Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film

[clayne]

No other E-6 film has the color characteristics and tone of Kodachrome. But I'm sure we'll all appreciate the great photography of the next century dominated by lifeless digital BS. Bitter? Damn right.

[wblynch]

When the huge Electro Magnetic Pulse of 2032 hits we won't have any digital photos left to look back upon.

No other E-6 film has the color characteristics and tone of Kodachrome. But I'm sure we'll all appreciate the great photography of the next century dominated by lifeless digital BS. Bitter? Damn right.

[Prest_400]

Well, well. Strange situation today.
After a few months of doing nothing, something interesting is happening. This only happens every few years.

We are getting snow here! It's been snowing the whole day (max temp of the day was about 5ºC), but until now, it hasn't started to settle on the floor. It just converted to water and gone away. I'm in the mediterranean coast, just where at the summer it's all cramped with tourists, enjoying the beach.
So well, my mom started to take snaps of the snow falling and I took the OM to see if I could expose a frame or two. I yelled when I seen that I couldn't expose anything over f1.8 1/15. Below 1/60, I don't trust my handholding skills. Aargh, "one reason more to love Tri-X".

While I'm finishing the post, 5 minutes after starting to write it, it's raining again.

Anecdote of the day. Climate change is coming in.

Now, I must wait 3 weeks till I can go on holiday and wind another frame, after 3 months. Let's see if I'll be able to see green and not white on the floor. Still 18-19 frames exposed. Sacrificed 6 months of shooting with Kodachrome, but instead, I should get a few nice slides of the fall last year.

[accozzaglia]

Long time gone, I've been, but a germane update for anyone who wants to live vicariously:

Since last summer after buying three dozen rolls from someone no longer interested in shooting reversal films, I have shot exclusively Kodachrome (with exception to my last EPJ roll shot recently, waaaaah — what great emulsion!).

First was the massive theft in Montréal, having two 35mm SLRs and 7 rolls of KR64 and PKL200 — almost halfway shot through — stolen. Some shots I was really excited to see are irreplaceably gone forever. Then, starting over with new cameras (but lacking much of the supporting stuff I used with earlier projects), I picked up where I left off by shooting various incidentals after my move to Montréal.

Then after I got hit by that car, leaving me incapacitated for almost two months, the shooting resumed slowly, but steadily. The F4 in my bag shrugged it off, while my laptop was bent quite nastily. Despite broken ribs and collapsed lung, I healed.

This year, I made an internal commitment to shoot Kodachrome in as many cities as I can feasibly visit. So far, a not-so-bad start: Toronto on New Years Day, enough of Montréal (bleh), Denver (it's complicated), Seattle, and Chicago (less complicated, but not simple). Slated: more Seattle, Vancouver (summer), possibly Portland, the Twin Cities (summer, hopefully), possibly Thunder Bay and, astoundingly (for me at least), Houston (as those in December will probably be the very last rolls I'll get to shoot and send out).

Whilst in Seattle, I sent 9 rolls direct to Dwayne's and should be receiving them here shortly. I'm sending out ten process-paid rolls just after lunch today. Out in Seattle, where I shot a half-dozen rolls, one went inexplicably missing (inexplicable because they were all in the same pouch). Positively, absolutely frustrating and heartbreaking, and retracing steps was of no avail. What was lost: airport scenes in Denver (such as they were) and a series of midnight time exposures from Alki Beach of a first-quarter, pumpkin-hued moon setting on the water, and a blue heron silhouette standing in shimmering moonlit water.

After this, I'm down to four rolls. It'll be time to somehow dig up the university-student-impaired scratch to maintain some kind of supply as I continue shooting through year's end. My Pentax 645 scowls at me ruefully, while my three sealed PKR64 120 rolls remain perma-frozen in perpetuity.

So I'll shut up now and return to this exceedingly dull guest lecture. Hi everyone!

[David A. Goldfarb]

Had four rolls left in the fridge, shot three this morning to catch the beginning of the spring bird migration at Jamaica Bay. Lots of mergansers out there. Off to Dwayne's!

[holmburgers]

Hi y'all,

I was fortunate enough to come across 8 rolls of Kodachrome 200 at $1 a roll!

It expired in 1997, was not cold stored, but it's still in the original packaging and was stored low to the ground (you'd be surprised at the difference in temp from ceiling to floor) and in a cabinet.

What can I expect? I've heard that expired KC does pretty well, much like b&w film. Any comments would be appreciated. Should I shoot it at 100 ISO?

Thanks!

[nickrapak]

Unfortunately, while the 25 and 64 speed versions hold up well, the 200 is susceptible to pretty rapid fogging. I would shoot a test roll, bracket 0, -1/2, -1, and send it to Dwayne's via the cheapest way possible.

[holmburgers]

Hmmm, that's a great point. I hadn't thought about the higher speed being more susceptible to deterioration. I will do what you suggest!

Cheers

[Sirius Glass]

First was the massive theft in Montréal, having two 35mm SLRs and 7 rolls of KR64 and PKL200 — almost halfway shot through — stolen. Some shots I was really excited to see are irreplaceably gone forever. Then, starting over with new cameras (but lacking much of the supporting stuff I used with earlier projects), I picked up where I left off by shooting various incidentals after my move to Montréal.

Then after I got hit by that car, leaving me incapacitated for almost two months, the shooting resumed slowly, but steadily. The F4 in my bag shrugged it off, while my laptop was bent quite nastily. Despite broken ribs and collapsed lung, I healed.

Boy, you are having a bad decade! First your beloved Kodachrome gets delete. Then you cameras and film gets deleted. Finally, you get pounded.

Have a speedy recovery with the last two. I cannot help you out with the first one.

Steve

[accozzaglia]

Thanks Steve. Things are better now, but those events helped to taint my feelings for being here. The theft was last August (let's not forget the laptop with thesis notes was also taken) and impact by a car was last October. This all happened last decade, which wasn't great, but what a way to end it (assuming, of course, one doesn't count '010 as part of the same decade).

@holmburgers: On the bit about KL200 and fogging: you can also anticipate some shifting to magenta. I gave some free, extremely expired PKL200 a try and shot it all at 125, pulled a stop. From the same brick, my friend shot hers at rated speed, and they were milky-foggy something awful. The batch I shot is on its way shortly. I still expect the colour shifting, but it should keep the fogging from being completely out of control — hopefully. Sure, it defeats the speed advantage, but it was "free" (well, the pull charge negates that).

It really comes down to this: if anyone hands me a roll labelled in red-and-gold these days, I shoot it voraciously. "Expired in the early '90s? Oh, still K-14! Can't wait!" I shoot with the dog's breakfast of Kodachrome. It's a very good thing I'm not shooting for a client.