# RIP Kodachrome



## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Eastman Kodak Company has announced that it will discontinue the production of its iconic Kodachrome film.
Full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_bi_ge/us_kodachrome_s_demise

Charlie


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

I started shooting 35mm on Kodachrome II... yes, I have been around for awhile. I remember the panic that went through the professional photographic industry when Kodak announced they were discontinuing Kodachrome II and replacing it with Kodachrome 25 & 64. Pro's all over the world borrowed money if they had to to buy whole bricks of Kodachrome II and put it in freezers (Kodachrome could be kept years past its expiration date if you froze it) but eventually the 2 new Kodachrome films won them over.

Frankly, there never was a film as good as Kodachrome, though Kodak positioned Ektachrome to be it's equal, it never really was. You could see the difference in enlargements... Kodachrome was still sharp at sizes that Ektachrome was starting to fuzz out at.

Ektachrome's biggest value was that higher speeds were available and it could be developed in the field. I went on many photo shoots where I developed the Ektachrome film in my hotel room at night. Kodachrome always has required laboratory processing.

Interesting tidbit... for decades, National Geographic magazine refused to accept any photographs that were NOT shot on Kodachrome.

RIP Kodachrome, you will be missed.

Larry


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I guess Momma finally DID take the Kodachrome away....


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

djlong said:


> I guess Momma finally DID take the Kodachrome away....


Damn, you beat me to it! :lol:


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## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

Paul Simon I bet is rushing through everbody's head right now ! <lol>


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## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

The best pictures that I ever took were on my Ricoh SLR using Kodachome 25. Nothing else was comparable.


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

Both Kodachrome as well as Ektachrome. Made a lot of nice prints off those slides using Cibachrome in my darkroom. That was back in the "olden" days of course.......


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

That's a bummer. Just another nail in the coffin of film. 

Mike


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

This site is worth a little of your time if you are a fan of Kodachrome...

Some of the great picture moments in Kodachrome history, look closely at some of these shots... color and composition!

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=15398&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=4476

Larry


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## SteveHas (Feb 7, 2007)

My great grand father was one of George Eastman's first employees, and at least one of my family has been with Kodak ever since.
This is like losing a member of my family.

Kodachrome was with us on every vacation, every party, every holiday, every big event.

It was safe guarded, and continually improved by my family, friends, and neighbors.

In a way all of us in Kodak Town became Kodachrome, and Kodak in general, and vis-versa.

Thank You Kodachrome, thank you George.

I grew up in the best place on earth because of both you.


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## cjever19 (Jun 2, 2007)

I'll always remember sitting around with the family watching my dad's kodachrome slide shows of my sister and our friends when we were kids. This really inspires me to get us all together and have a slide shoe and recant the tales.


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

Jimmy 440 said:


> Paul Simon I bet is rushing through everbody's head right now ! <lol>


THANK YOU! Damn I'll have a hard time getting this one out. That or "You Can Call Me Al".


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

LarryFlowers said:


> This site is worth a little of your time if you are a fan of Kodachrome...
> 
> Some of the great picture moments in Kodachrome history, look closely at some of these shots... color and composition!
> 
> ...


DAMN!! Seeing that. WOW!! Better than a digital camera any day!


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

While certainly not the same quality, can you imagine the incremental change in the QUANTITY of photos being taken today??!! Not even considering that almost every cell phone is also a camera!


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

MicroBeta said:


> That's a bummer. Just another nail in the coffin of film.
> 
> Mike


Also another nail in the coffin for Kodak in general:nono2:


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## SteveHas (Feb 7, 2007)

Very few people know that Kodak was one of the pioneers of the triple ccd.
Kodak has been working in digital imaging from the beginning.
The real nail in Kodak's coffin aren't from missing teh digital band wagon, but rather from its from marketing lower quality products, and defeating their own reputation for quality.

People don't realize that the film industry was IMMENSELY profitable.
When you are they largest manufacturer of film in the world you simply can't walk away from that cash cow overnight. Kodak couldn't move any quicker as teh profits from film was financing their move to digital.

Kodak will survive if the rediscover the basis of their pasts successes.

Child proof simplicity, and extremely high quality and durability.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

My backup digital camera is a Kodak Z712IS - 7 megapixels, image stabilization, 12:1 optical zoom. It's well designed, compact and happily uses 2 readily available AA lithium batteries. Granted, Kodak does produce some rather inferior digital cameras, but their midrange and top range models are quite good. See http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/kodak/z712is-review/ for a review on this little camera.
I picked mine up on a sale at Office Max for a bargain price of $129.


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## gilviv (Sep 18, 2007)

Kodachrome film has always had a special "look" that well, only Kodachrome film had!
Many new films came and went, but Kodachrome film stayed the course. 
Now the industry has changed to new digital technology and although nothing will probably compare to Kodachrome film and its' "look" the new digital era will create its own Kodachrome want to be's.
As a professional photographer for the last 30 years, I can remember changes in the industry that for many was "to much change". Whether it was TTL metering or AutoFocus systems, you still put film in the camera and that along with the type of film allowed for some of historys' most amazing images! Kodachrome film has been part of that history. Its been a part of my camera.
The new Digital photography industry is creating beautiful images just as traditional film has. Hopefully, photographys' history as well as Kodachrome film will not be forgotten by the new generations of Digital photographers. A generation whom have never loaded a roll of film in a camera and waited for those images to return from the lab and looked in awe at what those Kodachrome slides revealed. Thanks Kodak, thanks for a GREAT product, thanks for Kodachrome!


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

From today's New York Times:



> PARSONS, Kan. - An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne's Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved.
> 
> That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap... [*more*]


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

My brother in Rochester NY told me that the Genesee River has been much cleaner since Kodak essentially shot down film production en masse.

Something about Rochester companies spells "luddite". I was told that Xerox (at least 2 years ago) paid their regional sales managers based on toner sales. Amazing. Xerox - the company that "invented" the windows computer paradigm still concerned about toner! Xerox - the company that gave that paradigm to Apple.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

I've always preferred Ektachrome because it's easy to process. I've see the K-14 process for Kodachrome and it's a bear. Nearly impossible to do at home.

I'll miss Kodachrome though. Being an additive process, nothing lasts over time like it. I’ve seen Kodachrome slides from the 50s & 60s that look like they were taken yesterday. 

Although my 35mm cameras are sitting in a box these days, I still use them every once and a while for some B&W goofing around. I wonder how long it will be before there is no film left. 

Mike


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I've had the same thought - we have two perfectly fine Canon A-series 35 mm cameras, and they are still fine cameras - but how long is film going to still be available ?


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