Mama, They Took My Kodachrome Away!
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 5:42PM Today is a sad day for me. Kodak announced that the have discontinued Kodachrome film after 74 years in production. Kodachrome 25 was the most beautiful color film ever. The fine grain, the way it rendered colors, especially the reds, was exactly what I wanted out of a color transparency film.
I'll admit that I hadn't bought any Kodachrome since the mid-90s, maybe 1993, so I can't (and won't) complain. Kodak reported that Kodachrome sales were "just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films," so you really can't blame them in this digital age. Check out Kodak's tribute to Kodachrome.
Anyway, I attribute the look of my color photography today to be heavily influenced by this film. I would not have developed my style of sometimes highly saturated colors in my images, had I not spent the 80s and into the 90s shooting Kodachrome film in the way that I did. Goodbye my friend, we had some great times over the years.
Kodachrome, Kodak, film 
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Reader Comments (4)
I was saddened to read about Kodachrome's demise today too but, thinking about it, it doesn't really surprise me. I used to shoot a lot of slide film but Kodachrome was always my third choice after Ektachrome 100 and, my all-time favourite, Fujichrome 100 due partly to the fact that it required a funky process (not E6) but mostly since the 64ASA version didn't give me the kind of saturation I loved from Fujichrome. I never used the 25ASA flavour, though.
Like you, I can't really complain, though, since I've not bought a roll of transparency film in 15 years and have not bought any 35mm film for 5 years.
I was never a Kodachrome fan. Always preferred Ektachrome first E-3, then E-4, and finally, E-6. Since I'd always processed my own reversal stocks, I liked the control and repeatability, and being able to do my down slide dupes on Ektachrome Slide Duplicating Film 5071. Used to buy 10 or more 100' rolls at a time from Southwest Photo Supply in San Antonio, or Precision Camera, or Holland Photo in Austin. Later I switched to Fuji 50 when Kodak revamped their 'neutral' Ektachromes and screwed them up. I gave up traditional film and went digital when Jerry called one day from Precision and said that E-6 gallon kits were backordered indefinitely. I took that as a sign.
I'll miss dear friends at Kodak R&D who created those great films and kept the lights burning to keep us supplied with great films and technology to capture 'Life's Great Moments'.
Things change -- not always for the better.
I'll miss Kodachrome too...but not the the expense or the wait to get the slides back from the lab. The last roll I shot (I guess 5-7 years ago?) took over a week for processing and cost a bit more than the film itself.
Thanks for the info, Alex. I think I still have a half dozen rolls of Kodachrome 25 buried in a drawer with my partial-and-non-functional pile of 35mm cameras. Maybe it's time to unearth the pile, clean it off, and put it on a shelf as a reminder that: this too shall pass. ;-)
I've been shooting digital since the 1990s. I'd slacked off on my photography prior to that because of the expense and lack of darkroom. I'm not sure that digital was such a good thing. I have shot more digital photos in 10 years than I shot on film in the prior 30. Quantity doesn't equal quality, but maybe I'm getting better anyway. Occasionally I have a photo that looks good beyond the documentary appeal. I've always admired your talent with the medium. Keep up the good work!