Prints from Kodachrome

[Wolfeye]

I got back some K64 yesterday and there are some really really nice images in there. While I fully intend to subject family and friends and passers-by to projected slide shows, I also want to get some prints.

Therein lies my lack of love for Kodachrome. I can't scan it very well, so I'd prefer to send the slides to a good lab who can do them justice. Can anyone recommend a good lab for this?

Please, only share personal experience here, along the lines of "I sent LabX my Kodachrome slides and they did a GREAT job" instead of "I sent LabX my Ektachrome slides and they made awesome prints, probably will do a good job with Kodachrome..." or "I know LabX does printing from slides, try them!".

[DanielStone]

i personally would recommend AT LEAST a lab that uses the Imacon scanners, but IMO, I would have them wet-mounted, aka: drum scanning. I had some done a month or so ago, and i had a file that i could print a 12"x18" print from. It was a little expensive, but definitely worth it!

there should be at least 1 lab in Iowa that offers drum scanning, otherwise there are companies that offer it via a mail-order service

However, I have NO connection with these companies, and I've never used them myself. Just to let you know.

www.drumscans.com

www.geckocustomlab.com

West Coast Imaging (I've heard LOTS of great things about them)

http://www.westcoastimaging.com/wci/...n/scanning.htm


there are many others, but these are just a few

-dan

[nickrapak]

I am not sure how much you are willing to spend, but there is an optical process called Cibachrome (Ilfochrome). In my opinion, it is the way to get the most "punch" out of a Kodachrome slide. However, prices can be really prohibitive at ~$50 for an 8x10" print.

If you are not looking at spending that much, a good drum scan can deliver comparable quality results, and the scans are arguably at a higher resolution than an optical Cibachrome.

[Pupfish]

Darn few labs do optical Ilfochromes anymore. The process does persist however, as the sole remaining way to make a print directly from a slide without an internegative. But the materials can be hard to find fresh, especially hereabouts in the State of CA due to the chemistry having hazardous materials restrictions to shipping.

Yet I did make Ilfochromes in good quantities, from Kodachromes with custom pin-registered contrast masts my own wet darkroom for more than 5 years myself, up until about 5 years ago when I proved to my satisfaction that other processes (both C41/RA4 optical prints and later hybrid scan to wet print on RA4) are superior in nearly every way.

The one niche I can think of that "Cibachromes" still hold onto is a sales/branding perception-- which emphatically states that they're more archival and have better/richer color. Both claims are highly subjective. In comparison to the gamut of other newer processes, the over-amped saturation is considered rather passe, and will not be well suited to a great many subjects.

If your primary objective is to make prints for the final use, you'd be wisest to start with one of the many excellent print film, not Kodachrome. (If you're smitten with Kodachrome and need to scan it, find someone with a Minolta DiMage Scan Elite 5400 --either version I or II-- before you conclude you need to spend big bucks for wet drum scans. I routinely print 16x20 from such scans at a native 300 dpi. The DMSE 5400's version of ICE works with Kodachrome. For further amplification there's also the HybridPhoto.com forum spun off from the APUG forum, where these matters are more appropriately discussed.

[Venchka]

GOOGLE Ilfochrome in Hattiesburg, MS. If a Kodachrome slide is worth printing, it's worth printing right.

Or search Ilfochrome labs right here at APUG.

CORRECTION: Darn Darn Double Darn! They quite making them. Crap. I waited too long.

[Wolfeye]

I am somewhat amazed at the responses so far... so far nobody has any direct experience with getting good quality prints out of a Kodachrome slide. As much as I love a projected slide, I do sometimes take a picture, silly me, on slide film instead of negative film, that I'd like a print of. With my usual slide film, Fuji's Astia, this is no problem. It's easy to scan.

I suppose I should work on my Kodachrome scanning skills and materials instead. I've been curious if a FF sensor DSLR can get a decent image using a slide duplicator or macro lens. I'll see if mine can do Kodachrome better than my scanner.

[2F/2F]

I have had good results at the Lab Ciba in Burbank, CA using a variety of transparency films, Kodachrome 200 included. Get your bank account ready for the hit. http://www.lab-ciba.com/

I have also had Kodachrome 200 drum scanned at A and I and output onto RA paper via Lambda printer. It is also expensive, and does not look the same.

[Dave in Kansas]

It might be a dumb question, but if Dwaynes processes Kodachrome, shouldn't they have the means to produce a decent print from it?

Dave

[bobwysiwyg]

I've been curious if a FF sensor DSLR can get a decent image using a slide duplicator or macro lens. I'll see if mine can do Kodachrome better than my scanner.

Probably better posted to the hybrid site, but since it wasn't. I had some slides (Ekta's) that had some value to me. I wanted to print a couple, the scanning wasn't great and only if I took them out of the mount. I used a slide duplicator on my Nikon D100 (almost a vintage cam, so that should be OK ). You don't say what you intend to do with the print. This was just a snapshot, taken 40 years ago, not ideal circumstances and highly compressed.

[tiberiustibz]

Dwaynes sure as hell knows how to scan kodachrome. I've gotten a photo Cd of images from them, unfortunately fairly low resolution images. I know they make prints from slides, but I'm not sure of the quality. If you're unsure, I would start with Dwaynes.

FYI the first poster indicated success with wet mount drum scans...