Kodak has announced that it is retiring Kodachrome film:

http://homepage.1000words.kodak.com/def ... em=2388083

Kodachrome will live forever courtesy of that Simon and Garfunkel song

......and so Paul Simon did sing:

'They give us those nice bright colours.

'They give us the greens of summers.

'Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah.

'I got a Nikon camera.

'I love to take a photograph.

'So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away'

.

But George did.

Oh well. It was good while it lasted. We may never have seen many quality colour images of Australian steam and diesels in the 1950s and 1960s without it.

Sorry, Paul Simon, Kodak's taking Kodachrome awayBy CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press Writer 21 mins ago ROCHESTER, N.Y. Sorry, Paul Simon, Kodak is taking your Kodachrome away.The Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday it's retiring its most senior film because of declining customer demand in an increasingly digital age.The world's first commercially successful colour film, immortalized in song by Simon, spent 74 years in Kodak's portfolio. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and '60s but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity: Sales of Kodachrome are now just a fraction of 1 percent of the company's total sales of still-picture films, and only one commercial lab in the world still processes it.

Those numbers and the unique materials needed to make it convinced Kodak to call its most recent manufacturing run the last, said Mary Jane Hellyar, the outgoing president of Kodak's Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group."Kodachrome is particularly difficult (to retire) because it really has become kind of an icon," Hellyar said.

Simon crooned about it in 1973 in the aptly titled "Kodachrome.""They give us those nice bright colours. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world's a sunny day," he sang. "... So Mama don't take my Kodachrome away."Indeed, Kodachrome was favoured by still and motion picture photographers for its rich but realistic tones, vibrant colours and durability.It was the basis not only for countless family slideshows on carousel projectors over the years but also for world-renowned images, including Abraham Zapruder's 8 mm reel of President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry's widely recognized portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak's request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honours the company's founder, in Rochester.

For McCurry, who after 25 years with Kodachrome moved on to digital photography and other films in the last few years, the project will close out an era."I want to take (the last roll) with me and somehow make every frame count ... just as a way to honour the memory and always be able to look back with fond memories at how it capped and ended my shooting Kodachrome," McCurry said last week from Singapore, where he has an exhibition at the Asian Civilizations Museum.

As a tribute to the film, Kodak has compiled on its Web site a gallery of iconic images, including McCurry's Afghan girl and others from photographers Eric Meolaand Peter Guttman. Guttman used Kodachrome for 16 years, until about 1990, before switching to Kodak's more modern Ektachrome film, and he calls it "the visual crib that I was nurtured in." He used it to create a widely published image of a snowman beneath a solar eclipse, shot in the dead of winter in North Dakota. "I was pretty much entranced by the incredibly realistic tones and really beautiful colour," Guttman said, "but it didn't have that artificial Crayola coloration of some of the other products that were out there."

Unlike any other colour film, Kodachrome is purely black and white when exposed. The three primary colours that mix to form the spectrum are added in three development steps rather than built into its layers.Because of the complexity, only Dwayne's Photo, in Parsons, Kan., still processes Kodachrome film. The lab has agreed to continue through 2010, Kodak said.

Hellyar estimates the retail supply of Kodachrome will run out in the fall, though it could be sooner if devotees stockpile. In the U.S., Kodachrome film is available only through photo specialty dealers. In Europe, some retailers, including the Boots chain, carry it. Responding to photographers like Guttman, who refuse to go digital, Hellyar said that despite Kodachrome's demise Kodak will stay in the film business "as far into the future as possible," even though the company now gets about 70 percent of its revenue from its digital business.

Hellyar points to the seven new professional still films and several new motion picture films introduced in the last few years and to a strategy that emphasizes efficiency. "Anywhere where we can have common components and common design and common chemistry that let us build multiple films off of those same components, then we're in a much stronger position to be able to continue to meet customers' needs," she said.

Kodachrome, because of its one-of-a-kind formula, didn't fit in with the philosophy and was made only about once a year.

THE END FOR KODACHROME FILM:: Sales of KODACHROME Film, which became the worlds first commercially successful colour film in 1935, have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to newer KODAK Films or to the digital imaging technologies that Kodak pioneered. Today, KODACHROME Film represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodaks total sales of still-picture films. KODACHROME Film is an iconic product and a testament to Kodaks long and continuing leadership in imaging technology, said Mary Jane Hellyar, President of Kodaks Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group. "It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its 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." While Kodak now derives about 70% of its revenues from commercial and consumer digital businesses, it is the global leader in the film business. Kodak has continued to bring innovative new film products to market, including seven new professional still films and several new VISION2 and VISION3 motion picture films in the past three years.These new still film products are among those that have become the dominant choice for those professional and advanced amateur photographers who use KODAK Films. Among the well-known professional photographers who used KODACHROME Film is Steve McCurry, whose picture of a young Afghan girl captured the hearts of millions of people around the world as she peered hauntingly from the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985. As part of a tribute to KODACHROME Film, Kodak will donate the last rolls of the film to George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, which houses the worlds largest collection of cameras and related artefacts. McCurry will shoot one of those last rolls and the images will be donated to Eastman House. 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. For all of its magic, KODACHROME is a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process. There is only one remaining photofinishing lab in the world Dwaynes Photo in Parsons, Kansas that processes KODACHROME Film, precisely because of the difficulty of processing. This lack of widespread processing availability, as well as the features of newer films introduced by Kodak over the years, has accelerated the decline of demand for KODACHROME Film. During its run, KODACHROME Film filled a special niche in the annals of the imaging world. It was used to capture some of the best-known photographs in history, while also being the film of choice for family slide shows of the Baby Boom generation. To celebrate the films storied history, Kodak has created a gallery of iconic images, including the Afghan girl and other McCurry photos, as well as others from professional photographers Eric Meola and Peter Guttman on its website: www.kodak.com/go/kodachrometribute. Special podcasts featuring McCurry and Guttman will also be featured on the website. Kodak estimates that current supplies of KODACHROME Film will last until early this fall at the current sales pace. Dwaynes Photo has indicated it will continue to offer processing for the film through 2010. Current KODACHROME Film users are encouraged to try other KODAK Films, such as KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME E100G and EKTAR 100 Film. These films both feature extremely fine grain. For more information, please visit www.kodak.com/go/professional. (KodAK - posted 6/22)

Be warned: I recently imported a few boxes of Kodachrome from the USA and have been taking shots of operational steam trains in Victoria over the past few weeks. In a several weeks time, after I get them sent to Kansas for processing and then returned, I hope to scan the better slides and post them online.

One problem with Kodachrome is that it's a shocker to scan accurately, but even so I'm sad to see it go. Kodachrome slides projected properly are a religious experience IMO.

P.S. I don't own any digital cameras apart from my mobile phone...

Another nail in the coffin of film photography.

Though having said that I swiftly changed from Kodachrome to AGFAchrome once I realised how blue-biassed the Kodak film was. AGFA returned with a better overall balance and if anything slightly biassed to reds.

Years later and the Kodak has kept a little better than the AGFA which has sufferred more degradation despite good storage.

IMHO from a amateur point of view, rather than as a professional photographer, Kodachrome had its place back in the day but IMHO it's colour is nothing special. Yes it has a distinctive look and it allowed many people to capture colour images that may have not been captured back in the 50s, 60's and 70s.

At a lowly 64iso, it really isn't that great for action shots except in sunny weather (which is what most railfans used it for). While I took some shots on Kodachrome, I found the low speed more than anything else made it very restrictive. By the 90s when I started getting more serious, the Ektachrome films had good colour and faster ISO ratings. I then moved across to Fujichrome Sensia in 2000 when I had problems with Kodak scratching my slides when I sent them off for processing.

By 2004, the digital revolution was well and truly starting to take over. I got a D70 and never looked back (I added a D200 body in 2006).

If people want to use film, fair enough. However, I don't really see any advantage to using it anymore. Not only is it far more restrictive, unless you are able to process it yourself, (which would be very difficult with Kodachrome anyway) you have to send off your photos to some idiot in a lab who will scratch, cut or otherwise find some way to stuff up your slides (Yes I've had this happen far too many times).

Once you get the slide back, if you want to do anything useful with it (other than project it on a screen) these days you have to scan it into a digital format anyway. IMHO if you are going to use the image in a digital format, why not shoot straight to digital rather than going through an intermediate film step?

Regardless of the cost and inconvenience, I can't see any real world quality advantage, especially for shots of fast moving objects. I've printed up to A3 without any loss in visual quality to the naked eye and at 100iso my D200 produces an image that is virtually noise free, unlike the visible grain in equivalent consumer grade slide films.

When the light drops a little bit, I can still take images worthy of publication on a digital SLR. Back when I was shooting slide film, you could pretty much forget getting a decent image when the light got low, especially with Kodachrome. Even though there were high ISO Ektachrome or Sensia films available, the grain was horrendous. These days I can shoot an image at 1600iso 10 minutes after sunset and still get it published in full colour in Newsrail!

Sure Digital photography has its merits and is here to stay, especially wrt speed and low/no grain. But real photo grain on Black & White photos and the dynamic range you can get on color negative film gives them an "organic" look that digital cannot replicate successfully. Slide film on the other hand has a 3D look and "pop" that jumps out at you. All formats have their place, so no point being too exclusive about one or the other (There's probably someone out there near a railway line with an 8" x 10" field camera....).

Sad to see the old Kodachrome go, but digital has finally come of age with fullframe 35mm sensors and noise reduction improvements. Film style filters are already available as third party addons in most post processing software if you want the 'oldschool' look & feel.

I've been looking at digitising my father's kodachrime slides from the seventies. They appear to still be in ok condition, but it would be great to have them in other formats, and be able to get prints whenever we want. There are a couple of options such as going through a camera shop (expensive), buying a specialised scanner, hiring equipment from a camera club (if I can find one), photographing the actual projected images (apparently it works), and so on. All (helpful) suggestions, comments, feedback about digitising these memories from the past, welcomed.

thank you,

It depends on how many you want to scan and print. If just a few, get a camera shop to scan them (at least 3000x2000 resolution). If lots, then buy a decent scanner. I use an Epson 4490 (approx $300 new); it comes with a slide holder, backlight, and can do 4 at once. But colours do need to be adjusted in Photoshop due to cyan/blue colour cast.

Photographing projected slides requires a good screen, good projector, good tripod and a decent DSLR....

Anyway, I expect to see my latest Kodachrome slides arrive back from Dwayne's in Kansas in around 10 days time. I'm also getting them to scan my images onto a CD for an extra US$5 to compare with my Epson scanner.

When I get around to scanning my slides I'll probably get an Epson V700. Check this link.

Epson has produced a range of very competent scanners with slide and negative trays and which are driven through dedicated software allowing you to scan to your requirements.

I run an Epson Stylus Photo RX510 which is about four years old now and has been out of their range for over a year.

Epson Scan will allow me to set a fully automated scan (quick, good, still allows you to set the desired resolution and destination), home mode (partial manual with more individualised settings including dust removal and colour restoration - handy for older films) and Professional mode (where you can fiddle around with colours and balance to your heart's content and scan at up to 3200dpi).

If you can get something like this you may find you need nothing else apart from a lot of storage space. High res scans can eat up your megabytes very quickly.

Fair warning though - the software is designed for the PC environment. Although Epson Scan works fine on my Mac the print drivers do not. So I use a more recent Mac-friendly printer for hard copy.

Apart from high-end professional equipment I believe there are no slide scanning models currently in production anywhere thanks to the large-scale migration to digital photography although I am willing to be proved wrong.

I still take slides and spend hours doing my scanning.Cannot ask for a better format and can get some nice big prints done.

RIP K64

OK. As promised, recent Kodachrome shots have arrived. Some Steamrail R-class & K-Class action around Victoria in June 2009:

from the shots above, tbh I get similar results just shooting Kodak Gold...

Scans don't do Kodachrome justice. That's its biggest weakness. Shooting a roll of Fuji Provia 100F atm so it will be interesting to compare. From all accounts it's pretty close to Kodachrome (good skin tones & vibrant colours) plus I can get it processed locally.

Provia is also becoming harder to obtain. I have used it alongside Sensia for some years now but find that it is no longer available over the counter in most places. On a recent trip to the UK I found just one roll in the course of five weeks travel which included visiting several reputable dealers in major cities. Only Michaels in Melbourne seems to have it in stock these days and not all the time.

I recently had to place an order for it, for the first time ever, and when the dealer received their order the Provia was marked "Not available". It was eventually delivered several weeks later.

It seems the days of any quality slide film being available over the counter may be numbered and not just Kodachrome.

I can find Provia at several places around Melbourne:Michael's & Ted's in the city.Vanbar in Carlton & Nth Melb.LabX in St Kilda (Really good E6 lab incidentally).Nunawading Colour Spectrum Lab.