Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/01/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It would make for much interesting controversy if the state of color photography now was on a downhill slide with the superior processes being discontinued. In this case Kodachrome. Fortually for people who are deeply involved with color image making in the present tense there is not a shred of truth in this. We don't have to march on Rochester. I think these people who want to obsess over the death of past processes if they gave the present ones a fair shot they'd find out why all the working image makers now are so happy. Color photography now is at a spike. Its blooming. Its never been better. Not even close. I've shot thousands of rolls of Kodachrome I don't miss it not even a tiny speck. The results I and everybody is getting now is vastly superior on so many levels. The Kodachrome "look" can be bought its called third party film emulation software and you can hit any film button you want I hear it works perfectly. Not even your hairdresser knows for sure. DxO FilmPack 2, $99. Alien Skin's Exposure 2. No one would dream you were living photographically in the previous millenium. "Portra, Velvia, Kodachrome, Polaroid, and TRI-X, while also having presets of discontinued film stocks such as Agfa Scala, GGAR 500, and Kodak EES." just a click away you can pretend you're doing real photography It sounds great and nostalgic to morn the loss of Kodachrome and no doubt soon many or most of our past favorite films. I guess if you've got the free time to do that. Its not being mourned by the guys who are busy out there shooting pictures every day. And editing them. Rating them. And crafting them. They're just excited about their parent work and cant wait to go out and shoot more. Photography now is like dying and going to heaven compared to the stress of hoping your film came out right its like those days were hell. And that's only the tip of the iceberg as the control we have over our work our color now is ten or a hundred times more then before. Before was hell. And I don't miss it. I'm not the slightest bit wistful. It was never the "idea" of shooting Kodachrome I liked it was the photographs I got from it. I'm getting better photographs now. ___ Is the cyan layer in my SanDisk going to fade faster than with my Lexar? If my basement is too damp will they get mold anyway? Will it take me two days to find a slide in a yellow box in a closet? Film slides negatives how do I not miss you let me count the ways. -------------------- Mark William Rabiner Photography http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/ mark at rabinergroup.com Cars: http://tinyurl.com/2f7ptxb > From: Jim Shulman <jshul at comcast.net> > Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:14:16 -0500 > To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Subject: Re: [Leica] last Kodachrome > >> From what I understand, there was a toxicity (and complexity) issue with > creating the chemicals--otherwise a company such as Fuji might have jumped > at the opportunity. With tiny (and ever-dwindling) I don't see this > changing. Some things just require large infrastructure, film production > being one of them. When I think of off-brand film producers, such as Efke > (which has gotten a lot better) and some Chinese b/w, I think of products > that are OK, but not really up to the standards of Kodak or Fuji. With a > process as demanding as Kodachrome, the chances of a small company > replicating the process are diminished further. > > Several years ago I saw a German video of the last Kodachrome movie film > processing done in Europe (Swiss plant). I was really surprised of how > much > operator judgment this required--it was a LOT more involved than > dump-in-chemicals-and-press-button (which is a good reason why E-6 took the > vast majority of the color transparency market.) > > I fear that the operator knowledge will be lost forever, which will make > replication of the process in the future difficult if not impossible. For > instance, I love vintage recordings (made before WWI). The acoustic > recording techniques are known today, but modern attempts to replicate them > have not matched the quality of the originals. The original operators > obviously knew certain tricks or tweaks, which have been lost to history. > > Jim > > -----Original Message----- > From: lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net at leica-users.org > [mailto:lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of > Javier > Perez > Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 3:01 PM > To: LUG > Subject: Re: [Leica] last Kodachrome > > > I probably do! > But proprietary doesn't necessarily mean secret. Chemicals are chemicasl > and > anyone who knows how the developers were made might be able to whip up a > batch. Not sure how it works but I don't think proprietary process can be > held in perpetuity. Of course since there are fewer and fewer rolls to > develop the whole thing might well be a pointless adventure. That's unless > some third party started making its own version of kodachrome. Maybe the > Chinese or the Indians will step up to the plate. > Javier > >> From: jshul at comcast.net >> To: lug at leica-users.org >> Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:30:12 -0500 >> Subject: Re: [Leica] last Kodachrome >> >> Since the chemistry was proprietary (and required a lot of skill and > manual >> manipulation), probably not. You now have a new paperweight. >> >> Jim Shulman >> Wynnewood, PA >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net at leica-users.org >> [mailto:lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of >> Javier >> Perez >> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 2:13 PM >> To: LUG >> Subject: Re: [Leica] last Kodachrome >> >> >> I had a roll I was meaning to get processed but forgot about. It wasn't > even >> mine. It came with an old camera I bought about 10 years ago. The roll has >> the older orangish end caps. After doing some research I figured it might >> not take to modern development because Kodak had made some sort of change > to >> the film and this can was pretty old. Does anybody know if there are any >> bootleg developing efforts being planned other than black and white? >> Javier >> >>> From: steve.barbour at gmail.com >>> Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:32:20 -0800 >>> To: lug at leica-users.org >>> Subject: Re: [Leica] last Kodachrome >>> >>> >>> On Jan 14, 2011, at 8:15 AM, EPL wrote: >>> >>>> Just got my last Kodachromes back from Dwayne's today and I am again >>>> reminded/floored by the quality of the rendition possible with the > film >> (I >>>> shot mostly K25): the lovely, subtle transitions from light to shadow. >>>> >>>> I'll put some up on te LUG Gallery soon. >>> >>> yes ...please share them, >>> >>> >>> Steve >>> >>> >>> >>>> >>>> But I wonder: is there any way to get this kind of result with some >> digital >>>> magic? If someone has a trick, or some "Kodachrome-like" method they > can >>>> share, do tell! >>>> >>>> Most high-end digital work still looks like plastic to me! >>>> >>>> Emanuel >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Leica Users Group. >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information