Kodachrome - NY Times

[Graham Line]

"I started to dabble in Fujichrome but even with them, I hated how each lab had a different "look" to the slides."

I hear you. 95% of my E6 went through a well-run local lab. Consistency was a major Kodachrome selling point. But by 1995, they weren't consistent and their turnaround time didn't suit tight deadlines.

 

[Brian Levy]

I've been going through boxes of stored things I've not seen in years and amongst those I found today were boxes and rolls (120 - not cut and mounted) of Kodachrome and spent a few hours remembering how it made such happy times in my life and it was the film that inspired me to learn to take up a camera and make memories and art. I also remembered the anticipation of waiting for the processed film to come back for me to view; no instant gratification and the wait made a successful slide that much more exciting.

 

[mervynyan]

I had last batch 45 rolls developed this summer, every roll came out OK. No blank rolls. I can see some of the rolls have strong yellowish color shift because long passed the expiration date. Yet to scan to computer.

 

[35mmdelux]

Processing Deadline has passed and The Kodachrome Era has ended.

 

[panchro-press]

Amazing how some hick town lab can garner all this attention.

 

[Andy Kibber]

Amazing how some hick town lab can garner all this attention.

For several years Dwayne's was the only place in North America (the world?) that processed Kodachrome. It's location is beside the point.

 

[Andy Kibber]

agree, 50,000 exposures sure he can get few hits. hire an agent to market his collection to get the money back.

"Hello, Mr. Photo Agent? I'd like you to sift through 50,000+ photos of god knows what and find some that can be sold at a net profit to me of $15,000 so I can pay back my father the money he lent me to develop the film."

Only a fool would pass up such a proposition!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Also here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12095771

Like others, I used a lot of Kodachrome years ago, especially in the 80s, but from when it came out to when it was discontinued I preferred Fuji 50 RF/RFP. In the 70s I used to take Kodachrome to Deer Park Road for overnight processing. Besides, not all Kodachrome was good Kodachrome: who else remembers Kodachrome-X (uniformly nasty), and who else had the dreaded 'Kodachrome stripes' in areas of solid tone? That first happened to me in the early 80s, and last happened when I was illustrating a book about a Kodak product. Only 3 films in maybe 30 years of Kodachrome shooting, but not nice when it happened.

If I'd wanted to shoot Kodachrome to the end, I don't think I'd have waited until December to send it in, let alone late December. Tempting fate a bit too much. I wonder what the percentage split was between the people were sending stuff in just to be able to say that they were 'the last' (or 'among the last') to shoot it, and those who'd used a lot of Kodachrome in the last decade or so.

Cheers,

R.

 

[raid]

Like others, I used a lot of Kodachrome years ago, especially in the 80s, but from when it came out to when it was discontinued I preferred Fuji 50 RF/RFP. Cheers,

R.

Hello Roger,
I tried a few rolls of Kodachrome in the early 80's, and I preferred the Fujichrome 50 (RF/RFP). My "fast film" was Fujichrome 100 for many years.

 

[robklurfield]

Perhaps he's the next O. Winston Link. Or, maybe he's just a run-of-the-mill trainspotter who happens to work on the railroad.

"Hello, Mr. Photo Agent? I'd like you to sift through 50,000+ photos of god knows what and find some that can be sold at a net profit to me of $15,000 so I can pay back my father the money he lent me to develop the film."

Only a fool would pass up such a proposition!

 

[Andy Kibber]

Perhaps he's the next O. Winston Link. Or, maybe he's just a run-of-the-mill trainspotter who happens to work on the railroad.

Only time will tell! 🙂

 

[Graham Line]

Only time will tell! 🙂

He's well-known in a subculture of railroad photographers who trade slides of equipment and so on -- the culture started back in the 1920s and '30s when travel wasn't an option for many people, and the 616 neg became the standard currency then. Eventually (many rr shooters are very traditional) Kodachrome became the standard and it wasn't unusual to find the hard-core traders ripping off a whole roll on one subject.

Yes, my head is chock-full of useless information.