In Show 41, we talked about the demise of Kodachrome. The massively popular film type has been around for the last 74 years, and in June, Eastman Kodak announced that with Kodachrome accounting for just one percent of total sales, production is about to cease.
After show 41 was released, we heard from John from johnsalimphotographic.co.uk in Southend, with a little bit more light-and-shade on this story…
First off: “Film is NOT dead. Kodachrome is a transparency ( slide ) film that’s been around in different guises since 1935. It uses a phenomenally difficult process ( called K-14 ) to develop the ‘multi-layered B&W film’ into colour positive transparencies. The trouble is, people think it’s the only slide film out there – it isn’t.
The world standard slide process is E-6, and there are maybe 30 or 40 film types in different sizes available for this process.
The obvious problem with Kodachrome is the processing involved. Kodak shut down their last K-14 lab in 2006 and handed over all K-14 processing to Dwayne’s Photo Lab in the USA – this is the ONLY lab on Earth to still process K-14′s.
So, what for photographers? Well most slide film users switched to E-6 many years ago because of the improved film stocks available and the way faster processing times with many labs offering the service, and not having to wait for Kodak to forward your films to Dwayne’s then on return, post them back.
Bottom line is, Kodachrome has lasted a very long time and like the original Technicolor process with it’s own ‘special look’, will pass into imaging history.
Thanks for that John – We read out your email in an audio update released on 13 July. Click the link below to list.
