Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/12/03

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Subject: Re: Frame 39 (was Re: born again)
From: Mike Gardner <mikeg@neca.com>
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 23:57:18 -0500

Charles E. Love, Jr. wrote:
> 
> 
> Well, to start with, if at all possible I wouldn't use Kodalux.  There are
> still some alternatives for Kodachrome, I think--one is BWC (I think that's
> the name) in Miami Beach ...
> Kodalux, on the other hand....there are lots of stories, but my favorite was the period of about a year when their machine chopped up the first picture
> on every roll of Kodachrome I sent them.  Repeated complaints produced the
> response that it must be the camera, but I sent them rolls from different
> cameras.  I checked with other photogs, and they had the same problem.
> 
> The decision Kodak made to sell their processing to a drugstore processor (a  big one, but low quality--Qualux) was the beginning of the end for
> Kodachrome, I think.  It saved Kodak money since they fired all their
> experienced staff, but the quality went way down.  I think I heard somewhere
> that Kodak boughtthe processing back very recently--anyone know?
> 
> Charlie
> 
Yes, Kodak is back in the kodachrome developing business.  There has
been a noticeable change for the better in quality control: it is now
called Kodak Premium Processing on the slide mounts.  I use the prepaid
mailers bought at a discount and patiently wait the one week turnaround
 time. During the depths of the Kodalux regime (they did improve
eventually) I also used A&I Color in Los Angeles: processing was superb
but shipping from east coast to west and back became a bother and
expense.  It is my understanding that Kodak originally divested
themselves of the processing business as part of their settlement with
the Environmental Protection Agency re their huge pollution problem at
Rochester, NY.
Although I use plenty of Fujichrome, IMHO, Kodachrome and Leicas were
made for each other.
Mike Gardner