting the rest of my Kodachrome this year, then I have to quickly shoot the $1500+ worth of Polaroid-brand film I have left while it's still usable, then TX320... If nothing else, the slow death of film is giving me structure.
That all said, I'm still buying new and fresh film on a regular basis. I love Freestyle Photo, and I really love Fujifilm. They're the only company that consistently has a large presence of film at the big photo shows.

 

[jburgie]

Not enough money in it. The process is a bitch & the chemistry involved is even worse. Kodachrome is dead.

Deal with it.

Well said. I'm having fun shooting my last two or three rolls that I have on hand. We all had plenty of warning that the end was near, so we could say goodbye to Kodachrome in our own ways. When Dec. 31, 2010 arrives, just be thankful that we had Kodachrome in the first place.