For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas

[IDemo]

Source: New York Times

Close of an era: The last roll of the beloved color film gets processed

PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne’s Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved.

That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap.

In the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages have raced here, transforming this small prairie-bound city not far from the Oklahoma border for a brief time into a center of nostalgia for the days when photographs appeared not in the sterile frame of a computer screen or in a pack of flimsy prints from the local drugstore but in the warm glow of a projector pulling an image from a carousel of vivid slides.

In the span of minutes this week, two such visitors arrived. The first was a railroad worker who had driven from Arkansas to pick up 1,580 rolls of film that he had just paid $15,798 to develop. The second was an artist who had driven directly here after flying from London to Wichita, Kan., on her first trip to the United States to turn in three rolls of film and shoot five more before the processing deadline.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=kodachrome&st=cse

[AngryOldDem]

1. In memory of Kodachrome

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/paul-simon-kodachrome/572308d65d62b5d98bc3572308d65d62b5d98bc3-324069164225?q=paul+simon+kodachrome+video&FORM=VIRE1

RIP.

[begin_within]

2. It's sad... I have thousands of Kodachrome slides my Dad and Grandfather took,

documenting our family from about 1940 until the 1980s... I have kept them in dark storage all these years and the colors are just as bright and vivid as if they were taken yesterday. What a great film that was. Bright, rich, deep, vibrant colors, virtually no visible film grain... far superior to today's digital cameras (except I suppose the most expensive ones).

Incredible documentary photos of America on Kodachrome:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/

Large-format Kodachrome images (4 in. x 5 in. film):

http://www.shorpy.com/4x5-large-format-kodachromes

Kodak's tribute to Kodachrome:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/cpq/features/kodachrome.jhtml?pq-path=15415

As one example of the image quality of Kodachrome, notice the full dynamic range from light to dark without any "banding" or "artifacts" so common with today's digital cameras:

[DemoTex]

8. Love the Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat photo!

[skoalyman]

13. Thats a Beautiful picture

[old mark]

3. It was a great medium - I used it for many years, and might still have a few rolls in the freezer,

but probably in 120 roll film, for which I no longer have a usable camera...

I used to love K'chrome in a 2x2 slide shot with a twin lens reflex.


mark

[slackmaster]

4. My grandfather was a semi-professional photographer. I have all of his negatives and slides.

Lots and lots of Kodachrome slides from the 1930s up to about 1975.

[justabob]

5. it is a sad day

I am surprised just how much this article affected me. Digital just isn't the same. That is good in a lot of ways... chemicals, expense etc, but I do still prefer film, and will miss kodachrome.

[IDemo]

6. My uncle was a chemist at Eastman Kodak and worked in the film industry all his life

I remember staring at some of his shots in awe of the crystal clear light and sharpness. I'm sure this will bring him some pangs.

[progressoid]

7. I'm surprised it lasted this long.

It's a complicated and fickle process. Even Kodak gave up on it.

But it did have a lush look.

RIP Kodachrome.

[regnaD kciN]

9. Kodachrome was a good film in its day, but wan't even the best slide film for the past twenty years

Since at least the late '80s - early '90s, it was significantly bettered by Fuji Velvia -- which is still very much available, and can be processed in lots of places.

What doomed Kodachrome (aside from being surpassed by Velvia) was not digital photography, but that it was the one film that used a very non-standard and difficult-to-implement processing chemistry...which is why you can still get Ektachrome as well as the Fuji films, all of which use a standard processing that can be done almost everywhere.

[Javaman]

12. I think it's personal preference...

I always thought Fuji was a little blue for my tastes.

[formercia]

10. Large Format

I was taking a Large Format class. A couple of my fellow students brought in some 8x10 Kodachrome transparencies to show and tell. They were spectacular. Great stuff.

[Rocky2007]

14. Sheet Kodachrome

Photographic processing was my occupation during the late 50's until the early 90's. I had never known that Kodachrome was ever produced in anything but 8mm 16mm and 35mm -- the production of sheet film stopped in 1951 -- a fact I have just learned a few minutes ago. I was going to challenge the mentioned sheet film sizes but thought better on that. I checked our wonderful internet. Good thing I did. Film up to 11x14 was infact manufactured until 1951.

Kodachrome was a wonderful film -- Thank you Eastman Kodak.

[formercia]

15. I never did ask them where they obtained the film

I was too busy admiring their work.

[Rocky2007]

18. sheet kodachrome

I would love to see those transparencies -- I can only imagine their beauty.

[Javaman]

11. I have one last roll of 64 koda in my frig at this very moment.

Wonder what it's worth?

[Moondog]

16. Sigh. Shot a lot of this back in the early to mid 80s.

There really wasn't anything else like it. I lost interest in photography as my life got busier, and then picked it back up and went completely digital five or six years ago.

The passing of an era.

[harvey007]

17. Future Shock

I can't take all this technological change.

[boppers]

19. Wait until you see what's coming next. :)

Heck, I'm less than 40 and remember pay phones, 3 TV channels, using paper maps, writing letters, and paying 25 cents every time you wanted to play a "real videogame".