***Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film***

Back in the late 70s when I shot slides a lot I never used Kodachrome, I used Agfa instead as it was cheaper. Now I'm regretting that as I'm sure they would have survived better.

I've got three rolls of K64 n the fridge. I'm thinking of getting in a few more. I'm even vaguely considering going somewhere special to shoot them off. I should also hunt down some slide projector magazines on the 'bay.

I shot a roll recently, and was completely delighted with the results like this one:-


OK, it's inevitable, and the film has been doomed for some time by its own complexity. But you'd think Kodak would have at least kept it going for the 75th anniversary! No sense of their own history.

Digital just isn't the same.
 
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Dave Wilkinson said:
So what will the death knell sound for in the new year? - Velvia?, XP2?, Portra?....it's starting to happen, and sooner than we think!
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No other film shares the problems of Kodachrome. If other film dies, it will be for very different reasons - but the switch to digital age volumes is through and any film types whose production could not be downscaled have already vanished, so there can't be that many left which may die because of the digital impact. So we are back at films that are replaced by competition or gone out of fashion...

Velvia certainly won't vanish soon - it has recently been re-introduced and seems to be successful by current standards. Portra likewise has a market - but 160VC might be on the rocks now that it has in-house competition in Ektra. XP2? Will hardly vanish right now - but if and whenever Kodak or Fuji update the performance of their chromogenic B+W film significantly, Ilford might have to consider whether they want to keep up and make further investments into a technology they can only use in a single product.

The remaining brand name consumer films are certainly on the rocks, if not already dead - but these don't vanish by name, usually their "death" means that the box contents are replaced with something different (i.e. the closest pro film in the product line, or OEM stuff).
 
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Every time Kodak changed Kodacrome over the years, pros expressed breathless alarm that they would be ruined, stockpiled thousands of rolls of the current flavor, and then moved on to the newest version (same as with all film). Then the next version would come along and they would repeat the process, and angst, all over again.

The Kodacrome you are shooting today isn't your father's Kodacrome from the glorious days of the 1960's and 1970's. And it's time to move on again.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
The Kodacrome you are shooting today isn't your father's Kodacrome from the glorious days of the 1960's and 1970's. And it's time to move on again.
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It is however still the only film with dyes-around-silver, and still with very distinctive look from anything else.
 
If Kodak is still spooling cassettes from the big rolls, it will be back in stock everywhere- I'd bet all the big shops will be happy to make the premium they can charge now.
 
I had my Kodachrome fun back in the good-old-days. I'm done. I've moved on. Good luck to all of you who want to keep living the dream one more day/month.
 
For those stocking up on K64, I wonder how much longer Dwayne's will be processing the stuff.

~Joe
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
Several threads here anouncing the end of Kodachrome production - in shocked, horrified tones, as though it was totaly unexpected and unneccessary. Yes, it was/is wonderful stuff, and it's demise lamentable - but if the majority of mourners were honest they would - like me, have last regularly used it years ago. Apart from the high cost of such emulsions, I personaly no longer wish to shoot a film, then send it off on a few weeks world tour, before being able to view the results!. Nowadays, with such good pictures available to me - the same day that they were taken, I have no real regrets about being 'dragged into the 21st. century'!, and now living on my old age pension, the economics are really making sense!.
So what will the death knell sound for in the new year? - Velvia?, XP2?, Portra?....it's starting to happen, and sooner than we think!
Cheers, Dave.
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I am still pissed off that they never delivered it in APS. ;-)

I did have a student shoot some in 126 -- with some basic Instamatic my mom had bought at Expo 67, -- Grand Canyon, etc. -- stuff looked terrific, great format for projection, blew everyone away at the showing.

Slides were a requirement for the summer course that involved a month long field trip out west and she did not have a "slide" camera.

I do have some APS B&W in the freezer.

Am I the only one who keeps old rolls for nostalgia? I have a roll of Isopan IFF, and some Kodachrome Tungsten which NASA used to copy slides for teachers.

Regards, John
 
They've probably got Process K-16 ready to roll as soon as they crank up the the Kodachrome plant in India just in time for Christmas. ISO 100 Kodachrome III :eek:
 
I suppose I'm somewhat lucky; I was stocking up on Kodachrome 200 and 64 since October and have 40 or 60 rolls of the stuff in my freezer. It does suck knowing that my current stock is all I'll ever shoot.

:(

Does anyone know of any fashion magazines (or articles) or photographers that used Kodachrome?

Side note: My girlfriend wrote a bit about kodachrome on her fashion blog:
http://professionally-trendy.blogspot.com/2009/06/rip-kodachrome.html
 
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