Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film

[Scott_Sheppard]

Kodak Retires KODACHROME Film

Newer KODAK Films are the Preferred Choice for Today’s Photographers

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 22 – Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it will retire KODACHROME Color Film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.

For the complete press release go here...

http://www.insideanalogphoto.com/ins...kodachrome/205

NOW.... Lets talk about this.

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

What about the other chrome films ??

Why are you shooting chrome anyway ???

I look forward your response on this topic.

There will be MANY radio interviews in the following days talking about this very topic.

Thanks

Scott

[PKM-25]

June 22nd, 2009, 7 AM Eastern Standard time:

Today, Eastman Kodak Corporation has officially announced the retirement of Kodachrome 64, the last remaining variation of legendary Kodachrome Color Film. This includes both consumer 135 KR-64-36 and professional 135 PKR-64-36 versions. However, Kodak and the only remaining lab in the world that develops Kodachrome have contracted to honor customer's requests for Kodachrome processing until at least 12/31/2010. In addition to this support, Kodak has stated that in current production and supply, Kodachrome film should be available until early Fall of this year with distribution that is considerate to all who would want to use it.*
This presents the public with a unique opportunity to still experience the film first hand before it is too late, with it’'s 75th anniversary being well within reach of Kodachrome fans next year.*

“"Kodachrome Film is an iconic product and a testament to Kodak’'s long and continuing leadership in imaging technology",” said Mary Jane Hellyar, President of Kodak’'s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group. "It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given it's rich history. However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology,– both film and digital. Kodak remains committed to providing the highest-performing products –both film and digital –to meet those needs.”"

As cited in a press release given by Kodak this morning, Kodachrome Film in current use now represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’'s total sales of still-picture films. Retired Kodak engineers Ron Mowrey and Robert Shanebrook both recently agreed that there were probably never more than a dozen Kodachrome labs running at the same time even globally as the process is unlike any other film. The unique factor being that unlike most film processing being the normal 3-7 reasonably controllable steps, “Kodachrome film processing requires what is basically an in house chemist to attend to the no less than fourteen distinct steps to finalize the image. Single Kodachrome lab installations have been known to reach $500,000 for some of the largest operations.*Now there is just one remaining lab in the world in the heartland of the United States.

Yet despite these profound statistics, for over 7 decades, Kodachrome film has remained one of the most prominant photographic icons in pop-culture history. As the brainchild of two musicians partnered with Kodak, Kodachrome FIlm was a standing ovation hit right from it’'s introduction in 1935. So by the time musician Paul Simon released the hit song “"Kodachrome”" in 1973, the thousands of images that had appeared in powerfully storied magazines had drastically changed the way the world viewed the photograph, and the home movie or slide show had become the event for a Saturday night in homes for decades. Some of the photography accomplished on Kodachrome film has represented one of the highest standards of photojournalism in history from the the Great Depression era photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Russell Lee to the thousands of images in magazines such as Life and national Geographic. One of the more memorable recent Kodachrome images is Steve McCurry’'s piercing 1985 National Geographic cover called “Afghan Girl”. In a movement that resonates corporation'’s recognition of the Kodachrome product as an era, Kodak will donate the last rolls of the film made to the George Eastman House of Photography and Film with Steve McCurry shooting one of those last rolls as a donation it self.*

“"The early part of my career was dominated by Kodachrome Film, and I reached for that film to shoot some of my most memorable images",” said McCurry. “"While Kodachrome Film was very good to me, I have since moved on to other films and digital to create my images. In fact, when I returned to shoot the ‘"Afghan Girl’" 17 years later, I used Kodak Professional Ektachrome Film E100VS to create that image, rather than Kodachrome Film as with the original."” In addition to creating newer films that have enabled photographers like McCurry to make powerful images more efficiently and with more options for stable processing, Kodak has recently introduced new consumer films like the recent hit “Ektar 100” Color Negative film and two new motion picture films in the past three years in the form of “Vision2” and “Vision3” motion picture stocks.

But as these new films and even digital start to gain on Kodachrome in terms of technical quality and easily surpass the iconic medium in ease of use, attention is starting to turn on to several unique attributes of the decades old film that is the only photographic medium to have a State Park named after it. Only a month ago, Sports Illustrated released a book called “"Slideshow”" that presents some of the more memorable images from their vast archive shot on slide film. this has been presented in a manner of the total scope of story telling as the slide mounts themselves bear the labels & handwriting of an illustrious journey as they tell a different story in addition to the actual photograph. Many of the images in the magazine’'s archive were shot on Kodachrome and simply appear as the entire slide on the page, labels and scribbles included with an accompanying essay. One of the most profound things about Kodachrome in recent times is that it has been shown very consistently that with reasonable care, the quality of the movies and photographs from professionals and amateurs made with the film can last several lifetimes with virtually no fading whatsoever. This has enticed individuals and magazines to examine their collections and those of others as the old slides take on a new life or permanency as they can be simply held up to the sky to be seen. While digital will always require some from of electronic output to be viewed, Kodachromes will remain a simple and yet richly vivid way to view the past with unrivaled archival stability. Newer slide films may now claim to have an equally archival duration, but Kodachrome has fully proven it'’s worth better than any other color film for nearly 75 years.

So the notion of actually celebrating a photographic era as powerful as Kodachrome at 75 years inspired one Colorado photographer to start an early petition to keep Kodachrome around long enough to accomplish that tribute to the film. In 2004, Daniel Bayer created the “"Kodachrome Project”", eventually creating an online awareness that the era should be visually celebrated with the passion of shooting the film instead of coming to a close quietly. “"The language of light and it’s play upon our world has always kept my attention focused in photography. What Kodachrome requires of a photographer’'s ability to read light for a masterful result is what sets it apart for me. I could not imagine passing on the opportunity of shooting Kodachrome now as a means to pay a personal tribute to the impact it has had in my life”." said bayer as he was relieve to see that Kodak would indeed keep the film and processing around long enough for those involved with the project to truly give the era it's due.

In a spectacle of a life the span of the average human, the Kodachrome era has taken on a life that is greater than any one person who has used it, any subject portrayed with it and even Kodak itself. When the years pass the date of Kodachrome’'s conclusion as a medium and one then looks at what the era truly stands for, the notion that Kodachrome was used for 75 years with such a tremendous impact and will continue to live on as if it were born at the fountain of youth could make one come to the conclusion that Momma never could take Kodachrome away and never will.

[PKM-25]

Kodak Press Release:

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQueri...oreLocale=true

[SuzanneR]

That really is beautiful film, and I still have a lot of family snaps my dad made on it. *sigh*.

Indeed, I haven't shot it in a long, long, time, but mostly because I'm a b/w shooter. Still, sad to see it go, but it has seemed inevitable for some time that it would go.

[SuzanneR]

Two threads merged.

[bdial]

D**n.

But it's been obvious that the day was coming for a while.

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

What about the other chrome films ??

Why are you shooting chrome anyway ???

I look forward your response on this topic.

I haven't been doing very much with 35mm lately, so, it doesn't matter so much for me. I do like chrome films, but I shoot them in 120 and 4x5.
Kodachrome is my favorite color film, but since it's 35 only, it hasn't been much of an option for me.

I use chrome because I love the look of a film positive.

[Jeff Kubach]

I sorry to see it being retired. I also use mostly B&W, but still it is such an icon.

Jeff

[tac]

Sad, but inevitable. I’m sorry the day finally has arrived.

[Akki14]

Don't care about color slide film as it's incredibly unlikely to be printed in an analog way these days anyway. I am more upset about the death of polaroid because it renders my favourite camera useless. You still have lots of options out there for food for your camera even if it isn't the filet mignon you've been used to.

[tim_walls]

Originally Posted by Akki14

Don't care about color slide film as it's incredibly unlikely to be printed in an analog way these days anyway. I am more upset about the death of polaroid because it renders my favourite camera useless. You still have lots of options out there for food for your camera even if it isn't the filet mignon you've been used to.

I wish I could find the time to comment on all the things I don't care about...



Sad to see it gone, anyway. But it was indeed inevitable, and comes as no great surprise. RIP Kodachrome; I've got a few rolls left I need to make extra special use of now (which probably means like the two rolls of EIR I've got they'll stay in the freezer until they're completely useless...)