Kodachrome Making a Comeback?

pocketshaver · Nov 22, 2019

The thing to look at in regards to Kodak Film Stock... is this.

The claim these days is that Lomography Branded film stock is a reintroduction of 1980s Kodak Emulsions that were discontinued by Kodak itself.

The rumors I have seen online is that Kodak Alaris is letting some Asian company make the film stock and is acting as middle man between the 3rd party factory and Lomo itself.

Part of the rumor comes from how the New Lomo film releases have nearly the same appearance as kodak emulsions that weren't made after 1988

star camera company · Dec 1, 2019

Did Kodachrome processors exist in the USSR?

IanG · Dec 1, 2019

There wasn't an Official lab in the USSR. I've no idea if there where any of the later small K-Lab units. ot whether Kodachrome was even available there.

There's no secrets the entire process is in the Patents, a lab in Australia processed some Kodachrome after all stocks of chemistry had disappeared, you can find Stephen Frizza's posts on Photrio.

Some of the chemicals needed to make the film are no longer available and the last master roll of K64 was in refrigerated storage for a few years after coating, and small batches confectioned every year or so. Eastman Kodak wanted to be able to celebrate a milestone year (can't remember what for) with it still in production.

Ian

jcdeboever · Dec 1, 2019

I have never shot Kodachrome but from what I have seen it had wonderful color and probably the sharpest film I have ever seen. My original mentor had tons of images on it, fascinating stuff really. He said it will never come back.

IanG · Dec 1, 2019

With the right light Kodachrome was an excellent film wrong light it was dismal,awful. the major downside was slow processing at least outside the US, Only one short lived K-Lab was ever set up in the UK the rest went by post to and from HArrow.

Fujichrome 50 pretty much helped kill Kodachrome which was the only 35mm colour slide film NAational Geographic would accept until the release of the Fuji 50 which was E6 and many of us preferred the Fuji colour rendering. With plenty of E6 pro labs offering 1 hour processing Kodachrome couldn't compete.

Ian

smithdan · Dec 4, 2019

Shot a lot of Kodachrome back in my Army days because it was on issue as the go to media for instructional slide presentations. With care the odd roll could go astray, and bonus, here in Canada it was processing prepaid. Especially liked the colors as mentioned if the light was favorable. The extra stop when K 64 arrived was welcomed but didn't like the reds as much.
Think that a return is unlikely for all the reasons mentioned.

Derrel · Dec 4, 2019

This is an Old Post. Kodachrome returning? Maybe if you mean the Paul Simon song, but the film? No way. Kodachrome is perhaps the most complicated film ever as far as developing goes. It is not just a matter of running it through three chemical baths and then a wash, it is much more complicated and exacting to develop than any traditional color slide film, and for that reason alone, I see no way that enough laboratories could ever be established to make it economically feasible. Modern E6 film technology is plenty good, and color negative or C-41 process film is now good too.

star camera company · Dec 6, 2019

Ya Never Know. Maybe Kodak could start a kickstarter campaign. With $600,000,000 ($2 per American), they Could do it. I send in $4, cover the Wife ya know. ;-)

480sparky · Dec 6, 2019

Kodachrome is dead. Forever. It's gone. Done. Never to return.

K-14, as Derrel stated, isn't a 3-soup and done. Kodachrome is, at it's core, three black & white film layers. The colors are introduced during processing. If you still have some K film laying around, you can process it as a B&W film quite easily and end up with an odd-colored monochrome film. Getting rid of the remjet is the biggest issue, but isn't unsurmountable.

compur · Dec 7, 2019

I'd be happy if they brought back High Speed Infrared film.

webestang64 · Dec 8, 2019

compur said:
I'd be happy if they brought back High Speed Infrared film.

And maybe Panatomic X..... :trink39:

Derrel · Dec 8, 2019

A few years ago I developed a roll of Kodak Technical Pan film that I had exposed back in 1984 or so. I believe I had the film for 30 years before I developed it. I made a video of it and uploaded it to my YouTube channel.