Waxing Nostalgic - Kodachrome how I never knew you

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Here are a couple of scans of Kodachrome slides that were exposed in 1952 and 1953, when Daylight Kodachrome was rated at ASA 10, if I recall correctly. I recently scanned 50 years of slides and negatives, and the Kodachrome held up better than any of the other slide or color negative films that I worked with.

Other than dust, the slides I've scanned look like they were shot yesterday...other films have color shifts, or red casts (which can be corrected but not perfectly.)

This one is from about 1954.

 

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From 1952:

 

[IGMeanwell]

Love those shots DI

As an aside, I did a photoshoot today with a friend, brought my X-370 loaded with K64 and my 58mm 1.2 MC Rokkor ... unfortunately after 25 frames the camera jammed 🙁

Luckily I had some backup (including my Yashica T4 with another roll of K64 left over with a few frames left) and my Fuji S5

Once the camera warmed up and I managed to get it advancing again, I noticed the shutter was only opening half way (think of a half frame camera) .... hopefully that was not the case for the whole roll (I hate wasting film) and then after a couple more advances, the camera jammed

Time to get it fixed

 

[Ororaro]

I love Kodachrome but I hate the developing system! It's often a deal killer.

I also like the "powdery" feel of Kodachrome images. That's the term that always comes to my mind when I see them.

I'll have to shoot some soon!

 

[jbf]

Wow, some great shots indeed! Wow. I want to buy some kodachrome now!!!

 

[dmr]

Wow. I want to buy some kodachrome now!!!

Then do it! Go4it! 🙂

Both B&H and Adorama usually have it in stock, and what I'll do is just add a roll when I'm ordering something from them.

I'm kind of having a final fling with Kodachrome (the 64 version) before it totally disappears.

I've found that the turn-around on processing is less than a week, and Dwayne's has always done a great job, even recently. I was a bit concerned since there was chit-chat that their QC had gone downhill, but my last roll was perfect.

Here's one from the last roll. Nothing special, but you can tell that it's not the usual Kodak/Fuji films.

 

[Trius]

DI: Both of those are wonderful. Is that a '49 in the second one? Brings back a lot of good memories.

DMR: Wow, that's so lovely. The colour palette, whether "right" or not, is just so ... right to my eyes.

 

[Trius]

Hattie's Cove, Lake Superior 2007, K64

Hattie's Cove, Lake Superior 2007, K64

 

[thomasw_]

 

[Welsh_Italian]

I bought an old SLR (for its Tessar lens) and in the back of the camera is what looks like an undeveloped roll of Kodachrome 64. I'll be giving it a whirl even though it's probably out of date by now. The photos here (esp Keith's picture) look fantastic indeed.

 

[Keith]

K 64 ... from the same trip in 92

 

[dmr]

DMR: Wow, that's so lovely.

Thanks. {blush} 🙂

The colour palette, whether "right" or not, is just so ... right to my eyes.

Oh, it looks very "right" to me too! Same as I saw the scene in real life.

Kodachrome will tell you the way it is, not the way somebody wants it to be. It won't sucker-punch you with vivid colors when they really aren't there. 🙂

Coincidentally, I just did a blog entry on ... what else? ... Kodachrome! I hope the link here works. 🙂

http://omababe.blogspot.com/2007/12/chicago-in-kodachrome.html

 

[IGMeanwell]

Good news, I got the slides back and no problems until the shutter failure

One of my favorites from the roll ... Rokkor 58mm 1.2

 

[M. Valdemar]

Scanned from original Kodachrome, from a "stag" set, around 1955.

 

[M. Valdemar]

Kodachrome from a set I shot for a magazine, around 1985:

 

[M. Valdemar]

My grandparents. Kodachrome, Nikon F, 28mm lens, around 1969:

 

[M. Valdemar]

Kodachrome, around 1985.

 

[M. Valdemar]

I don't know. I push the button and Kodak does the rest.

 

[LeicaTom]

From 1952:

Hmmmmm .......very interesting, are those US Forces Japan license plates on that 1949 Ford? (I think so and they are crazy rare!) very kool shot taken "over there" - that crazy American pattern PX bought dress 🙂 (reminds me of house curtain material) How "PinUp" is this......

I love photos like this - more more! shots from Japan in the Occupation period 😀

Tom

 

[dmr]

though I heard that it isn't really a 'color" film !

Disclaimer, I'm not a Photo Engineer<tm> but for some reason I've taken a strange fascination to the way Kodachrome works. I've actually forced myself to understand it. 🙂

Yes, it is a color film. It records images in color, same as all other three-layer color films do.

each layer being sensitive to one of the three primary colors. The layers are then dyed individually during the processing.

A true Photo Engineer<tm> might say that Kodachrome is chromogenic (a point frequently misunderstood) but that it's nonsubstantive.

Some people have this idea that color dyes are added to Kodachrome the same way you would pour Rit into a washing machine. No, the dyes are formed as products of the color developers. (oxides?) (Yes, chromogenic.) There are three color developers, one for each layer, and Kodak's secret formula CD6 is the magic potion!

Ektachrome and the like work by having the color couplers built in to the layers in the film and the dyes are formed all at once as products of the second developer. The magic potion in this case is Kodak's CD3. What totally fascinates me is how the color developer reacts to the three color couplers to get the correct exact dye formation in each layer!

A long time ago I posted the link to the operaton manual of the K-Lab Kodachrome processor, which explains the processing in depth. I'll find it and re-post it here.

Edit: Here's the original thread (thread? it had zero replies) which includes the links:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12623