LarryC Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Kodachrome, a unique ARCHIVAL slide film, is at the current bottom of a very long downhill slide to oblivion. No one in the photography or film business seems to want to comment on whether it will disappear entirely. Invented by two musicians in the early 1930's, Kodachrome is/was perhaps the finest slide film ever made, IMHO. Slides from the 1940's and 1950's through the present have a well-moderated realism (no exaggerated colors), seeming 3-D depth to the images, and brilliance of reds and yellows that is in a class by itself. Its preservation is amazing! Fifty-year-old images look just as good now as they did when taken and first shown. With the gradual passing of the many great K films, the company is now down to making only 2 kinds, Kodachrome 64 and Kodachrome 64 professional. Really telling is that the ONLY certified Kodachrome processing facility in the WORLD is Dwayne's Photo in Kansas. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome for details. It was and still is a great American product of the sort that has made us special in national creativity. Its decline seems almost like another Race to the Bottom, toward increasingly lowest-common-denominator aesthetics. Of course, digital image storage and preservation is what has done film in, so many would argue that little has been lost. But I would NEVER trade looking at my slides on a real-life-size screen in the dark for showing pics on a TV monitor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I am also lamenting the passing of film. I have several fine cameras that will go on the knick Knack shelf as I can no longer feed them properly and I will be forced to go ONLY digital. There are some major advantages of digital though, it is VERY cheep as memory costs next to nothing and you can erase it and use it again. The image can be tweaked, sometimes beyond all recognition of what it once was, on a computer. You can take scads and scads of images and just delete the ones you don't like with nothing lost but the time it takes to look at each frame and decide yes or no. One positive thing is though, you can have the images printed onto REAL photo paper with the same durability as any other paper image. As for showing them on a screen, for me it is 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other as my screen and projector are MUCH larger than any slide image projected in my home before. The same show, in the dark, on a screen and with a projector but now with a wireless remote. This is one of the many advantages of a home theater. My biggest question is the one you started with though as how well will the images hold up for 50 years, 75 years..... MORE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I kind of preferred 5247 over the kodachrome II. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Kodachrome was one of my favorites to... from the last time I used the stuff in about 1992 at about 1/8of the fully resolved original picture size. the stuff was always rich in color depth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Some of my best underwater images are taken on KC .........I enjoy digital, but nothing compares to my slide images!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturn5 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I miss my Canon A1. I was never more than a casual novice, but I really enjoyed using a nice 35mm SLR. I guess it's kind of like tubes - it may be more expensive and more trouble, but when it's right - it's beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I still buy slide film probably a roll a month. The stereo slides are super cool [] I'll use it until there isn't anymore film to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I was just sitting in my gallery today with a couple of guests who both remarked on my photography. I was able to say that every image on those walls was created with film, not a single digital image hangs in there. No Kodachrome naturally but prints from a wide variety of films for my Hassleblad and Nikon cameras. I miss film, it looks so much better than digital. Always will. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hifi jim Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I was just sitting in my gallery today with a couple of guests who both remarked on my photography. I was able to say that every image on those walls was created with film, not a single digital image hangs in there. No Kodachrome naturally but prints from a wide variety of films for my Hassleblad and Nikon cameras. I miss film, it looks so much better than digital. Always will. Michael I'm no shutterbug, but I think you're right Michael, as well as the others here when you say, it looks so much better than digital. To me and my eyes, film looks more natural for motion pictures and stills. There is a beauty to it that is very reminiscent of a fine painting. As Saturn5 suggested, maybe it is more work, and maybe it's harder for the amateur, but like tubes and vinyl perhaps there is no substitute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I was just sitting in my gallery today with a couple of guests who both remarked on my photography. I was able to say that every image on those walls was created with film, not a single digital image hangs in there. No Kodachrome naturally but prints from a wide variety of films for my Hassleblad and Nikon cameras. I miss film, it looks so much better than digital. Always will. Michael For those of us who know how to work in a "wet " darkroom......digital pales in comparison to it's film counterpart.... It's like listening to a real Stradivarius compared to a Roland synth playing a sample of one...... that being said, it's a shame that the mastery of the darkroom is becoming a lost art, and at least digital is opening up photography to a whole new generation of folks that would never have even tried it before. Hopefully film and the darkroom will make a resurgence ala vinyl, but at least digital media is still improving in leaps and bounds.......my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM3 Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I never shot any slide film only print. I can tell you one thing and that is the slide film is a lot less forgiving than print film but when it's done right wow does it look fantastic. It's sad to see that film is slowly fading away. My dad still has photos he took in college and he is 74 now. Black and white mostly but man what an art form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Gives us the greens of summer,makes you think all the worlds a sunny day,oh yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I graduateted from University of Rochester. Kodak is great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Kodachrome slides might be longer lived than digital pics burned to cd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Kodachrome slides might be longer lived than digital pics burned to cd. Or lost to a harddrive crash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Amy Posted April 16, 2009 Moderators Share Posted April 16, 2009 I've recently inherited thousands (upon thousands) of my grandfathers Kodachrome slides - everything from pictures of the family to his numerous travels around the globe. I vaguely remember him taking a lot of pictures, but I honestly had no idea! The quality of them amazes me - I've been going through them and scanning some favorites (which obviously doesn't translate well onto computers). This one is from 1945 - 64 years old! (my great grandparents and my uncle as a baby): And this one from 1980 of grandpa which is amazingly clear: I think they are completely cool. Now I just need a slide projector and screen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 The quality of them amazes me Aren't those stunning?!? I think the quality of the pics comes across very well on the computer. That's why K-chrome was "archival", looked like they were taken yesterday! Slides that old with other films would be unwatchable by now.The picture-taker was very good, a good sense of composition and interaction with the subjects that pulls you in. Getting the right exposure with slides is quite difficult, and K-chrome was no exception. Your g-father did extremely well. Now I just need a slide projector and screen.... Kodak stopped making projectors in 2004 or so, so you can only get them used, and Kodak carousels are expensive and probably hard to get, but I personally think the expense and trouble are well worth it if you want to show them. Try to get a relatively recent model of projector (4400?) if you can. I like Da-Lite glass bead screens.I have a Singer/Leica projector, licensed by Kodak, I believe, which had the added advantage of a nice Leica glass projector lens, although Kodak's plastic lenses are fine. Finding one is very doubtful, but it doesn't hurt to be on the lookout if you want a little extra projection quality. Don't hesitate to ask about projector or screen models if you decide to go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Amy Posted April 16, 2009 Moderators Share Posted April 16, 2009 If you're interested, Larry, you can see no less than 146 pics that I have scanned so far here (some of which may be potenially embarassing ones of my childhood, but hey, it was what it was []). Virtually all of them are Kodachrome, and I'd guess most were taken in the 60s and 70s. The ones of foreign countries would probably be more interesting for you, but I haven't even begun to scan those yet. If anyone knows an easy way to digitize these slides, I'm all ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 If you're interested, Larry, you can see no less than 146 pics that I have scanned so far here (some of which may be potenially embarassing ones of my childhood, but hey, it was what it was ). Virtually all of them are Kodachrome, and I'd guess most were taken in the 60s and 70s. The ones of foreign countries would probably be more interesting for you, but I haven't even begun to scan those yet. If anyone knows an easy way to digitize these slides, I'm all ears. Who is the babe in the yellow bikini? I have to cut and mount my own stereo slides which can be a pain but I want to scan the strips of film before cutting them for stereo slide mounting. It took me a while to find an affordable scanner that can allow me enough control to do this. The scanner I found is the Epson perfection 4490. It has several templates for scanning film or transparencies. It can do medium format slides, film strips, and 35mm slides. It can scan 4 35mm slides at a time. Since the slides set in a template the software can auto detact and crop them perfectly for you. The resolution of the scanner is insane as some of my slides are 160mb each. Talk about detail. The software makes this scanner. Other than that the best way is to send them off and hope for a bulk discount. Long live film!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olorin Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Getting good scans is as much an art as a science, and if you're looking to make archive-quality scans, it's well worth employing a professional to do it. You need somebody who really understands digital color management if you're going to get it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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