Kodak Kodachrome

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Kodachrome II for color slides, in 35mm film cartridge ; produced from 1961 to 1974
Kodachrome 64 for color slides, packaging from different eras
Scan of a Kodachrome 200 slide from 1988; high sharpness with coarse film grain

Kodachrome is the brand name for a reversal or slide film produced by the Kodak company from 1935 to 2009 . Among other things, it was processed in the K-14 development process and was clearly different from all other color films. The forerunner was a two-color film produced from 1916 to 1930 under the same name.

description

Kodachrome was the first commercially successful three-color film with natural color reproduction. From its appearance in 1935 until the 1990s, it was the preferred slide film material for many professional photographers and discerning amateurs. Kodachrome had a high degree of sharpness, fine-grainedness and vivid colors and is extremely durable in archives. These properties were not achieved by other films for over 50 years, which is why the Kodachrome had a significant influence on the development of color photography . It was not until the 1990s that other films approached the Kodachrome level, and the emergence of digital photography caused further losses . Kodak stopped production in 2009.

History and Development

Predecessor two-color film

Its predecessor, the Kodachrome two-color film, which was not comparable in terms of technology and quality, was produced between 1916 and 1930 and used as a feature film . The pictures were taken with a special camera with twin lenses and then copied onto slide film.

The classic Kodachrome

Kodachrome photo of Piccadilly Circus from Shaftesbury Avenue (1949)
Dancers in the Junkanoo Parade in Kingston, Jamaica , 1975

The process on which the classic Kodachrome three-color film is based was developed between 1920 and 1935 by the two musicians and enthusiastic amateur photographers Leopold Godowsky Jr. (son of the well-known pianist Leopold Godowsky ) and Leopold Mannes on behalf of Kodak. This first Kodachrome emulsion had a film speed of 10 ASA. It is said that in their test series leading to Kodachrome in their own kitchen, Godowsky and Mannes always determined the exact development time by whistling a Beethoven symphony together due to a lack of correctly running clocks. Because of the names of the two inventors, it is also jokingly spoken in English that Kodachrome was created jointly by God and Man ("God and Man").

The Kodachrome reversal film was first introduced in April 1935 as a 16 mm cine film ; it was the first color film ever to work according to a chromogenic process .

From 1936 35mm material was also available. The price of the material at that time (although the development costs were included) was significantly higher than for black and white material. A 1936 advertisement listed a price of $ 6.98 for the 100-foot roll. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $ 107 in 2010.

The end of production and development

Production of the once very popular Super 8 narrow film Kodachrome K40 was discontinued in 2004. On June 22, 2009, Kodak announced that it would also discontinue the production of the last remaining slide film Kodachrome 64 after 74 years. The reason for this is that this film now only accounts for 1% of sales of products for chemical photography - which in turn is only a small division of Kodak. The last roll of Kodachrome to roll off the tape was photographed by photographer Steve McCurry - the photographer who had become world famous with the “ Afghan Girl ” portrait taken on Kodachrome .

Kodachrome development in Renens near Lausanne in Switzerland ended on September 25, 2006. Since then, all Kodachrome films sold worldwide have been sent to the last remaining private laboratory Dwayne's Photo in Parsons in the US state of Kansas for development.

Kodak Stuttgart announced in December 2009: The development of the last Kodachrome films by sending them to Stuttgart was still possible until November 23, 2010. Films that were sent to Lausanne / Switzerland could be accepted until November 30, 2010.

Dwayne's Photo accepted the final rolls of Kodachrome for processing at noon on December 30, 2010. These films were developed that same day by Dwayne's staff; the very last role developed came from the laboratory's owner, Dwayne Steinle. The machines are now ready for scrapping.

In principle, exposed but undeveloped material can also be developed into a black and white negative after the Kodachrome development has been stopped.

properties

Kodachrome 40 (Super 8 film) in the typical red and yellow design: plastic film cassette (center of the picture) that is inserted into the camera, behind or next to it, the outer and inner original packaging

The base of the Kodachrome color reversal films consists of 0.135 mm thick cellulose acetate .

The coordinated series of films that are now only available in remainders consisted mainly of the K25, K64 and K200 with film speeds of 25, 64 and 200 ASA ; For the Super 8 and 16 mm , the K40, which is also no longer in production, was of particular importance.

The Kodachrome 25 has a granularity of 8 RMS, measured with a micro-densitometer with a measuring aperture of 48 µm and a 12-fold magnification. The resolving power is at a test object contrast of 1.6: 1 at 63 lines / mm and at a test object contrast of 1000: 1 at 100 lines / mm (manufacturer information from 1998).

The Kodachrome 64 has a grain size of 10 RMS, measured with a micro-densitometer with a measuring aperture of 48 µm and a 12-fold magnification. With a test object contrast of 1.6: 1, the resolving power is 63 lines / mm and with a test object contrast 1000: 1 it is 100 lines / mm (manufacturer information from 2002).

Kodachrome 200 for color slides, in 35mm film cartridge; produced from 1988 to 2007

The Kodachrome 200 has a granularity of 16 RMS, measured with a micro-densitometer with a measuring aperture of 48 µm and a 12-fold magnification. The resolving power is 50 lines / mm for a test object contrast of 1.6: 1 and 100 lines / mm for a test object contrast of 1000: 1 (manufacturer information from 2002).

functionality

The Kodachrome is actually a three-layer black and white film . The layers are separated from one another by color filters and thus record the intensity of the three additive basic colors . In contrast to "normal" slide films, which are usually processed using the E-6 process, the Kodachrome lacks the color couplers for color reproduction; these are only included in the developer. Therefore, the Kodachrome is less sensitive to incorrect storage (regarding duration, temperature, humidity) than other color films. It is said that there were already Kodachrome films in their original packaging, which (without deep-frozen storage) were stored for more than 15 years beyond the stated expiration date and then still showed mediocre results after exposure and development. In another case there was more than 19 years between exposure and development and the slides were still usable. Because the color only arises during development, the Kodachrome is a chromogenic film .

The lack of color couplers embedded in the emulsion , which in the case of the E-6 films must be non-diffusion-proof with long molecular chains, explains the higher sharpness output compared to these. The film is therefore ideally suited for large enlargements.

However, the development in the K14 process was also very complex, and above all required significantly more baths than the E-6 process. It was only carried out by Kodak itself and was therefore already included in the film price, at least in Europe.

Kodachrome slide films were only ever of importance in the professional or semi-professional field. Slide films based on the E-6 development principle, which is much easier to use, had long dominated the market even before the end of K-14 development.

Advantages and disadvantages

US President Roosevelt photographed with Kodachrome in 1944

The Kodachrome films are generally characterized by their very high sharpness, their extremely natural and nuanced color rendering - especially of skin tones - and their high color stability. The latter characteristic made it the preferred film for archival applications (museums, art archives) for a long time.

“If you have good light and a reasonably fast shutter speed, it will be a brilliant color photo. It had a great range of colors. It wasn't too bright. Some films seem like you're on drugs or something. Velvia made everything so saturated and exaggerated, too lush. Kodachrome had more poetry, delicacy and elegance. There are many benefits to be gained from digital photography, [but] you need post-processing. [With Kodachrome] you get brilliant pictures straight away. "

Kodachrome is the only slide material that has a red cast in the dark areas, while other slide films have a blue cast. This gives Kodachrome slides a warmer image impression. The stronger emphasis on green tones also leads to a subjectively improved image impression of landscapes, since people perceive green strongly.

Tests have shown that the high durability of the Kodachrome dyes only applies when they are stored in the dark, where Kodachrome is superior to all other slide films for pictorial photography, all of which work according to the E-6 process. The situation is different with the stability of the dyes during projection: In tests, the enormous light throughput during projection led to a noticeable fading (density loss of 0.1) of Kodachrome slides, E-6 slide materials (e. B. Kodak Ektachrome, Agfachrome, Fujichrome) were more stable here. Kodachrome slides should therefore be kept in complete darkness and shown in a projector according to the principle “as seldom as possible, as often as necessary”.

Digitization (scanning)

Framed Kodachrome slide in a cardboard frame

A framed Kodachrome slide can be inserted into a slide scanner like any other slide . In almost all cases, however, the result after a conventional scan process will not be useful; usually it will be very bluish. Some manufacturers offer special Kodachrome color profiles to choose from in their scan software to prevent this. However, an IT8 calibration is necessary for truly color-fast scans .

Since Kodachrome slides are particularly fine-grained, they have a very high resolution and a very large range of density . If you do not want to accept any losses in digitization, a high-resolution scanner (min. 3000 dpi) with a large range of density is required.

Techniques of various scanners, which automatically recognize and correct undesired defects such as dust, scratches, fingerprints and the like by means of an additional infrared channel, cannot be used on Kodachrome, or only to a very limited extent, because of the silver halides used. The Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED film scanner, which was released in 2004, is the only scanner available on the market to date that enables the ICE 4 Professional to reliably remove dust and scratches from Kodachrome films without any additional software . Batch processing of slides is not possible with the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED. H. to digitize several slides in one go. This makes digitization with this scanner very time-consuming. Independent software developers are working on their own tools for removing dust and scratches. SilverFast and VueScan offer their own infrared-based procedures for dust and scratch removal, which lead to high-quality results with many scanners. The conventional dust and scratch correction cannot be carried out due to the film material / chemistry, as this does not allow a functioning infrared scan. The composition of the film material is comparable to that of the b / w film.

Timeline Kodachrome Films

Movie date
Kodachrome film 16 mm 1935-1962
8 mm 1936–1962
35 mm and 828 1936–1962
K-11 process
Kodachrome film 35 mm and 828 1955-1962
K-12 process
Kodachrome II film 16 mm 1961-1974
8 mm 1961-1974
35 mm and 828 1961-1974
Kodachrome-X film 35 mm 1962-1974
126 format 1963-1974
110 format 1972-1974
K-14 process
Kodachrome 25 film
(sharp, fine-grained)
35 mm 1974-2001
16 mm 1974-2002
8 mm 1974-1992
Kodachrome 40 film
(for Super 8 cameras)
35 mm 1978-1997
16 mm 1974-2006
Kodachrome 64
(was the last
Kodachrome film produced)
35 mm 1974-2009
126 format 1974-1993
110 format 1974-1987
Kodachrome 200
(natural color display,
for moving pictures e.g. during sports)
35 mm 1988-2007

Kodachrome song and feature films

In 1973 Paul Simon composed the song Kodachrome . Among other things, he played it together with Art Garfunkel in 1981 at the legendary benefit concert in Central Park , which led to the reunification of Simon & Garfunkel . In the 1990s, the song was also used as a promotional song by Kodak .

In 2017 the film Kodachrome was made with Ed Harris and Jason Sudeikis in the leading role. The plot tells the last trip of the photographer and cancer-stricken father with his son to Dwayne's Photo in Kansas, where he wants to have his last remaining slide films developed before the store closes as the last photo developer the next day. On the journey there, the quarreling duo get closer.

In 2011 and 2012 there were already feature films with the title "Kodachrome".

Web links

Commons : Kodachrome  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ORF : Kodak stops production of Kodachrome , June 22, 2009
  2. Versus a regular price of $ 9 Los Angeles Times, March 15, 1936. See Goodbye Kodachrome
  3. Kodak retires KODACHROME film ( Memento from June 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. David Friend: The Last Roll of Kodachrome — Frame by Frame! ( Memento of February 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), In: Vanity Fair (English).
  5. Steve McCurryStudios: National Geographic: The Last Roll of Kodachrome. January 12, 2013, accessed October 25, 2016 .
  6. KODACHROME Note on the setting action. In: www.kodak.com. Retrieved October 25, 2016 .
  7. End of an era: Last roll of Kodachrome film developed at dailymail.co.uk, accessed Dec. 31, 2010
  8. ^ Sulzberger AG: For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas at nytimes.com, accessed Dec. 31, 2010
  9. ↑ Color stability of Kodachrome film. In: www.huennebeck-online.de. Retrieved October 25, 2016 .
  10. "If you have good light and you're at a fairly high shutter speed, it's going to be a brilliant color photograph. It had a great color palette. It wasn't too garish. Some films are like you're on a drug or something. Velvia made everything so saturated and wildly over-the-top, too electric. Kodachrome had more poetry in it, a softness, an elegance. With digital photography, you gain many benefits [but] you have to put in post-production. [With Kodachrome,] you take it out of the box and the pictures are already brilliant " - David Friend: The Last Roll of Kodachrome — Frame by Frame! ( Memento of February 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), In: Vanity Fair (English).
  11. Shutterbug Magazin (issue 06/09 p. 110ff) or online: David Brooks: Better Profiled Kodachrome Scanning (English)
  12. ^ Kodachrome films after years. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .