Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/11

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Subject: RE: [Leica] No more PMK 25 - Now Kodachrome II
From: "Tim Atherton" <timphoto@nt.sympatico.ca>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 09:48:32 -0700

I know this is getting slightly off topic (though there must have been an
awful lot of Kodachrome II shot with Leicas), but I recently had to work
with some old Kodachrome II transparencies in the NWT Archives.

These slides were from the 1960's as I recall, and they blew me away.

First, the colour did not appear to have faded in 30 years (they had only
been in archival conditions for a couple of years - in contrast, there was a
lot of colour shift in E6 films that were not as old).

Then, the grain was incredible.

Finally, the colours themselves were very impressive, much better than
current KM25/64. They were closer to many of the modern Fuji/Kodak E6
(though not quite the super saturated kind). Only I would have said,
slightly better. Strong colours, but with a natural feel. And an almost
Leica feel of 3D (not, they weren't taken with Leicas).

I realise now why so many of those Ernst Haas colour images have that feel
(in addition to his creativity IMHO). Makes you wonder if the current crop
of E6 is finally catching up to where we were 30 years ago - other than in
speed?

Tim A