The MOST ICONIC Film Stock of the 20th Century

[@mkshffr4936]

Kodachrome was my absolute favorite color film in 35mm. The pain of its passing was real.

[@GaryIrving-x5o]

I began my photographic journey in 1971. From magazines of that time learned that photographers who wished to publish instead of exhibit shot Kodachrome 25 or 64. Kodachrome was a stern taskmaster who rewarded those photographers who learned how to expose correctly with no room for error. I loved Kodachrome 64 and used it for my early book projects. I the mid 90s I shot a book project in Romania, usingbthe VERY expensive Kodachrome 200. (Imagine Tri-x in a desaturated earthy color). Gorgeous. Kodachrome is everything it was said to be.🏆

[@normandong4479]

Kodak Kodachrome had its start in the late 30s and was used in stills and some cinema for its vibrant colors, stable dyes and good resolution. Kodachrome 64 was the gold standard of color reversal film for decades, with many of the iconic photos in Time, Life and National Geographic shot with it. Their archives contain millions of shots and is testament to its stability. Developing it was more complicated because it required several steps to develop and fix the color. Today's Fuji 100 slide film with its E6 processing gives good results but not nearly the stability & longevity of Kodachrome. While many us still prefer to shoot reversal, very few labs will mount the slides in those cardboard mounts, leaving many of us unable to use our slide projectors. Wish labs would still mount reversal film and Kodak restarted Kodachrome. 😢

[@flyingo]

I’ve stocked up on slide mounts specifically for that purpose. They may not be as service or feature oriented these days, but my hat is off to any lab that can stay open in these odd times. I agree wholeheartedly about Kodak releasing something akin to Kodachrome. I think it would be a marketing success to rival any other.

[@janw.jensen2490]

Have used a lot of Kodachrome 64 in my days. Great film. Still have a roll of Kodachrome 25 135/36PU Ungerahmt.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

I started shooting film after seeing old Kodachrome slides I found abandoned in the boiler room of my old complex, I was blown away by the colours and the detail that captured those moments and I still feel a wave of sadness knowing I'll never be able to shoot my own memories on it.

[@flyingo]

There’s just nothing that comes close to viewing true Kodachrome slides through a bright projector and a quality classic movie screen. I recently went through a couple thousand slides taken on various “Blankchrome” film stocks. Slides from the 40s through the early 70s, taken by my grandmother on her Leica IIIcf. The Kodachrome slides were the only images that looked like the photos were taken yesterday. I know two KZbin-ers that are getting close to a new developing process for Kodachrome. One is Adrian Cousins, and the other person’s name escapes me at the moment. We can all hope! 🤞

[@fredthegraycatt]

Kodachrome was my thing. Give me a sunny day with blue skies and big puffy clouds, Kodachrome 25, and a polarizer filter. Beautiful vibrant images.

[@randallstewart1224]

While I shot Kodacolor film when I was about eight years old, and those snapshots at the Grand Canyon were still in the family photo album the last time I looked, about 40 years ago, my first serious photography, age 12,was one original Kodachrome, *ASA 10, followed by KII, ASA 25. When Kodak introduced Ektachrome-X, ASA 64, with the new E-4 process, I switched to Ektachrome in 1962 and never looked back. It was cheaper for my teenage budget. It was less contrasty over KII's inky blacks. IMO the color balance was less vibrant but more accurate with Ektachrome. Frankly, Kodak's captured processing of KII meant that slides were often returned looking like someone had walked on them. I tried all three of the labs Kodak maintained, and had problems on and off with all of them. For those who care, Kodachrome in any form is not coming back. We'll be lucky if Kodak keeps making the current E100 film.

[@noahvonhatten]

I agree with you on that front. Frankly, even if Kodak took on the task of bringing it back, given the current prices of film and I don't even want to begin imagining what they'd charge for a roll of Kodachrome.

[@fritzfilter]

The German Kodak laboratory in Stuttgart also damaged some of my films (scratches); some of the films came back with a color cast. I then sent the films to Switzerland (Lausanne) to be developed, and they worked perfectly there until the end.

[@Dehancer]

Noah, incredibly informative and interesting video! And thank you for sharing information about Dehancer with your audience

[@Flburr99]

Great history and delivery.

[@ellyrion8173]

Really excellent and informative video - your delivery is awesome!

[@noahvonhatten]

Thank you that's very kind.

[@terryjacob8169]

I remember when Kodachrome 25 and 64 were the staple film stock for 'glamour' photographers as it's grainless nature was the firm favourite of 'girlie' soft-porn magazine publishers and printers.

[@markgoostree6334]

What is unbelievable is That Kodak decided to kill Kodachrome. This is more, better, info about the development of the great color film we enjoy as hobby photographers than I've ever heard.! Thank you. I understand the money /cost problem of Kodachrome... I'm just an old grump.

[@ldbass62]

Excellent video! Very informative.

[@fritzfilter]

After I discovered Kodachrome, I never used anything else. I even said: if Kodachrome is no longer available, I'll stop taking photos. Of course, things turned out differently. I had to switch to Fuji until everything went digital. By the way, I don't think the loud background music helps to stay interested.

[@markthompson3977]

Kodachrome 25 was my favourite colour emulsion back in the day. However I never liked Kodachrome 200!

[@terryjacob8169]

I quite liked Kodachrome 200 in 120 format. Shoot a lot of travel stuff for picture libraries on it, mainly with a Rollei 6002.

[@artistjoh]

25 was fabulous. I remember it well.

[@Notmy00000]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@matereo]

Yeah but its not a warm green film at all. Its a quite cold blueish film. When Velvia came most nature photographers switched.. I was never a huge fan. I missed Fomachrome more to be honest. I miss Emaks photopaper, and most of all Agfa Portriga

[@randallstewart1224]

Before Kodak decided to kill Kodachrome, it decided to kill B&W. The Agfa B&W papers were outstanding, but Kidka's catalog of B&W paper was far more diverse and of equal quality, until they started killing it off in the mid-1960s. I had several favorites back then, but Medalist was incredible. By 1970, all but a few of the cheaper, lower quality stocks, like Kodabromide, were gone. I think Azo, a high quality contact printing stock , was the last of the great Kodak papers to disappear. All of that was part of Kodak's business strategy to force popular tastes to convert to color negative processes, which just sucked in the 1960-1970s. Without a commercial demand for transparency film, Ektachrome probably would have probably disappeared as well in the 1990s, but it survived until killed by the commercial shift to digital.