Kodak ends Kodachrome production
Today Kodak announced it will cease production of Kodachrome. If you’re sitting at your desk right now reading this please stand and observe a moment of silence to honor the passing of this legend.
If video killed the radio star, then pixels are the prime suspect in the death of Kodachrome. But the pixel had accomplices, accomplices like YOU and sadly me. Admit your guilt, I have. When was the last time you shot a roll of Kodachrome? The last time I shot Kodachrome was in college, at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and I think we were assigned to shoot it by the professor. I haven’t even picked up a 35mm film camera this year, digital dominates my world.
So while many people will be crying out the lyrics from Paul Simon’s song Kodachrome, 99.9% of us have no one to blame but ourselves.
Learn more about the history of PICTURES
Kodachrome was a pain in the backside anyway. Unless you worked for National Geographic or lived down the street from Kodak you had to ship off the film and wait a week or so to get it back.
In the good old days of Kodak, you didn’t wait a week because Kodak had processing facilities in every major city in the U.S. I used to drop it off at the old St. Louis Photo on Lindell Blvd. and it would be back in two days later. The iso 64 version was incredible—underexpose it a half stop and the color was as rich as Wall Street ten years ago. Am I surprised it’s gone? Nope, surprised it lasted so long in this impatient world. But I am one of the few still cranking film rather than pounding pixels.
Annapolis, MD
Ironically, I heard the news about the end of Kodachome yesterday around noon and then found the July 2009 National Geographic in my mailbox later the same day. Once nearly every image in the magazine would have been shot on Kodachrome, but now it’s impossible to not wonder how many in that July issue were make with Kodachrome, or even with film.
Back when I was at the Geographic I remember the older timers there talking about how the best Kodachrome was made in the 1950s, before the limits on toxic chemicals forced Kodak to change the formula for processing the film. And having seen some of those original transparencies from that era at NGS, it’s hard to argue with the latitude and contrast that version of the film had.
Wow, that “Kodachrome” record by Paul Simon just became an instant classic.
Oh great! Now, I’m gonna have that song in my head all day!