Future Kodachrome Colour Developing

[Greg Davis]

I personally have never shot Kodachrome, but as a photography professor I am interested in how it may look different than E6 or C41. To that end, I would be interested in one of these proposed camera exchanges to shoot a frame and share the cost, but not in an entire roll alone.

Of course, as a professor, I am also interested in your process, so if you ever want to share what chemicals are needed and how to process it, feel free to PM me as I think it would be an interesting point of historical research for one of our courses.

[wogster]

Your agenda may not be everyone else's agenda. That often happens in life.

Ken

I don't have an agenda, the last time I shot slides, of either type was 1982, so it's more an idea of sober thought. If film transparencies are important to you, then you either need to work with current materials in order keep what you have now or you need to find a way to economically get slides from C41 negatives, possibly by using a motion picture print film. If you really want a business concept it would probably be the later, custom building a film printer that would work with a single negative to print them on MP film which would then be processed like any other MP print film, you would then cut it into slides and mount them. You might need to put a tracking number on the film stock itself, to know which slide goes with which negative in your process.

[mikecnichols]

If I get the new job I'm waiting on to hear back about, then at tax time, I would DEFINITELY be interested. My only problem is that I only have 4 rolls. If I'm still stuck at WAG, then I can't afford to do this at tax time.

All in all, it would be nice to be able to fully appreciate the color of the Kodachrome that sits in my freezer, but it isn't the end of the world if it doesn't happen either.....Ektar and Portra 160 are doing just fine for me.

Mike

[mikecnichols]

I couldn't agree more. I think your suggestion of spending the money on E-6 is far more healthy. A photographer would need a bloody good reason why they need to shoot k-14 over E-6 for me to process it or have something extremely historically important that missed dwaynes last processing for me to actually do it.

I get that argument. Makes me now want to shoot some E6!

[railwayman3]

In the unlikely event that I won silly big money in the Lottery, I would be tempted give it a go....and even fly to Sydney to watch the process! But that won't happen.

Using E6 has to be the way to go, realistically. And I think we have a few years left of E6 processing....and even after that there might still be some hope of getting the less complicated chemicals to mix-it-yourself.

[Brian C. Miller]

Let's say that commercial E6 from Fuji went extinct. Would it be far more economical and easier to start a small E6 line (say, like Ilford with black and white)?

No.

There have been a lot of posts on this subject. The cost of developing a small E6 line is just too high, i.e., no profit at all, ever. If Fuji dumps E6, then just kiss it goodbye, and soldier on with C41 or B&W.

[AgX]

Well, except for that Agfa E-6 film and its conversions there is still Kodak Ektachrome in 35, 16 and 8mm cine conversions.

[madgardener]

There is no way I could afford the cost. $250 would be nearly an entire paycheck. I'm at the fringes of being able to afford my hobby as it is, which is why at the moment I shoot 35mm. During the last year of Kodachrome, just to say I shot it, I was buying a few rolls at a time from a seller on Ebay, and sending it by mail to get it developed.

It was an absolutely beautiful film, but I agree with PE, it's never coming back' no matter how much we beg. The processing is/was just too specialized.

[Athiril]

There is no way I could afford the cost. $250 would be nearly an entire paycheck. I'm at the fringes of being able to afford my hobby as it is, which is why at the moment I shoot 35mm. During the last year of Kodachrome, just to say I shot it, I was buying a few rolls at a time from a seller on Ebay, and sending it by mail to get it developed.

It was an absolutely beautiful film, but I agree with PE, it's never coming back' no matter how much we beg. The processing is/was just too specialized.

I forgot how bad pay rates in the U.S. was, here the minimum award rate starts at about $18 an hour iirc.

[Photo Engineer]

And the economy in OZ is better?

PE