My observations in 5 cases of 50+ year old slides.

[dehk]

I recently bought 5 rectangular trays of slides from a thrift store. Its mostly Kodachrome but mixed with maybe a 1/3 of Ektarchrome. All Processed by Kodak between 1954 to 1957.

My Observations:

- Ektachrome, All faded to Magenta, most I can fix with color restoration during scan.

- Kodachrome, Looks as good as it was developed yesterday.

Sadly Mama didn't take kodachrome away, but kodak did.

[Moopheus]

Heh. There's a restaurant in the neighborhood with a 50s-60s retro decor theme. On some of the tables they have lighted slide displays that look like they were made for travel agencies (my guess, anyway). The slides are a mix of Kodachrome and other stuff. All of the non-Kodachrome slides are basically faded to nothing, just a slight yellow shadow. The K-chromes, on the other hand, oddly looks like they've lost all their color, and a b&w slide remains.

[bsdunek]

I have Kodachrome slides form the 40's, as well as 8mm movies from 1938 thru 1989. They all look great. Old Ektachrome does fade, and some has a pattern on them. Don't know if it's some kind of fungus or what. In any case, Kodachrome is the best. Too bad it's gone.

[dmtry]

Too bad it's gone.

Which modern alternatives I can use for slide archiving?

[mrred]

Those Ektachromes, any idea (e1-e6) what E process was used?

[John Shriver]

The E-2 process was quite unstable, it was used for amateur Ektachrome films until 1966 or so. Professional films used the E-3 process, which was even more unstable, even for a while after E-2 was replaced by E-4.

I have plenty of lurid magenta E-2 Ektachromes from the 1950's and 1960's. But I also have good-as-new ones. It's all a matter of storage conditions, high heat will kill them fast. I have a friend who had a great collection of railfan E-2 slides, which were wonderful until he moved and stored them in his daughters attic for a few years. Now they are all magenta, and fungus-infested to boot.

If stored at temperatures under 75F, E-6 Ektachromes will be quite stable.

All the E-4 and E-6 Ektachrome I shot from 1973 on looks like new -- but I've kept it under climate control. Most of it was High Speed Ektachrome, which I shot when it was too dark for Kodachrome 64. Often with the ESP-1 push processing envelope.

[Tom Stanworth]

I would be interested to know how Fuji professional slide films fare over the same period. I haven't shot slides in over a decade and they (all Fuji) are in dark storage. I suspect they will be fine many decades from now.

[dehk]

I would be interested to know how Fuji professional slide films fare over the same period. I haven't shot slides in over a decade and they (all Fuji) are in dark storage. I suspect they will be fine many decades from now.

Was wondering about the same thing, well the modern equiv anyways. Don't want it all look like the ektachrome i found 50 years from now.

[Steve Smith]

I have all of my father's slides from the 1960s and 1970s. Most of them are Kodachrome but some are Perutz, Agfa, and Fujifilm. Hardly any are faded regardless of manufacturer.


Steve.

[Ian Grant]

My fathers Kodak processed Kodachromes from the 50's and early 60's have definately faded, Ferrania slides bought commercially in 1955 in Italy are almost lost. Early Kodak prints (pre C41) have also faded appreciably.

No issues with the Kodak and Fuji E3/4 films I shot from the late 60's onwards until the switch to E6..

Ian