Kodachrome Film Discontinued

On Monday, June 22, 2009, Kodak had officially announced to the world that one of their formally best-selling and beloved formats of film, Kodachrome was to be discontinued and cease to exist, therefore their most famous line of slide film was to be no more. For those who exclusively use the digital format of photography, such an announcement probably had no impact, but for those of us photographers who still use the film format of photography such as I do, I can't help feeling that we are witnessing the death of photography as we knew it and wonder if eventually all film photography will cease to be used. To be honest, when I heard of Kodachrome's discontinuation, I felt as though a part of my life has ended.

I've been involved with photography ever since I was a child, often borrowing my mother's classic Kodak Brownie camera that used the 620 color negative film. She later bought me a Polaroid camera that only took black and white photos, then later got a Polaroid camera that used color film. It wasn't until 1976 however, that I got my first 35mm SLR camera, a Russian made camera called Kalimar. I was hooked on this better format of film, and even took classes to learn how to develop my own black and white film and prints. Within a year, in 1977, I upgraded to a Nikkormat EL-W 35mm camera and due to having had some success with my photographic skills by freelancing, my attention turned to making photography my profession. In those beginning years of my photographic work I had used the 35mm negative films, but when I aspired to get my photographic work published, I quickly learned that the preferred format of 35mm photography was slides, and yes, Kodachrome. Any photographer back then wasn't considered a serious professional unless using Kodachrome.

What made Kodachrome so special and how long had it been around? When I heard of the demise of Kodachrome, I became curious as to how long this wonderful film had been in existence and I was in for a few surprises as I hadn't realized that Kodachrome had a long history in the photographic world, not just for still cameras but the motion picture industry as well and came in a large variety of film sizes, not just 35mm. Kodachrome was the choice film for 8mm, Super 8, 16mm and 35mm in the movie industry. Prior to 1935, when Kodachrome was first manufactured, movies in color were hand tinted, such as the 1918 silent film "Cupid Angling" (1). These early attempts in making a film into color just didn't have the spectacular effect and array of color the way two of the most famous early full-length features that came out the same year of 1939, that is, Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind. We take movies for granted now, thinking nothing of it since they are, with a few exceptions of those directors purposely choosing to film a movie in black and white, are all in color. One can only imagine the ohs, and ahs, however back in 1939, when Wizard of Oz premiered and first starts out in black and white then "magically" transforms in color when Dorothy opens the door of her tornado swept Kansas home and emerges into the world of Oz in spectacular color.

I have to admit, prior to my reading up on the history of Kodachrome film, even I had assumed that for still photography, Kodachrome slide film was only in the 35mm format, it wasn't. Kodachrome also came in the 120, 220 sizes which are generally used for medium format cameras like Mamiya and Hasselblad, also the 110 and 126 format that was used for those small instamatic type of Kodak cameras, and also in the 127, 828 and larger format sizes of film used for those old-fashioned looking field type cameras.(2) There were three types of Kodachrome as well, Kodachrome 25. the most extreme fine grain slide film which was discontinued in 2002, Kodachrome 64, the one that is being discontinued now, and Kodachrome 200 which was discontinued in 2007.(2)

What made Kodachrome so special and the choice film of all films for the movie industry and the professional still photographer? In a word, color. Second, Kodachrome was known for it's fine grain capabilities. For those of the digital world of photography and don't know what I mean by "grain", think of it as pixels. The lower the ISO number (also had been known as ASA) the finer the grain, enabling one to enlarge the photo image to huge sizes such as 8" x 10", 11' x 14" and even larger without seeing or being aware of the "dots" that made up the image just as pixels do.

As far as I'm concerned, no film has ever had the intensity of color that Kodachrome had, and I can speak from my own experience on that, for while I haven't tried all the other slide films Kodak makes, I did use the Elitechrome brand several times when I couldn't get Kodachrome, and found the colors rather washed out and lacking in the same intensity. As mentioned, Kodachrome was the slide film of choice among professionals and was the accepted film format for the publishing industry. All those glorious photos gracing the covers and inside a magazine such as National Geographic were taken on Kodachrome film.

Another plus factor about Kodachrome was it's long-lasting stability in keeping the intense color and lasted for years and years, while other slides films, such as the Ektachrome line (which I have used also) tended to fade. My collection of 21,049 slides, the majority of which were taken on Kodachrome 25 and 64 slide film are still as vibrant today as the day I took the photos, and many of my slides date some thirty years ago.

What led to the demise of Kodachrome film? According to various articles I've read including those posted on the official Kodak site itself, plain and simple diminished sales of this once popular film. (3) Another factor was that there was a decrease of photo labs that processed this film. The processing technique was a uniquely different type from any other color processing for films including other types of slide film and had always had to be sent out to an authorized Kodak professional lab. There was also the time factor involved, as one had to wait usually a full week to get their processed slides back. In other words, one sure couldn't get this film processed at a local Walgreen's photo department in an hour's time. Also, what can I say? One can also blame the popularity of the digital format of photography which is instantaneous. One can view the photo right after taking it to determine whether to keep it or delete it therefore, no waiting for it to be processed to find out if the photos taken were worthy of keeping or not.

While there is still a supply of Kodachrome 64 film available for those die-hards who wish one last dying gasp chance to photograph with this beautiful film, there will be only one place in the entire world that it can be still processed, that being Dwayne's Photo in Parson's Kansas and will do so until 2010.

For those photographers, such as myself, still using the film format of photography, Kodak does have other color films available both in Color Negative and Slide Film and I provide a listing here:

Kodak films that still exists: (4)

COLOR NEGATIVE FILMS:

PORTRA 160NC/160VC
PORTRA 400NC/400VC
PORTRA 800
EKTAR 100 Film

COLOR SLIDE FILMS

E100G
E100GX
E100VS
E200
EKTACHROME 100 Plus (EPP)
EKTACHROME 64T (EPY)
ELITE Chrome Film

As I mentioned in the beginning of my article here, when I heard that Kodachrome film was to be no more, I truly felt a part of my photographic life had ended, and I guess the words of Paul Simon's 1973 Kodachrome rings out my feelings:

They give us those nice bright colors
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

(excerpt from Paul Simon's Kodachrome Song) (5)

Well Mr. Simon...they did take our Kodachrome away.

Articles about Kodachrome film

Kodak Homepage

Wiki Kodachrome (2)

Kodak.com

AARP Kodachrome article

National Geographic

Kodachrome Discontinued

First Color Movie (1)

Kodak Products (3)

Kodak Products 2 (4)

Paul Simon's Kodachrome song (5)