I LOVE KodaChrome 64

[JAcosta]

I just got back 3 developed rolls of KodaChrome 64 that I shot last month. This slide is pretty much the only reason why I ever shoot film anymore. The contrast is amazing, the colors are true and vivid, and the grain is amazing. I wish I could show you guys some shots from this film, but I dont have a scanner. My only gripe with this film is it takes 3-4 weeks to get developed (it has to be sent to Tokyo) and its about $16 a roll to process. I personally feel its worth it, and will keep buying bricks of th stuff from B&H until they run out.

I just wanted to share my joy. Anyone else have any experience with this amazing film?

[PhotosGuy]

Anyone else have any experience with this amazing film? Yes. Before someone else measurebates it, I'll say it: "K-25" was better! :D

[JAcosta]

Yes. Before someone else measurebates it, I'll say it: "K-25" was better! :D


Sadly ll never get to use this "Holy Grail" of slide. I only have velvia and KC 64 to support my film needs for now (like thats a bad thing :) )

[airfrogusmc]

Yeah I shot 25 for years. Also shot some 64 120...
Scan from Kodachrome 25
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/airfrogusmc/Road/11Kaveneyslow.jpg
scan from 64 120
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/airfrogusmc/Road/03NearStaunton.jpg

[airfrogusmc]

I used to shoot allot of PKM and PKR....

Kodachrome is also considered archival. It is the only color process to have that distinction. Its also sharper than other color films because has less emulsion layers. The K-14 process is much different and more stable than E-6.

[John_B]

JAcosta,
Yes when I shot film I loved it, I also loved the Kodachrome song from Paul Simon :)
However I haven't missed it a bit since going digital. I don't miss slide viewers, I don't miss scanners, I don't miss development costs and I don't miss hair on the film :lol:

[airfrogusmc]

I like the control I have with digital. To make prints from Kodachrome you were limited in choices. Dye Transfer was the BEST process but very time consuming and cibachome was a very contrasty hazardous process which sometime required masking.
Now you can still get the vivid color but you can really control the final print in way you could never control before.

[DrPablo]

I can't find K64 anywhere, let alone a lab that can process it. You shots are wonderful, though.

That and K25 were Galen Rowell's preferred films until Velvia came out.

I'm shooting a roll of Agfachrome 50 right now -- that should be interesting to see.

You should try Fujichrome Fortia. It's sold only in Japan, but you can get it within 10 days or so if you order it on Megaperls.com. It's so saturated that it makes Velvia look positively mute. They make it for Japanese people to take pictures of cherry blossoms in the spring. I bought a 5-pack -- it's a gorgeous film.

http://www.pbase.com/drpablo74/image/77848105.jpg

Interestingly, as to digital hybrid processes, I shot this picture on 8x10 Astia the other day. I haven't felt like spending the money on 8x10 Velvia or E100VS yet, and Astia is my only 8x10 slide film. But I scanned the transparency at home, steepened the curves to boost contrast and slightly increased the yellow, red, and green saturation -- it gave it much more of a Velvia look, but with the better dynamic range of Astia.

http://www.pbase.com/drpablo74/image/85587388.jpg

[airfrogusmc]

Dr P they haven't made Kodachrome 64 for medium format in quite a few years. I think you can still get it in 35mm.
Yep central camera still has it.
http://www.centralcamera.com/xcart/home.php?cat=427&sort=orderby&sort_direction=0&page=2

I wonder how long Kodak will still be making it?

Very nice images Doc...I love the tones!!!

[John_B]

airfrogusmc,
Might not be too much longer, as I saw on CNN this morning another Kodak building went down in Rochester
Hey at least I still use Kodak paper for prints :)

[rhys]

Film isn't going to die out anytime soon. Having said that, the quality and variety of film available is going to suffer with manufacturers concentrating solely on cheapness. Older processes that people can do at home will resurface although it may become harder to obtain some of the more hazardous chemicals in the smaller quantities needed.

Kodachrome 25 was excellent. The lab I always used was in France. I understood that there was one independent Kodachrome-processing lab in the US which was why Kodachrome was sold non-process-paid in the US while the rest of the world was all process-paid.

[DrPablo]

Film isn't going to die out anytime soon. Having said that, the quality and variety of film available is going to suffer with manufacturers concentrating solely on cheapness. Older processes that people can do at home will resurface although it may become harder to obtain some of the more hazardous chemicals in the smaller quantities needed.

I think Kodak and Fuji have appropriately concentrated on their best and most popular emulsions. There's still a huge range of negative and slide film from both companies cut to all sizes up to 8x10, and Kodak still leads the world (or along with Ilford) in B&W emulsions.

It may be that if Kodak or Fuji tank, that some of the growing European film companies like Bergger or Efke or Ilford or Arista may buy the licenses and formulae for the color films currently made by Kodak or Fuji.

Home processing color is something I want to start (mainly out of cheapness). It probably means buying a Jobo processor for $700 and buying some chemistry, but after that it's incredibly easy and pays for itself within a few months.

[airfrogusmc]

airfrogusmc,
Might not be too much longer, as I saw on CNN this morning another Kodak building went down in Rochester
Hey at least I still use Kodak paper for prints :)

:cry::cry::cry:

Its sad bro...

I still have a box of 11 X 14 ektalure in my freezer and had some grade 2, 3 & 4 elite until recently.

[rhys]

Home processing color is something I want to start (mainly out of cheapness). It probably means buying a Jobo processor for $700 and buying some chemistry, but after that it's incredibly easy and pays for itself within a few months.

Heck, I don't think my setup was quite that expensive! I had a 2 film developing tank, changing bag, thermometer, chemicals, chemical jars, measuring cylinder, stopwatch, rubber gloves and a funnel. I used to hang the film in my shower to dry (dust free zone as it had a plastic roof). No problems. I pulled the end off the cassette with a pair of pliers or when I forgot, forced the lips of the cassette open with my fingers to extract the film reel.

[airfrogusmc]

Heck, I don't think my setup was quite that expensive! I had a 2 film developing tank, changing bag, thermometer, chemicals, chemical jars, measuring cylinder, stopwatch, rubber gloves and a funnel. I used to hang the film in my shower to dry (dust free zone as it had a plastic roof). No problems. I pulled the end off the cassette with a pair of pliers or when I forgot, forced the lips of the cassette open with my fingers to extract the film reel.

An old can opener or a john wayne works perfect to. With color temp is critical. Just follow directions and watch your temps...Closet that COMPLETELY dark if you dont have a darkroom. Your golden.

[rhys]

An old can opener or a john wayne works perfect to. With color temp is critical. Just follow directions and watch your temps...Closet that COMPLETELY dark if you dont have a darkroom. Your golden.

I used a changing bag to get the film from the cassette into the tank. No need at all for a darkroom these days - just develop the film then scan it. The darkroom is as dead as a doornail. Thank god for that!

[DrPablo]

The darkroom is as dead as a doornail. Thank god for that!

Not for B&W! I'm exposing a cyanotype as we speak!

[JAcosta]

Im glad to see there's such an outpouring of people who still enjoy shooting film. I just ordered a brick of Provia (20 rolls) and 10 rolls of KC64 from BH. Should be here in about 2 weeks. I hate waiting for great film :/

[thedjo]

try to develop the kodachrome using Fuji procesing.. the blue will become very2 nice!

My local shop can do Fuji processing faster than Kodak, sometimes I am not patient enough , but it turns out kodak process with Fuji turns out wonderful

[JAcosta]

thedjo, Do you have any examples? You've caught my interest :)

[airfrogusmc]

Kodachrome uses an additive process K 14 where the dyes and introduced during processing where E-6 had the dies already in the film in the emulsion layer. Kodachrome thus has very thin emulsion layers and is very sharp as compared to other trans films and because the dyes are added yeah I would love to see some examples.

[airfrogusmc]

thedjo, Do you have any examples? You've caught my interest :)


If you process Kodachrome in E-6 you will get clear film because there are no dyes in Kodachrome.

[Karl C]

I love film especially for B&W. For years, I shot with Ektachrome 25 and Agfa 25 - both phenomenal - along with other Agfa and Kodak films. Recently, I purchased three rolls of Tri-X 400 to use in an A-1 that I'm getting for free. I still think film B&W is better than any digital color conversion plug-in that I've used. Unfortunately, I'm still reliant on labs to process film. I need to find a local lab that will process the Tri-X correctly.

[DrPablo]

I'm waiting to develop some Agfa 50 (ASX II). A store here probably has 20 or 30 rolls of it in 120. It's a bit expensive, but it's expired and if I buy it all maybe they'll give me a good price. I walked into a store and bought twelve 120 rolls of expired Tech Pan for $2 each (as opposed to the crooks on E-bay who charge $10 per roll for it).

[Naturalist]

First they took away my Panotomic-X B&W film, then they took away my Kodachrome 25 (momma don't take my Kodachrome away). Ah, but alas, I have digital and do not see returning to film at all ever again!

[thedjo]

here are some examples from kodachrome 100. I was impatient to wait one week to get Kodak processing so I went ahead with Fuji processing. I think the Kodak processing had to be sent to Tokyo first, same case as you JACosta. Btw, do you live in Okinawa? where is Kadena AB?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/athedjo1/400kodachrome_1_011.jpg

and one that can go wrong. Can be corrected by post processing, but this is what comes out of the positive

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/athedjo1/400kodachrome_1_009.jpg

shot with Contax T2

[airfrogusmc]

You must be talking about Ektachrome. There is no Kodachrome 100. There was 25, 64 & 200 and there was a 40 tungsten.

[thedjo]

ups you are correct airfrogusmc,
it is the elitechrome 100

[kevin_c]

I always found the old Kodak Ektachrome to haver a slight blue bias, whereas Kodachrome 64 was fairly true, maybe a bit 'warm', but with nicely saturated colours. I have hundreds of Kodachromes stored away, and they still look good after 20 or 30 years!

I did use the newer 'Elitechrome Extra Color' a few years ago, and loved it, I personally prefered it to Fuji Velvia, this always looked a bit too over saturated to me.

[rhys]

I always found the old Kodak Ektachrome to haver a slight blue bias, whereas Kodachrome 64 was fairly true, maybe a bit 'warm', but with nicely saturated colours. I have hundreds of Kodachromes stored away, and they still look good after 20 or 30 years!

I did use the newer 'Elitechrome Extra Color' a few years ago, and loved it, I personally prefered it to Fuji Velvia, this always looked a bit too over saturated to me.

Kodachrome was truer but ranged from slightly green to slightly magenta as it aged.

Kodak's other offerings tended toward blue until they came out with their gold range and their Ektar range.

Agfa was always slightly red. The reds on Agfachrome were almost 3D.

[PhotosGuy]

A 50 year old Ektachrome, protected in a sleeve & kept in the dark:
.

[airfrogusmc]

Kodachrome is by its nature (dyes added in the processing) the most archival of all the color negative/tranparency processes. If store properly Kodachrome should last 100 years with very little change to the image.

[DrPablo]

First they took away my Panotomic-X B&W film, then they took away my Kodachrome 25 (momma don't take my Kodachrome away). Ah, but alas, I have digital and do not see returning to film at all ever again!

You've still got Ilford PanF+ 50, Rollei Pan 25, Efke KB25 and KB50, Gigabit, and a slew of ortho films if you want low ISO / high resolution. There's a lot of Tech Pan on the used market -- I still have 44 sheets of 4x5 and about 10 rolls of 120.

And as for Kodachrome 25 -- Galen Rowell himself said that the one thing that pulled him away from Kodachrome was the introduction of Velvia 50 back in 1991 or so. Lucky for us Velvia 50 was just reintroduced with a brand new emulsion (and it looks phenomenal -- I just have to use up a lot of the old Velvia 50 and Velvia 100F first).

[JAcosta]

here are some examples from kodachrome 100. I was impatient to wait one week to get Kodak processing so I went ahead with Fuji processing. I think the Kodak processing had to be sent to Tokyo first, same case as you JACosta. Btw, do you live in Okinawa? where is Kadena AB?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/athedjo1/400kodachrome_1_011.jpg

and one that can go wrong. Can be corrected by post processing, but this is what comes out of the positive

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/athedjo1/400kodachrome_1_009.jpg

shot with Contax T2

Thanks for the examples. Its really interesting how they turned out.

Kadena is an American Air Force base on Okinawa.