Kodak Kills Kodachrome Film

[Canuckistanian]

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Sorry, Paul Simon, Kodak is taking your Kodachrome away.

The Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday it's retiring its oldest film stock because of declining customer demand in an increasingly digital age.

The world's first commercially successful color film, immortalized in song by Simon, spent 74 years in Kodak's portfolio. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and '60s but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity: Sales of Kodachrome are now just a fraction of 1 percent of the company's total sales of still-picture films, and only one commercial lab in the world still processes it.

Those numbers and the unique materials needed to make it convinced Kodak to call its most recent manufacturing run the last, said Mary Jane Hellyar, the outgoing president of Kodak's Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group.


So sad. I loved that film. It was expensive, you had to wait weeks for it and it only came in 3 speeds - ISO 25 64 and 200. But oh, the COLORS......

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. you beat me to it, but here is kodaks

tribute page

http://homepage.1000words.kodak.com/default.asp?item=2388083

[Canuckistanian]

4. Thanks for that link

An amazing comment here:

While I realize that progress is inevitable, I take this time to reflect back on the golden world that was Kodachrome. I suppose, I'm an old fuddy-duddy now (strange to hear myself utter those words) but I have to exert myself to make my DSLR's results look anywhere near those I achieved so effortlessly with KII all those years ago.

[regnaD kciN]

2. It was a great film for its time, but really got eclipsed by Fuji Velvia...

...for landscape work, which had previously been its strong suit.

Fortunately for film shooters, a version of Velvia is still being produced. (My all-time favorite, Agfachrome, was discontinued decades ago.)

[BrightKnight]

3. The warmth and richness of Kodachrome is unique.

It is a pain to ship it off for processing but nothing else is Kodachrome.

I have not used it in decades but it still feels like a loss.

[NV Whino]

5. I keep my digital set on cloudy +3

to replicate (as best it can) Kodachrome 64. It's hard to let old friends go.

[Johnny Noshoes]

8. Interesting...

I've got to try that settting. Nik software's Color EFX plugin suite has settings that try to emulate various film types including Kodachrome but I'm guessing it doesn't really do it justice. I used to love Kodachrome.

[MajorChode]

6. I dearly loved Kodachrome

I would buy the Kodak mailers to go with the film and while on vacation I would just drop them in a mailbox as I exposed the rolls. A few days after I got back, there would be those lovely vivid slides waiting for me. I still have the boxes of slides in my closet. They look just as vivid today.

[semillama]

7. Apparently there's only one lab left in the whole WORLD that even processes it?

Once they stop, that's the final nail in the coffin for the film.

Some great images were made using that film, including perhaps the most famous National Geographic cover of all time: