Death of Film: Last Roll of Kodachrome Processed

[n2doc]

By Charlie Sorrel July 23, 2010



What do you know about Dwayne’s Photo Service of Parsons, Kansas? It is the place where the very last roll of the Kodachrome was processed.

Kodachrome, the slide-film that inspired songs, was discontinued by Kodak last year at 74 years of age. The color emulsion was a victim of its own weird processing requirements, which didn’t use the usual E6 chemistry designed for transparency film, and therefore wasn’t worth supporting in the age of digital.

The last roll was shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry, who shot the 36 exposures in New York (actually, the last three shots were exposed in Parsons before dropping off the film at Dwayne’s). The pictures will be part of a National Geographic piece in the near future.

McCurry’s film may have been the official last roll off the production line, but Dwayne’s will still process any Kodachrome that you might have until December 10th this year. And then it will shut down, forever. People may still shoot analog, but with the death of Kodachrome comes the spiritual death of film.



Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/death-of-film-last-roll-of-kodachrome-processed/

[Schema Thing]

1. Oh man, I HAVE to do this

I got a couple of rolls with a camera I purchased recently.


Kodachrome is the best film ever made. National Geographic would not have been nearly the magazine it has been for so many years if Kodachrome had not existed.


E-6 won the film war because it was far more convenient, not because it was better.

[regnaD kciN]

5. "Best film ever made"...?

Scarcely. Kodachrome may have become legendary because of its name-association with its parent company, and the song by Paul Simon, but virtually every nature photographer I know of made the switch to Fuji Velvia decades ago. And, even before then, I preferred '70s-era Agfachrome. I only shot on Kodachrome when Agfa wasn't available.

[ManiacJoe]

2. A sad end of an era.

At least 95% of my film shooting was on Kodachrome.

[BrightKnight]

3. It's like taking Coca-Cola off the market.

People have been putting up with the inconvenience of sending it off for ever because it is good stuff. It is difficult to believe that there is no demand for it.

[alfredo]

4. I liked Extachrome because I could process it myself. It

was easy to push to 400-800-1600. I used EC for the blues, and Agfa for the browns and golds of the sub Sahara.

[begin_within]

6. What are they going to do about Kodachrome Basin State Park?

It's really sad because Kodachrome was such a great film. So clear, so sharp, colors so deep and rich and clear and bright, such fine grain, colors so accurate to the real world... and rock-solid longevity. I have many boxes of slides my grandfather took on Kodachrome when it first came out in the late 1930s, continuing until the 1960s, and they have been stored in covered boxes ever since, and they are so bright and crisp and rich they look like they were taken yesterday.