Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/03

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Subject: Kodachrome.
From: captyng@vtx.ch (Gerard Captijn)
Date: Thu, 04 Jul 1996 07:04:00 +0200

>The information about Technicolor and Kodachrome in the most recent
>posting from our Swiss contributor is not quite right and could cause an
>unnecessary confusion. The old Technicolor movie process is really not
>like Kodachrome (you might think of it as a cousin, but not a sister).

Thank you for the interesting explanation of the Technicolor process and its
history.
I never suggested in my message that the Kodachrome and Technicolor
processes are identical, I know that. I just stated that the color from
Kodachrome and from the original Technicolor process does not depend on the
limited range of chemical agents that produce dyes in the E6 world. This is
what provides the possibility for far more stable color.

In the original Technicolor process, the three negatives were not copied on
monopack printfilm. Technicolor made positive copies of the RBG negatives,
which, after processing resulted in gelatine relief images. These 3
non-color relief films were colored in 3 color baths containing stable dyes,
like the three non-color Kodachrome layers. Thick layer, much dye, intensive
red. Thin layer, the opposite. The three colored images were later
transferred on the blankfilm, which could also carry a grey keyimage (to
improve shadows) and carried the soundtrack. Registering the 3 images
perfectly on blankfilm was a problem in the early days of Technicolor but
this got solved by Bell & Howell by high precision perforation of the films.
As you rightly pointed out, later improvements in the process included
copying of the 3 negatives on multilayer printfilm.  

Again, the point I tried to make was that non color coupler based processes,
like Kodachrome, Technicolor, and Kodak's Dye Transfer, open up the
possibility to use far more stable dyes than those available in through E6
chemistry, resulting in much better archival quality. Sorry if I was not
clear and/or caused confusion.
Gerard Captijn,
Geneva, Switzerland.
Email: captyng@vtx.ch
Fax: +41 (22) 700 39 28







































































































































Gerard Captijn
Geneva, Switzerland
Email: captyng@vtx.ch
Telephone/fax: +41 22 700 39 28