Reports of (Colour) Kodachrome Home Processing Emerge from Sydney

[SkipA]

I've got 50 cartridges of Super 8 K40 in my freezer. One of these days I'll figure out how to expose it and develop it for B&W projection, at least. But if someone manages to get a K-14 cine film processor running, that would sure be fun.

[AgX]

Kodachrome film is a B&W film with at least 9 different emulsions sensitive to Red, Green and Blue light and these emulsions are able to tell them apart and reproduce the original colors. The coatings are very thin to give good sharpness and the emulsions are very fine grained but still give good speed and grain. The coating is so complex than only Kodak remained active in this field even though Fuji once made a compatible film, as did Konica in Japan.

PE

In the past aside of Kodak 7 more manufacturers made films on the Kodachrome principle.

[Prof_Pixel]

Dynacolor (here in Rochester) made a Kodachrome compatible film, and in the early '60s, DuPont had a Kodachrome project, but the introduction of Kodachrome II killed it if I remember correctly.

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak released the patent for K14 so that anyone could do it. At that time, Fuji Konica and Kodak could run the "old" Kodachrome. All declined to move into K14 and thus Kodak was the only source of K14 films. Dyanchrome was long gone at that time.

PE

[Gerald C Koch]

The problem is not with developing this film. That is fairly easy compared to restarting its nmanufacture. Do any of the old coating machines still exist? Is there anyone with the expertise to run one? I seriously doubt that any company would be willing to make Kodachrome film again. If anyone truly believes that such an event could happen then I have some land in south Florida I'd like to sell them.

[AgX]

You do not need the old coating machines. Any current multi-layer coater would be fine.
Out of those 8 companies only Kodak went on even in the haydays. And Kodak profited for a part from the reputation of the tradename Kodachrome.

Some time ago a fellow member wanted a custom production done. He was fixed at Kodak, but Kodak was not interested. I don't assume there is still someone else considering custom production.

[Gerald C Koch]

Any current multi-layer coater would be fine.

I am not so sure about this. Kodakchrome contained more layers than any film manufactured today.

[AgX]

Gerald, Kodachrome was no wonder-film.

[Athiril]

The main difference I see between a B&W pan film, and a (basic) Kodachrome-type film, is the yellow filter, and separation of spectral bandwidths (red, green, blue, etc) into different emulsion layers and never mixed.

[wogster]

The problem is not with developing this film. That is fairly easy compared to restarting its nmanufacture. Do any of the old coating machines still exist? Is there anyone with the expertise to run one? I seriously doubt that any company would be willing to make Kodachrome film again. If anyone truly believes that such an event could happen then I have some land in south Florida I'd like to sell them.

What you need is not the old coating machines, but a coating machine that can manufacture in small enough batches that you don't have $1,000,000 worth of perishable product that you need to unload in a short period of time. I'm thinking a master that is 140mm wide (just over 5½ inches) and maybe 100m long (just over 328 feet) this would allow for trimming into 35mm, 120, 4x5 sheets and 5x7 sheets. It would be a little thick for 120, but you could use the same thickness for 35mm, 4x5 and 5x7....