Goodbye Kodachrome

The KODACHROME line including Super 8 and 16mm Movie stocks was my first choice since my early school years…
Hearing that makes me not happy, but having better stocks could make me happy.

Lenny,

I’m a high school teacher. We shoot digital. Depth of field is alive and well in the Mac Lab.

Example: http://vimeo.com/4563387

American Graffiti was shot 2 perf.

I have been screening old reg 8 and super 8 movies that are over 50 years old and the color held up beautifully. They are a blast to the past that is precious. Hard to get camera’s and projectors repaired unfortunately, but the format has proven the test of time in a way that the digital formats have not…Hi 8 tapes for example, glitch sitting on a shelf, if you have precious memories on them I recommend you transfer to mini DV or into a HD to preserve them.

Tremendous capture of an an entire era with the feel and love that went with it.
I never had a super 8, but I wish I had. I am sure glad you did.
Thanks, Thanks so very much.
Eric

Kodak is a business, and can’t be expected to subsidize a hobby/historical preservation effort–BUT–why doesn’t some non-profit round up funds from arts, historical, tech history groups to fund continued availability of Kodachrome???
Isn’t this the kind of thing the AFI, the ASC etc. ought to be doing, perhaps in lieu of yet another “100 something or other “list?

There are also other obsolete technologies that should be preserved for limited use by those willing to pay to keep them alive for non-commercial purposes.

As a cinematographer now whose early influences were learning to shoots stills from my father George, a commercial photographer in Chicago, Kodachrome was the foundation of my color photography education. Every frame I shot that could handle the low 64 ASA and unforgiving exposure latitude, I would commit to Kodachrome. The rich saturation,deep contrast and absolute window to-the-world clarity especially when projected on my Dad’s Kodak Carousel undoubtedly helped further inspire me in image-making. Later I did the same with a Super 8mm Canon that Dad gave me for my 10th birthday along with several 50′ cartridges of Kodachrome 40 (tungsten). Now in my adult career shooting motion pictures, I’m often forced towards digital acquisition and though there are some amazing new technologies emerging, film undoubtedly remains the gold standard for quality, dynamic range and achievability. Recently I began transferring some old 16mm home movies from my wife’s and my family that date back to the 50′s and much that was shot on Kodachrome and its indelible dye coatings have been preserved remarkably well. As for the 2-perf 35mm motion picture format, I also have some first hand experience in helping to promote film acquisition as Kodak will further attest to in their most recent July 2009 cinematography publication InCamera- http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Publications/In_Camera/Focus_on_Film/curveOfEarth.htm

It is sad that Kodachrome is no more–35mm that is. This talk about Super8mm being good quality, seems to me to be coming from those who have never switched or used digital. I grew up on movies, first my father’s 16mm, then regular 8 and finally super8. I have Kodak color film from the 1930′s that is as good today as when it was taken (properly stored and handled over the years). Then videotape, digital, and now HD were developed. But when video tape arrived most people gladly converted as I did. Come on, you cannot beat the really sharp vivid images created by HD or DSLR’s. I have thousands of feet of film in all consumer formats, but would never go back, even if economically available. If you like any consumer film format over HD or DSLR, then you are entirely nostalgic (and possibly crazy). And low light shooting–almost impossible with Kodachrome film (Ektachrome never really cut it, too grainy). HOWEVER, 35mm or larger film format is another story. But still, there is little difference (if any) between 35mm slide/prints and DSLR prints. Thus, the DSLR revolution. Hey, don’t misunderstand me, I love movies, but really–digital HD or DSLR shot in RAW mode cannot be beat. I still think Kodak should keep 35mm file stock. Kodachrome is and always will be the BEST. Other companies (AGFA, Fuji, ANSCO, and even Technicolor for awhile) never really met the quality and longevity of Kodachrome for consumer formats, as my father’s movies prove. I agree with the comment that setting up and watching movies using projectors and screens, adds to the experience. Too much film/video/digital movies/DSLR taken today is shot too casually, leaving really good photography out. Hand held movies is and always will be, in my opinion, not very good. Steady, sharp tripod movies/DSLR photos are and will always be the best. …One man’s opinion.

Kodachrome was unique in that it was processed using dye impingement methods. The 3 color layers were “colorized” at the processing plant using dyes. Ektachrome uses a different process where the dyes are already in the emulsion layers.This was an expensive process and used non-environmentally friendly chemicals. At one point only Koday and a handful of other large commercial plants existed world-wide to handle the kodachrome developing process.

so Kodachrome is dead, so what??, today the medium is digital, video tape is dead, and most film is dead, on their tombstones,you can inscribe, rip, you aint gonna be missed, I spent most of my life as a photographer, in the seventy’s, I worked for newspapers and mags, doing rock,and celebrity stuff, I still remember coming home from some after show party, half buzzed, having to develop a couple rolls of 120, and a couple rolls of 35mm in my Nikor deep tanks, and making 8×10′s to take to the paper next morning, or sending them out to the mags, via special delivery. Today, I could do the whole thing on my computer in less than 20 minutes,
As a closet videographer, I wish the video cameras and programs were available when I was in my twenty’s, today any high school kid can using a high end amateur video camera, and editing software, can make a video that is just as sharp as anything you see on your high def tv. that was impossible when I was in my twenty’s. so film and video tape is dead, so what???