Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/06/05

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Deterioration of slide images
From: Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 05 Jun 1999 10:12:10 -0800

Mark Rabiner wrote:
> 
> My Kodachrome have stood up better than my Ektachromes by a long shot.
> They have both underwent a lot of projection. My slides date to '65.
> Fade wise it will take a lot of convincing to convince me against my
> direct experience. Also my wifes dad's slides agree. His predates mine
> by a decade or two, his old non Kodachomes look faded, the Kodachomes
> are frozen in time.

Mark,
I recently had a discussion about this with a photographer who has been
around shooting since the 50s and still has
good-as-the-day-they-were-shot Ektachromes.  The secret, he said, was
that he had a large company (20 photographers on staff doing
commercial/advertising work) and an in-house lab and did only one shot
processing, so no contamination.  He rambled on for a few minutes
discussing all the things they did differently than a commercial lab,
including some chemical things.  So he has only praise for longevity of
Ektachrome.  I'll ask him again and take notes and report.  He has been
all over the world shooting annual reports and still shoots only one
film, EPP that he rolls himself.  He has 250,000 chromes labeled and
filed in cabinets in his living room/office and all Ektachrome, plus
images with 7 stock houses and all Ektachrome.  Now he uses a lab, but
only because he won't live long enough, he says, for the ones he shoots
today to ever fade and because Kodak has made strides in longevity.  

donal
- -- 
Donal Philby
San Diego
http://www.donalphilby.com