***Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film***
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Uncle Bill
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I love shooting Kodachrome but the icky reality is Big Yellow Father could make a year's supply for planet Earth in one afternoon shift. While it was chemically simple film the developing process is long, complex and definitely not do it yourself. When you got one lab left for the world, the writing was pretty much on the wall.
I am happy Kodak put some money on the table and came up with Ektar 100, yes it's C-41 but the one test I played with (results in my gallery) came out really nice.
I am happy Kodak put some money on the table and came up with Ektar 100, yes it's C-41 but the one test I played with (results in my gallery) came out really nice.
JPSuisse
Well-known
So, I'm posting right now while scanning my recent KODACHROME images from Rome....
I agree with Sanmich. This has nothing do to with greed or cronyisim. It has to do with the philosophy of business followed in America (and also promoted by the leading business schools now world-wide being of course heavily influenced by the Americans).
American business is not product oriented. I think Kodachorme with its unique properties does have a market. But some MBA product manager decides "Oh there this curve called the product life cycle, therefore we have to get rid of Kodachrome." Had they actually tried to market the special properties....
Look at GM, how could company with such "economies of scale" be run into the ground. Simple: American companies don't care about the products they are making unless there is loads of profit to be made.... A niche product that "just makes money" can't motivate American business. It has to make loads and loads of money before anybody cares about it.
Cheers to all, JP
I agree with Sanmich. This has nothing do to with greed or cronyisim. It has to do with the philosophy of business followed in America (and also promoted by the leading business schools now world-wide being of course heavily influenced by the Americans).
American business is not product oriented. I think Kodachorme with its unique properties does have a market. But some MBA product manager decides "Oh there this curve called the product life cycle, therefore we have to get rid of Kodachrome." Had they actually tried to market the special properties....
Look at GM, how could company with such "economies of scale" be run into the ground. Simple: American companies don't care about the products they are making unless there is loads of profit to be made.... A niche product that "just makes money" can't motivate American business. It has to make loads and loads of money before anybody cares about it.
Cheers to all, JP
Freakscene
Obscure member
Speaking of 120 Kodachrome: I have about ten frozen rolls. Can anyone process them?
No. The Kodak lab in Switzerland that closed in 2006 was the last place that could process it. Dwayne's is not set up to handle 120 or sheet Kodachrome. Sell it to a collector or put it on display on the shelf. Any lab that advertises that they can process it will develop it as a B&W negative.
Marty
No. The Kodak lab in Switzerland that closed in 2006 was the last place that could process it. Dwayne's is not set up to handle 120 or sheet Kodachrome. Sell it to a collector or put it on display on the shelf. Any lab that advertises that they can process it will develop it as a B&W negative.
Marty
Trius
Waiting on Maitani
Toronto Star Article
Toronto Star Article
There is a wonderful article in today's Toronto Star, with a lot of input from Dan Bayer, aka Dan Bayer. I've added a comment, though as I write this it hasn't yet shown up online.
Included also are some thoughts from Alex Webb, who was instrumental in my continued use of Kodachrome.
Toronto Star Article
There is a wonderful article in today's Toronto Star, with a lot of input from Dan Bayer, aka Dan Bayer. I've added a comment, though as I write this it hasn't yet shown up online.
Included also are some thoughts from Alex Webb, who was instrumental in my continued use of Kodachrome.
Trius
Waiting on Maitani
But I'm not sure Kodak didn't horribly bungle the issue of processing availability. When I started shooting Kodachrome in London, ON, I could get slides back from the lab in Toronto within a couple of days. This was about 1974-75. The means of transportation has gotten better since then and there have been incredible advances in material science, engineering and process control. No one can tell me that Kodak couldn't have solved the problem of processing and its availability. There have been a lot, I mean A LOT, of smart engineers and worker bees at Kodak. Now, not as many.
wontonny
Well-known
I dont know if this question has been answered or not...
But, when it says remain on store shelves until fall 2009, does this mean there are future shipments to be sent out by Kodak to retailers? So this outage is only temporary?
But, when it says remain on store shelves until fall 2009, does this mean there are future shipments to be sent out by Kodak to retailers? So this outage is only temporary?
cooltouch
Established
I look at my archive of some three thousand slides -- not all that many compared to some folks, but these are the ones I've kept -- and when I look at it a little more closely, I realize about half of them are Kodachrome. I matured as a photographer shooting Kodachrome, and nothing else is quite the same.
You guys with all your business savvy can analyze this to the nth degree -- I don't care. I'm an artist: a photographer, a writer, a painter, and a musician. And I don't like it when one of my artistic tools are taken away from me . . . forever. It makes me want to get all activist about it.
I think the reason why Kodak is disconinuing the 'Chrome is simple. In this, what is still the beginning of the digital photographic revolution, Kodak feels that the 'Chrome is the one product they can discontinue first that consumers will complain the least about. Once all the furor has died down, they'll move to the next not-so-profitable product (by their reckoning), then discontinue it. This will continue until Kodak will be out of the film business entirely. I give them five years to accomplish this goal -- at the outside.
One of the biggest problems with business, and this is not just restricted to American businesses -- I know for a fact various Japanese manufacturers are guilty of this as well, and chances are there are many instances of European businesses being guilty of this too -- is a lousy long-term memory. They are quick to forget "what brung them here" because they are too obsessed with capitalizing on the latest trends, which is at least in part spurred on by the fiduciary requirement to maximize shareholder profit. Thus way too much attention is paid to quarterly reports and profits, and essentially no attention is paid to the long view, which includes, out of necessity, that crucial little part that got them to where they are now.
It's sad that this is so, but since it's difficult to assign a dollar value (or Euro or Yen or Yuan or whatever) to such intangibles as corporate history, they get ignored.
Am I wrong?
What I feel must be done, and possibly will be done, is for Kodak to release all claims to the Kodachrome product, essentially placing it in its entirety in the public domain. This will open the door for enterprising small businesses, who don't easily take "no" for an answer, to continue to offer K-14 film and its process as a niche market product for those who insist on continuing to use it.
The global economy has become so huge that many niche market products that simply could not exist 25 years ago can easily make money for the entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risk, and who have the savvy to market them.
What Kodachrome needs is this sort of lean-and-mean savvy that Kodak just simply doesn't possess anymore. Hey, all it would take would be just one supplier of film stock to keep Dwayne's K-14 machines dusted off and in operation.
A pipe dream? I look at all my Kodachrome slides and my cherished classic cameras, and say to myself, "I hope not."
Best,
Michael
You guys with all your business savvy can analyze this to the nth degree -- I don't care. I'm an artist: a photographer, a writer, a painter, and a musician. And I don't like it when one of my artistic tools are taken away from me . . . forever. It makes me want to get all activist about it.
I think the reason why Kodak is disconinuing the 'Chrome is simple. In this, what is still the beginning of the digital photographic revolution, Kodak feels that the 'Chrome is the one product they can discontinue first that consumers will complain the least about. Once all the furor has died down, they'll move to the next not-so-profitable product (by their reckoning), then discontinue it. This will continue until Kodak will be out of the film business entirely. I give them five years to accomplish this goal -- at the outside.
One of the biggest problems with business, and this is not just restricted to American businesses -- I know for a fact various Japanese manufacturers are guilty of this as well, and chances are there are many instances of European businesses being guilty of this too -- is a lousy long-term memory. They are quick to forget "what brung them here" because they are too obsessed with capitalizing on the latest trends, which is at least in part spurred on by the fiduciary requirement to maximize shareholder profit. Thus way too much attention is paid to quarterly reports and profits, and essentially no attention is paid to the long view, which includes, out of necessity, that crucial little part that got them to where they are now.
It's sad that this is so, but since it's difficult to assign a dollar value (or Euro or Yen or Yuan or whatever) to such intangibles as corporate history, they get ignored.
Am I wrong?
What I feel must be done, and possibly will be done, is for Kodak to release all claims to the Kodachrome product, essentially placing it in its entirety in the public domain. This will open the door for enterprising small businesses, who don't easily take "no" for an answer, to continue to offer K-14 film and its process as a niche market product for those who insist on continuing to use it.
The global economy has become so huge that many niche market products that simply could not exist 25 years ago can easily make money for the entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risk, and who have the savvy to market them.
What Kodachrome needs is this sort of lean-and-mean savvy that Kodak just simply doesn't possess anymore. Hey, all it would take would be just one supplier of film stock to keep Dwayne's K-14 machines dusted off and in operation.
A pipe dream? I look at all my Kodachrome slides and my cherished classic cameras, and say to myself, "I hope not."
Best,
Michael
outlawuk
Newbie
Kodachrome 25 is still being processed and with no delay. I live in the UK and sent off a test roll in the process-paid mailer that came with the film. I sent it to Lausanne nearly 2 weeks ago and it came back today. All ok. no color cast. It expired about 2000 but had been frozen since then. I had posted a Kodachrome 200 about 4 days earlier and it too came back last week so it doesn't seem that Kodachrome 25 takes any or much longer to process. Neither film was returned with any note about processing being terminated or UK process-paid mailers expiring.
At least I can feel safe taking some 25 on holiday with me. Kodachrome 200 slides were as ever a little weak in the colour (not velvia-like! but we know that) but the 25 slides came back with the lovely colours I always came to expect.
Out of interest: Is Kodachrome 64 closer to 25 or 200 in it's colours?
Regards
Dominic
At least I can feel safe taking some 25 on holiday with me. Kodachrome 200 slides were as ever a little weak in the colour (not velvia-like! but we know that) but the 25 slides came back with the lovely colours I always came to expect.
Out of interest: Is Kodachrome 64 closer to 25 or 200 in it's colours?
Regards
Dominic
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
"What Kodachrome needs is this sort of lean-and-mean savvy that Kodak just simply doesn't possess anymore. Hey, all it would take would be just one supplier of film stock to keep Dwayne's K-14 machines dusted off and in operation."
I think you underestimate the complexity of producing and processing Kodachrome, and over estimating the potential market for it. I would guess most people have never seen a roll of Kodachrome, much less shot photos with it.
I think you underestimate the complexity of producing and processing Kodachrome, and over estimating the potential market for it. I would guess most people have never seen a roll of Kodachrome, much less shot photos with it.
Freakscene
Obscure member
>Kodachrome 25 is still being processed and with no delay. I live in the UK >and sent off a test roll in the process-paid mailer that came with the film. I >sent it to Lausanne nearly 2 weeks ago and it came back today.
The facility in Lausanne closed in 2006; your film gets forwarded to Dwaynes in Kansas and returned to you from there. Since the Kodak lab in Australia closed the wait to have to processed and returned is awfully long.
>Out of interest: Is Kodachrome 64 closer to 25 or 200 in it's colours?
Unsurprisingly, it's in-between, but closer to K25 than K200.
Marty
The facility in Lausanne closed in 2006; your film gets forwarded to Dwaynes in Kansas and returned to you from there. Since the Kodak lab in Australia closed the wait to have to processed and returned is awfully long.
>Out of interest: Is Kodachrome 64 closer to 25 or 200 in it's colours?
Unsurprisingly, it's in-between, but closer to K25 than K200.
Marty
3 Olives
Established
Thanks for the tip. It's an AMAZON store so you are protected.
capitalK
Warrior Poet :P
In the past few weeks I've had 3 different people come up to me and say "hey you better go digital soon because Kodak doesn't make film anymore."
Two of them, after me correcting them that they only discontinued one kind of film, told me that "I'm pretty sure you're wrong."
Kodak and news agencies probably could have been clearer that it was only one kind of film discontinued. Some people seem to have a problem differentiating "Kodak film" with Kodachrome film."
Two of them, after me correcting them that they only discontinued one kind of film, told me that "I'm pretty sure you're wrong."
Kodak and news agencies probably could have been clearer that it was only one kind of film discontinued. Some people seem to have a problem differentiating "Kodak film" with Kodachrome film."
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KM-25
Well-known
The Kodachrome Project website has been re-done, new home page slideshow, content updates and a new blog:
http://kodachromeproject.com/blog/
Cheers,
Dan
http://kodachromeproject.com/blog/
Cheers,
Dan
JohnTF
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Am not so sure about the protection, I thought the same, but they seem to be selling space for links all over the place.
Do they stand behind the people they allow links to?
Regards, John
wayneb
Established
I've also had people come up and say there is no more film since this story came out. I smile and say you can still buy (bad) film at the local drugstore.
Dan - nice work on the site and new blog!
I'd like to shoot as much kodachrome as possible before it goes away. But I will not pay steep prices for the film stock. A lot of people are hanging onto this film and will not have the time or desire to actually shoot it. And thousands of rolls will be discovered in freezes/fridges/boxes and have to be thrown away (or kept as a strange collectors item). I assume this time next year it will be much cheaper, as people realize this.
Dan - nice work on the site and new blog!
I'd like to shoot as much kodachrome as possible before it goes away. But I will not pay steep prices for the film stock. A lot of people are hanging onto this film and will not have the time or desire to actually shoot it. And thousands of rolls will be discovered in freezes/fridges/boxes and have to be thrown away (or kept as a strange collectors item). I assume this time next year it will be much cheaper, as people realize this.
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