Kodachrome Rules!

[Iskra 2]

Haven't seen any threads pointing out the superiority of Kodachrome film recently. 🙁 😀

How about some positive experiences from those who know how to expose it properly vs those who can't. 😀 Seriously, am I the only one who still uses it? I'd like to see a Kodachrome Forum to share the positive/negative experiences. :angel: Regards.

 

[dmr]

Seriously, am I the only one who still uses it?

No, I'm having a final fling with it, expecting it to go bibi4ever soon. 🙁

Here are a couple recent ones ...

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

It is superior when you can get it and when you can get it developed.

"Enjoy yourself... It's later than you think"

 

[sf]

Do they make it in 120 format?

 

[Silva Lining]

Apparently ony 3 labs in the entire world still develop it. one in Switzerland, one in tokyo and a guy called Dwayne in Kansas.

Used to use it, haven't used it in a long while...

 

[Kyle]

Are you talking about the 25 or 64 ISO version?

 

[Mackinaw]

Do they make it in 120 format?

Kodak used to. I remember buying Kodachrome in 120 back in the mid 1980's.

Jim Bielecki

 

[David Murphy]

I love Kodachrome too and use it when I can.

Kodachrome is only available in 35mm except for possibly some residual Super 8 or 16mm film stock.

Here's a processing hint for all: Walmart will develop it for $4.75 a roll plus tax -- that's no joke, I've tried it and it works. The results are superb. They send it to an outside lab, which is reputed to be Rocky Mountain Film Lab in Colororado, a lab that claims to process just about anything !

 

[dmr]

Walmart will develop it for $4.75 a roll plus tax -- that's no joke, I've tried it and it works. The results are superb.

Hmmmm ... what's the turn-around time on this? With Dwayne's if I send it off in the morning mail pick-up on Monday, I have it back Saturday, sometimes Friday.

They send it to an outside lab, which is reputed to be Rocky Mountain Film Lab in Colororado, a lab that claims to process just about anything !

The last I heard, Rocky Mountain was only doing a batch every few weeks, when they had enough of it to make it worthwhile.

On "another network" a while back, it was mentioned that some military labs were still processing Kodachrome, and it may be the government/military that's actually keeping Kodachrome alive.

 

[Trius]

I have a stash of K64, and a couple of rolls of K25. I love it, know how to expose it, and will mourn when it passes into George Eastman's graveyard.

This is a K64 shot (Olympus 35SP), but the scan (I had it done by a local lab that does better on C41 than chrome) really doesn't do justice to the original.

Last year I saw 8x10 Kodachromes exposed by Edward Weston. It was a nice experience.

Earl

 

[Kim Coxon]

Both K64 and K200 are available in the UK process paid by Kodak. Perhaps it is done in the Swiss lab.

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=6176
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=6175

Kim

 

[David Murphy]

Hmmmm ... what's the turn-around time on this? With Dwayne's if I send it off in the morning mail pick-up on Monday, I have it back Saturday, sometimes Friday.



The last I heard, Rocky Mountain was only doing a batch every few weeks, when they had enough of it to make it worthwhile.

On "another network" a while back, it was mentioned that some military labs were still processing Kodachrome, and it may be the government/military that's actually keeping Kodachrome alive.

It took me about two weeks at WalMart, but at $4.75 a roll I am not picky. Might be that Walmarts pull with Rocky Mountain is little greater than ours 🙂 The last time I took some to Sammy's camera it cost about $14 and took forever. They were not particularly friendly about it either.

 

[Iskra 2]

Nice pix dmr, wish they still had 120 shutterflower.

This pix shows what an old Jupiter 8 can do with some Leica film (Kodachrome). :angel:

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I have one roll in the fridge, waiting for that special trip...

Perhaps I should shoot it now to know what to expect (never shot it before). I'm thinking that this may be too finicky for me to shoot with my rangefinders; perhaps I'm being too paranoid. Somehow, maybe, I should just shoot it with my Leica R8 or my Canon A-1?

I've never seen this available in 120. Uh-oh...

 

[tomw]

FWIW, I was at a large format conference last weekend which was attended by the director of Kodak's traditional products. His message was pretty simple: use it or lose it. He said that Kodak will continue to make Kodachrome as long as enough people continue use it. That applies to all films, not just Kodachrome. Ilford, Fuji & Bergger all echoed that statement (they were all sitting at the same table saying the same thing).

On Kodachrome, the Kodak guy said that as the number of labs dwindled, the number of users followed suit, so now with about 10 day turn-around times, fewer and fewer people want to put up with it, so it was pretty clear that eventually KR & PKR would die unless photographers bought and used it.

I keep using Kodachrome, and it's still my favorite color transparency emulsion, though Fuji Astia is nice, too, so I can fall back on that if needed. It broke my heart when PKR 120 was discontinued back in the 1990's. One participant said he saw some Kodachrome sheet film Edward Weston had exposed and spoke of how beautiful those pictures were still after all these years. It will be an extremely sad day if Kodachrome is discontinued, so keep buying the stuff and keep sending it to the lab!

 

[dmr]

I'm thinking that this may be too finicky for me to shoot with my rangefinders;

I don't think Kodachrome minds being shot in a rangefinder 🙂 but it sure can't take a joke as far as exposure is concerned.

I'll often times bracket one stop over and one stop under. 9 times out of 8, the middle (normal) one will be best, but in a few cases I'm sure glad I bracketed. It also can't take high contrast scenes. I have a few of the salt flats out in Death Valley where the bright white of the salt is overexposed, as in clear white, and the shadows of the rocks are muddy, solid opaque.

The colors are amazingly accurate, and the grain is extremely tight. 🙂

The one I'm attaching here is a total slop-shot time exposure I made in the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago last fall. Our table had a ledge behind it and I placed the camera on it and just did a 1 second or so shot for the heck of it. I'm amazed it worked as well as it did! 🙂

 

[Iskra 2]

dmr, great available light shot. I usually avoid high contrast lighting, some say filters work, sometimes the high contrast works for you.

Agreed, grain is minimal, colors are natural and, the slide lasts forever, at least as long as I've had mine (50+ years). I always use Kodachrome for a permanent record of family, Holidays or vacations.

My processing turnaround time is similar to your experiences with USPS and Dwayne's. It was never faster with the Kodak labs, and the old local labs with quick turnaround screwed things up more than once.

It amazes me how everyone in the photo business I run into "bad mouths" Kodachrome. Must have been an unprofitable operation selling/processing the film. Regards.

 

[Trius]

Cut the number of labs, which reduces use due to reduced service levels ... vicious circle. IMO, Kodak created this issue. They poured R&D money into E6 rather than promote K14 and develop it further. I'm sure that is over-simplification, but I stand by my non-expert assessment.

So now that there are only 3 or 4 labs processing K14 in the world, we are to "use it or lose it?" K14 will be hard pressed to be carried by loyal amateurs and a smattering of professionals, especially when time is big money for the pros.

Proper exposure is about knowledge and taking care, composition and light control. Is it more critical with Kodachrome? Maybe a bit. But I try for that with any film I use. I don't ever want to get into the habit of depending on the forgiving nature of a film to cover sloppy technique. I try not to play jokes on film.

 

[Dfin]

Mama don`t take my kodachrome away. How prophetic was Paul Simon. Sad to say but the general public aren`t to concerned about quality, as long as they can recognise the person/scene in the photo, that`ll do. Oh,and it must be cheap and quick,just like the net ha ha ha. Sadly there are, but a few islands of quality in a sea of mediocrity.

 

[fgianni]

I still use Cromes, and love them, however I find that, unlike E6 film, it is very difficult to scan.