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Kodachrome
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Kodachrome is the trademarked name of a brand of color reversal film manufactured by Eastman Kodak. Since its introduction in 1935 it has been produced in various camera film and movie formats, 8mm, 16mm and 35mm, and was for many years used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media.
Kodachrome was the first successfully mass-marketed color still film using a subtractive method, in contrast to earlier additive/'screenplate' methods such as Autochrome and Dufaycolor, and remains the oldest brand of color film currently available.
Kodachrome has undergone four major developing process changes over the years; the current process is the K-14 process.
Kodachrome is appreciated in the archival and professional market because of its color accuracy and dark-storage longevity.
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Encyclopedia
Kodachrome is the trademarked name of a brand of color reversal film manufactured by Eastman Kodak. Since its introduction in 1935 it has been produced in various camera film and movie formats, 8mm, 16mm and 35mm, and was for many years used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media.
Kodachrome was the first successfully mass-marketed color still film using a subtractive method, in contrast to earlier additive/'screenplate' methods such as Autochrome and Dufaycolor, and remains the oldest brand of color film currently available.
Kodachrome has undergone four major developing process changes over the years; the current process is the K-14 process.
Kodachrome is appreciated in the archival and professional market because of its color accuracy and dark-storage longevity. Because of these qualities, Kodachrome has been used by professional photographers like Steve McCurry and Alex Webb. McCurry used Kodachrome for his well-known 1984 portrait of Sharbat Gula, the "Afghan girl" for the National Geographic magazine.
History
Kodachrome was invented in the early 1930s by two professional musicians, Leopold Godowsky, Jr. and Leopold Mannes (hence the humorous saying that Kodachrome was made by God and Man). It was first sold in 1935 as 16 mm movie film. Beginning in 1936 it was also sold as 8 mm movie film and slide film in 35mm and 828 formats. There were several versions made, including 4"x5" ASA 10, 35 mm ASA 10, 35 mm ASA 25, 35 mm ASA 40 for tungsten light, and an even finer grained version for microphotography at 8 ASA.
Characteristics
Emulsion
Kodachrome is fundamentally different from E-6 process and C-41 process colour films with dye couplers incorporated into the emulsion layers. In Kodachrome, the dye couplers are introduced during the development process. This makes its rendering of color and response to light unique. The dye couplers in other color films require thicker emulsion layers that allow light to scatter, whereas thinner layers are generally sharper. A Kodachrome slide is quickly detectable when reviewing a series of slides of indeterminate origin: Kodachrome exhibits a visible relief image on the emulsion side. Kodachrome 25 in the mid-1960s was the finest grained consumer film available (exceeded only by Kodachrome 8/10 for microphotography).
Color stability
The long-term "dark-keeping" stability under ordinary conditions has long been superior to other color film. Kodachrome slides over fifty years old still retain accurate color and grain. It has been calculated that the least stable color, yellow, suffers a 20% loss in 180 years. This is mostly attributable to the fact that Kodachromes have no unused color couplers remaining after processing, unlike other color slides. However, Kodachrome color stability under bright light, i.e., projection, is quite inferior to E-6 process slide films (mentioned below), at least in actual still film.
Density and dynamic range
In addition to its longevity, Kodachrome has a high dynamic range.
The lightest part of the film, the clear base, has a density of about 0.3, and the darkest part of the film has a density of about 3.6, for a total range of about 3.57, a range of about 11 stops (0.3 D per stop). Kodachrome's dynamic range exceeded that of the unadjusted human eye and exceeded the dynamic range available from any printed image, paper or photo. To access that total dynamic range required projection of the film in a very dark room with a very bright spherical-bead reflective screen, or special scanners. In a Kodachrome film image, about a third of the detail lies in darker image areas, invisible without a very bright light behind the film. On computers, approaching that dynamic range needs a very bright monitor working in a very dark room, which still only shows part of the total dynamic range.
Some digital cameras have dynamic range approaching or exceeding Kodachrome or Velvia, but that captured range is invisible in any normal print or on any normal monitor screen.
In practice, the extra range of details in the darkest parts of a Kodachrome image means that underexposed Kodachrome slides were salvageable if re-photographed with a brighter light.
Consumer and professional versions
Kodak films were often available in two versions, consumer and professional.
The professional versions were made to an exact color balance specification, and were expected to be refrigerated by the wholesalers, dealers and photographers, to maintain that balance.
The consumer versions, for which sale and storage and usage conditions were unpredictable, and for which Kodak's research indicated most people kept one roll of film in the camera for 18 months, were made to come into color balance about 9 months from manufacture, half-way through.
Digital scanning and resolution
A Kodachrome transparency, along with 50 to 100 ISO films, may contain approximately 20 megapixels of data from a 24 mm x 36 mm image.
Professional scanners capable of 8000 or 12,000 dpi can produce a 85 to 192 megapixel file. Because the uneven grain structure of film has to be 'translated' into square pixels, the pixels from a film scan cannot be directly compared with the pixels from a digital camera. A scan needs more pixels to show the same amount of detail, because several pixels are needed to record one dye particle. Consequently, a digital camera's image can be sharper and more detailed than a scan, even if it contains fewer pixels.
A mounted or uncut strip of Kodachrome can be scanned with a film scanner, but it may resolve in a strong blue cast. Some software producers deliver special Kodachrome color profiles with their software to avoid this. However an IT8 calibration is necessary for an authentic color reproduction.
Typically, dust, scratches and fingerprints on the slide are detected and removed by a scanner's software. Many scanners use an additional infrared channel to detect defects, as the long wave infrared radiation passes through the film but not through dust particles. Kodachrome interacts with this infrared channel in two ways. The absorption of the cyan dye extends into the near IR region. Kodachrome also has a pronounced relief image that can affect the IR channel. These effects can sometimes cause a slight loss in sharpness in the scanned image when Digital ICE or similar infrared channel dust removal function is used. Thus, Kodachrome requires special attention when scanning.
Processing of Kodachrome films
Main article K-14 process.
The Kodachrome K-14 developing process is very complicated, exacting and requires technicians with extensive chemistry training, as well as large machinery which is extremely difficult to operate, which precludes its use by amateurs or small laboratories, unlike the E-6 process used for developing modern reversal films.
Kodachrome is first developed into black and white negative layers. Then the correct color dye couplers are added by fogging to light and a chemical "fogging" step, with separate color development of the subtractive layers, one at a time.
Legality of paid processing
Due to the complexity of its processing, Kodachrome was initially sold at a price which included processing by Kodak. An envelope was included with the film, which the photographer would send exposed films, to one of several designated Kodak laboratories. The film was processed, mounted in 2" x 2" cardboard mounts in the case of 35 mm slides, and returned by mail to the sender. After 1954, as a result of the case United States v. Eastman Kodak Co., this practice was prohibited in the United States as anticompetitive.
Kodak entered into a consent decree ending a product tying arrangement in which it sold Kodachrome only with Kodak processing included, and allowed independent labs to acquire the chemicals needed to process Kodachrome films.
Outside the United States processing envelopes continued to be included with the purchase of a roll of Kodachrome, but within the United States, Kodak sold processing envelopes separately. Kodak discontinued the production of film mailers in 2007, but will continue to honor existing mailers until at least the end of 2009.
Processing availability
In the early 1990s, Kodak offered its "K-Lab" process to small labs in an attempt to increase the availability of the K-14 process.
This was not successful. On 30 June 2006, Eastman Kodak announced it would close its Lausanne K-Lab equipped Kodachrome laboratory, the company's last remaining processing facility for the film.
Horiuchi Color in Tokyo also closed its K-lab processor, and Kodak discontinued the "B-I-B" (bag-in-box) K-14 chemistry required for the K-Lab.
Dwayne's Photo, an independent facility in Kansas, became the sole Kodachrome processing facility in the world. The processing of 35 mm films is fully endorsed by Kodak, but the Super 8 version's processing is not authorised because this variation requires more agitation. Films sent for processing in the US is posted directly to Dwayne's, wile those posted in Europe are still sent via the Lausanne facility's address.
On 25 July 2006 extensive documentation about Lausanne Kodachrome lab's impending closure was sent to the European Parliament by the Dutch office of the European Parliament because although located in Switzerland, the facility served all of Europe and its closure would affect European photographers. The Parliamentary committees for Culture and Education, and for Internal Market and Consumer Protection studied the matter.
Pre-paid processing of Kodachrome motion picture film was honoured by Dwayne's Photo at no additional charge until 31 December 2006. After that date, Kodachrome 16 mm film processing costs and shipping must be borne by the customer.
The decline of Kodachrome
As the use of slide film in general declined in the 1980s and 1990s, and as a result of competition from Fujifilm's Velvia film, many Kodachrome processing laboratories, both Kodak-owned and independent, closed because of the decreasing volume of business. Since the last Kodak-owned slide processing facility in the United States closed in the summer of 2005, and Kodak's Lausanne facility closed in 2006, virtually all Kodachrome has been processed by Dwayne's Photo.
Discontinuation
Kodachrome 120
Kodachrome 64 film in the larger 120 format was discontinued in 1996. The last processing run was in October 2001 and no processing is available for this film besides DIY and a black and white reversal process. Due to the age of the film still in existence, and the extremely complicated and commercially unavailable (for 120) K-14 process, the film is now essentially a collectors item.
Kodachrome 25
Kodachrome ISO 25 was discontinued in 2002. Many point to the introduction of Velvia or the decline in quality of processing as the reason for its demise. Small quantities of Kodachrome 25 slide and movie film are still found from time to time on internet auction sites, with factory-sealed, 10-roll sets of slide film from the last batches ever made (with expiration dates from late 2002 or early 2003)
Kodachrome 40 Super 8
In May 2005, Kodak discontinued the manufacturing of Kodachrome in the Super 8 movie format, despite protests from filmmakers.
Films that reached the Kodachrome laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, before 25 September 2006 were processed there. It was the only facility authorized for processing of Kodachrome 40. Kodak launched a replacement colour reversal film in the Super 8 format, Ektachrome 64T, which uses the common E6 chemistry. Kodachrome does not look the same as the Ektachrome replacement stock; many Super 8 users believe the new Ektachrome emulsion is inferior especially in color reproduction and granularity.
Kodachrome 200
Kodak officially discontinued Kodachrome 200 in November 2006. The last emulsion batch was numbered 2673, dated the last film was labelled with the expiration date July 2008 or September 2008 (European version, KL135-36P).
Product Timeline
| Film | Process | Date |
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| Kodachrome film, 16 mm, daylight (ASA 10) & Type A (ASA 16) | | 1935-1962 | | Kodachrome film, 8 mm, daylight (ASA 10) & Type A (ASA 16) | | 1936-1962 | | Kodachrome film, 35 mm and 828, daylight & Type A | | 1936-1962 | | Kodachrome Professional film (sheets), daylight (ASA 8) and Type B (ASA 10) | | 1938-1951 | | | | | | Kodachrome film, 35 mm and 828, Type F (ASA 12) | K-11 | 1955-1962 | | Kodachrome Professional film, 35 mm, Type A (ASA 16) | K-11 | 1956-1962 | | Kodak Color Print Material, Type D (slide duping film) | K-11 | 1955-1957 | | | | | | Kodachrome II film, 16 mm, daylight (ASA 25) and Type A (ASA 40) | K-12 | 1961-1974 | | Kodachrome II film, 8 mm, daylight (ASA 25) and Type A (ASA 40) | K-12 | 1961-1974 | | Kodachrome II film, S-8, Type A (ASA 40) | K-12 | 1965-1974 | | Kodachrome II film, 35 mm and 828, daylight (ASA 25) | K-12 | 1961-1974 | | Kodachrome II Professional film, 35 mm, Type A (ASA 40) | K-12 | 1962-1978 | | Kodachrome-X film, 35 mm (ASA 64) | K-12 | 1962-1974 | | Kodachrome-X film, 126 format | K-12 | 1963-1974 | | Kodachrome-X film, 110 format | K-12 | 1972-1974 | | | | | | Kodachrome 25 film, 35 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1974-2001 | | Kodachrome 25 Movie film, 16 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1974-2002 | | Kodachrome 25 Movie film, 8 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1974-1992 | | Kodachrome 25 Professional film, 35 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1983-1999 | | Kodachrome 40 film, 35 mm, Type A | K-14 | 1978-1997 | | Kodachrome 40 Movie film, 16 mm, Type A | K-14 | 1974-2006 | | Kodachrome 40 Movie film, S-8, Type A | K-14 | 1974-2005 | | Kodachrome 40 Sound Movie film, S-8, Type A | K-14 | 1974-1998 | | Kodachrome 40 Movie film, 8 mm, Type A | K-14 | 1974-1992 | | Kodachrome 64, 35 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1974-Present | | Kodachrome 64, 126 format, daylight | K-14 | 1974-1993 | | Kodachrome 64, 110 format, daylight | K-14 | 1974-1987 | | Kodachrome 64 Professional film, 35 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1983-Present | | Kodachrome 64 Professional film, daylight, 120 format | K-14 | 1986-1996 | | Kodachrome 200 Professional film, 35 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1986-2004 | | Kodachrome 200, 35 mm, daylight | K-14 | 1988-2007 |
See also
External links
Official Kodak information
Other resources
- Worldwide Kodachrome processing facility.
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Processing of obsolete Kodachrome types K-11 and K-12:
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