Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film

[IloveTLRs]

With GREAT color neg films does this really matter to YOU ???

No, I'm more concerned that Centuria has been discontinued. Kodachrome (for me) was expensive to buy, expensive to develop and didn't really impress me with its results.

What about the other chrome films ??

Elite Chrome and Velvia are enough for me.

Why are you shooting chrome anyway ???

Because it gives me an exact copy of what I see, and the colors are spectacular.

[railwayman3]

When you copy something, the copy is inevitably cheaper. You don't have to do the original work.

PE

That's very true, of course.

The first goods imported from Japan after the war were mostly cheap rubbishy copies. But they realised, started to reseach what customers needed, listened to feedback, and gradually improved their products to reach a competitive position, then finally gained the perception that "Made in Japan" equates to quality. Same thing is happening now with China and the other Asian economies. One can protest for evermore that they didn't do the original work and had the advantages of cheap labor, but it's arguable that their market research, customer relations and quality controls are (or appear) way ahead of local manufacturers in the US or UK.

[SuzanneR]

The Theology of Kodachrome ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmiYX...eature=related

The gospel of Kodachrome is the promise in which all the world is a sunny day. (tears rolling down from my eye ...)

Regards, Art.

Excellent... I had know idea Simon's song could be so deep!! Or Kodachrome, for that matter.

[Q.G.]

When you copy something, the copy is inevitably cheaper. You don't have to do the original work.

Lets not forget that Eastman's initial way of doing research was to send out a scout to hunt for inventions Eastman could make good use of.
The first thing they did when they found something was try to steal it (many, many, often long running, law suits were the by-product).
If that didn't work, they (reluctantly) bought it.

(He probably learned that way of doing research from Edison, who also 'borrowed' like crazy. Very few, if any, of Edison's inventions were actually invented by Edison.)

But (like the Japanese manufacturers) Eastman didn't stop there, but moved on from borrowing and buying inventions to hiring inventors. And did that very well. We all know the results.

[rternbach]

...He probably learned that way of doing research from Edison, who also 'borrowed' like crazy....

As I've heard it Edison did a lot worse than "borrow" from Nikola Tesla.

Best,

[kraker]

A sad day.

It wasn't premeditated, but what a coincidence: The End by The Doors playing on my iPod while I read this thread.

I'll shoot my remaining stock with vigour. It has been and always will be a special film.

[IloveTLRs]

now, i am waiting for the other shoes to drop ...

I'll buy a revolver and bullets in case Tri-X is ever discontinued (I doubt it will, however.)

[Thomas Wilson]

Lets not forget that Eastman's initial way of doing research was to send out a scout to hunt for inventions Eastman could make good use of.
The first thing they did when they found something was try to steal it (many, many, often long running, law suits were the by-product).
If that didn't work, they (reluctantly) bought it.

(He probably learned that way of doing research from Edison, who also 'borrowed' like crazy. Very few, if any, of Edison's inventions were actually invented by Edison.)

But (like the Japanese manufacturers) Eastman didn't stop there, but moved on from borrowing and buying inventions to hiring inventors. And did that very well. We all know the results.

Ouch.

Nothing like some cold, non romantic facts to add some color to a dreary day.
It could be argued that George Eastman did for (to) the photographic industry what his contemporary, John Rockefeller, did for the petroleum industry.

[Q.G.]

As I've heard it Edison did a lot worse than "borrow" from Nikola Tesla.

That's perhaps an example of the business man Edison not wanting to acknowledge a great idea, because he believed he could make more money pushing a less good idea.
That's what Edison was good at: business.

(Some say it was also because Edison didn't understand that Tesla's idea was better.
And that's possible, of course. He was a great business man. Not a great inventor. )

As such, rather an example of how the great inventor did not try to 'invent' someone else's good ideas. An example of how the way they (Edison and Eastman) did research failed, rather than worked.

[Jedidiah Smith]

I just have to say "wow". It is truly the end of an era. We are turning a new page in photographic history. I hope to be able to shoot film for the rest of my life - we shall all have to educate the next generation about film photography, and encourage more use.
Jed