Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/01/14

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Subject: [Leica] last Kodachrome
From: imagist3 at mac.com (George Lottermoser)
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:10:02 -0600
References: <C955E0EA.BE8B%manolito@videotron.ca> <F443E136-F746-43DD-97C6-A8A01049F091@gmail.com> <BAY140-W7E43DD4370B5E16CDF4F5C7F30@phx.gbl> <00c401cbb421$76f18010$64d48030$@net> <Bay140-w2248EA3B84CDA8D01E0CD7C7F30@phx.gbl> <00da01cbb427$9eda6c30$dc8f4490$@net>

On Jan 14, 2011, at 2:14 PM, Jim Shulman wrote:

> 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.  


Back in the mid '60's I worked a Kodachrome line at L.L. Cook Company,
the largest midwest processor at the time.

The "crew" included:
1) a Kodak trained manager to oversee both the mechanical and chemical 
operations
2) a full time lab technician in a fully equipped laboratory, with vented 
hoods, et al,
3) two machine operators (of which I was one)

Regards,
George Lottermoser 
george at imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist







Replies: Reply from summarex at hotmail.com (Javier Perez) ([Leica] Kodachrome Basin State Park)
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