Kodak takes Kodachrome away

I don’t imagine Kodak had the foresight in 1935 to understand the massive appeal and impact their new film stock was going to have, but when it hit the market that year, it changed the world of photography forever. This week, Kodak announced it was halting the production of Kodachrome.

The stock was revered for it’s color accuracy and archival properties, but it was a difficult stock to develop, so it wasn’t used widely be amateur photographers. Still, if you ever got to shoot with film and had a chance to use Kodachrome stock (in one of it’s many forms) you will undoubtedly appreciate it.

Kodachrome had a good long life. It (and Nikon) were even popularized by Paul Simon in his song “Kodachrome” from his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. However, with the meteoric rise of digital imaging technology, it’s not surprising to see it finally retired. It’s a sad day.

9 Responses to “Kodak takes Kodachrome away”

1. Zonker Harris Says:
   June 27th, 2009 at 12:09 am

   At the railroad, on Father’s Day, we used to use Polaroid instant film to take a snap of Dads and their kids in the Engineers seat of a locomotive. We gave them the photo free, as a souvenir of their visit. But, last year we could only get 8 packs from Keeble & Schuchat, it was the last of the stock that they had. (This year, dad’s got a taste of beer or root beer instead of a photo.) Those were the days.

2. singapore photographers Says:
   June 30th, 2009 at 2:48 am

   Sigh…guess its not economical to produce it anymore…

3. David Says:
   July 22nd, 2009 at 2:51 pm

   I’ve still got a few rolls of this, going off in a cupboard. It was good stuff and you knew your total costs were covered because you paid for processing when you bought the film. Now we are all digital, it has no place. The K41 process is massive in comparison to E6. Was it 19 baths? You had to send the film to P.O.Box 2 in Wimbledon but I think they forwarded it to France. I’ve just checked the cupboard. I have Super 8 Kodachrome 40 as well. Oh well. I should have used it earlier.

4. photography video tutorials Says:
   August 6th, 2009 at 5:19 am

   Thanks for your info. This is very useful blog.

5. readyphotosite Says:
   October 14th, 2009 at 3:42 am

   RIP Kodachrome.. i’m sure that very soon we will see a corresponding photo effect available in the image editors. there are tons of polaroid effects today, so we may expect the same for the Kodachrome

6. Royce Bair - free stock photos blog Says:
   December 1st, 2009 at 7:17 pm

   Although I no longer use Kodachrome, it’s sad to see the product go away. I have many slides that still are hanging in there with their “…nice bright colors”.

7. Coolpix Camera Review Says:
   June 11th, 2010 at 4:43 am

   Nice article, thanks for sharing

8. Brian Harte - Photographer Leeds Says:
   July 15th, 2010 at 5:15 pm

   I thought they had taken it away a few years ago. I know there was uproar about it. Maybe if there is another uproar it will be reinstated again.

9. Lighting - Ellen Says:
   July 26th, 2010 at 5:42 am

   Thank you for the information you provided.

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