[Leica] Re: Kodachrome

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

I still get this Scarpitti stuff second hand, but I'll respond anyway.

What an dumb thing to say, "rescued", "seeing the light", reaching someone?
What a joke!

The color photography world lives on color negative and E6... Period!

Kodachrome dribbles out of Kodak for those die-hards that iconize products.
This year another Kodachrome bit the dust. K25 Professional. Professional
photographers, usually use multiple equipment formats, 35mm, MF, and LF.
How long has it been since Kodachrome was available in anything but 35mm?

It is pretty difficult to standardize a look, a process, a consistency, if
you change film types between formats. And there is a huge difference
between the look of Kodachrome and the look of E6.

I participated in a heavy duty Kodachrome test, conducted by Kodak a couple
of years ago. They supplied me with Kodachrome to use in parallel with my
E6 films. They know I use mostly Fuji E6 films. I used two R7's with RRS
quick release plates and used Velvia in one body and K64 in the other.
Swapped cameras/lenses on every photograph. Calypso processed the E6 and
Kodak processed the K14.

These were photographs for our upcoming book on Napa Valley Wine Country.
Next to the Velvia, the Kodachrome was disappointing. The huge
questionnaire that accompanied the test results asked questions like "If a
Kodachrome were produced that had the look of your current E6 films, would
you switch?" To which I answered "possibly, if processing were made to be
as convenient as E6."

I've said this many times. After paying for travel, lodging, meals, film,
negotiated access, etc..., which for three or four days of photographing,
ends up being a sizable sum of money. And usually is not repeatable. Or
even a vacation, which is never cheap and cannot be repeated easily:

"There is no way in hell that I am going to send my precious film, through
the mail, via express service, via courier, or any other method of
transportation that is not "ME". I will either process it myself or
personally take it to a local Pro lab, where I know everyone. Basically, my
film is in known hands at all times."

Sure, the lab can screw-up. Sure, I can screw up. But add to that an
unknown courier of some sort to a lab. An unknown lab with unknown lab
people in an unknown location, returned by unknown people via some courier
service. I DON'T THINK SO!

I have seen many UPS delivery disasters. I have had a UPS number and pickup
service for 30 years. I have seen numerous FedEx delivery disasters. And
don't get me started about the US Snail Mail. You all worry about
X-Rays.Ever see cooked film? The latent image is the most vulnerable to
heat. FedEx, UPS, and Snail Mail trucks and vans are not air conditioned.
Neither are their holding depots.

The bottom line is that after a huge amount of work and expense, of which I
have "total" control, their is not going to be an unknown lapse in the
loop, at the end, where the rubber meets the road. No way, Jose! (No way,
Hose-A!)

I have made and sold many prints, from E6 film, 40"x40", 50"x50",and
48"x60". These prints are dead sharp, bright, clean, vivid color, with no
visible sign of grain. Like I'm missing something... not!

Kodachrome is a great K14 film. Fuji Velvia, Kodak E100VS, E100S, & E100SW
are great E6 films.

You can get the same E6 film across all formats, 35mm, 120, 220,
2-1/4x3-1/4, 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10.

You can get K14 films in 35mm only.

It doesn't take more than two brain cells to figure out this one!

It's 9 O'Clock. Do you know where your film is? In a container on the
tarmac in Memphis? In a UPS van in Houston Texas? On a loading dock in
Biloxi Mississippi?

Jim



>At 03:41 PM 5/31/00 -0700, Michael Scarpitti wrote:
>>
>>Someone on the list has admitted to seeing the light
>>(ahem!) and being rescued from the land of the
>>brainwashed N**** and C**** users to the land of the
>>living. So refreshing....
>>
>>Someone else has taken up Kodachrome after 20 years in
>>the desert. How very, very, interesting. Could it be
>>that perhaps, after all, I did reach some of you?
>>
>>As for the rest of you:
>>Repent! All ye N**** and C**** users! 
>>Repent! All ye Velvomita users!