You become more aware of the passage of time when an icon leaves the stage. As a beginner in photography in the late 70's, I remember having to wait for days, if not weeks to get my Kodachrome slides back from the lab. As a kid growing up , I saw the beautiful images in National Geographics with the color pallet that I came to realized as I began to work in photography, could only come from K14 processing.
Kodachrome 64 was my mainstay, but I always had Kodachome 25 around to capture those postcard landscapes and other images that needed the "pop" of colors and fine grain texture. (Carrying my heavy Bogen tripod around for those longer exposures!) I experimented with Kodachrome 200 when it first came out, but realized early on that if you needed ISO 200, it probably wasn't the right image for Kodachrome.
My Mamiya RZs were missing in action by the time Kodachrome in 120 rolls were discontinued in 1996. One of the reasons I never invested in 4 x 5 large format was due to the quality I was getting from 6 x7 cm. images on Kodachrome. I was able to make large Cibachrome prints that still hang on my walls today. (Never got use to the term "Ilfochrome"!)
After I bought my Nikon DSLRs, I had intended to find a good used F100 or F6 body specifically to shoot Kodachrome. Nothing in Photoshop that I have found or tried to replicate on my own, quite captures the shades and pallet of the good old KM and KR. Sadly, Kodachrome 25 was discontinued in 2002 and the recent announcement of the end of Kodachrome 64 has made these plans obsolete.
Yes, there are other reversal films with excellent color and saturation. I've used Fuji Velvia and actually like the bright, saturated colors and I always had rolls of Ektachrome 400 around Ifor those low light, grainy, moody shots, especially when pushed to ISO 800. I like all these films but not enough to invest in a new 35mm camera body.
I'm not upset with Kodak for making a very practical and inevitable decision to end production of this legacy film. Someone (if it isn't already available) will come up with an accurate Kodachrome like plugin for Photoshop. It just won't be the same...sitting with my loupe and lightbox and seeing the layered emulsions rising from the cellophane when you look at the slides close up. I guess I'll just have be content looking over my old slides while listening to my Paul Simon albums...on LP, of course!
Kodachrome 64 was my mainstay, but I always had Kodachome 25 around to capture those postcard landscapes and other images that needed the "pop" of colors and fine grain texture. (Carrying my heavy Bogen tripod around for those longer exposures!) I experimented with Kodachrome 200 when it first came out, but realized early on that if you needed ISO 200, it probably wasn't the right image for Kodachrome.
My Mamiya RZs were missing in action by the time Kodachrome in 120 rolls were discontinued in 1996. One of the reasons I never invested in 4 x 5 large format was due to the quality I was getting from 6 x7 cm. images on Kodachrome. I was able to make large Cibachrome prints that still hang on my walls today. (Never got use to the term "Ilfochrome"!)
After I bought my Nikon DSLRs, I had intended to find a good used F100 or F6 body specifically to shoot Kodachrome. Nothing in Photoshop that I have found or tried to replicate on my own, quite captures the shades and pallet of the good old KM and KR. Sadly, Kodachrome 25 was discontinued in 2002 and the recent announcement of the end of Kodachrome 64 has made these plans obsolete.
Yes, there are other reversal films with excellent color and saturation. I've used Fuji Velvia and actually like the bright, saturated colors and I always had rolls of Ektachrome 400 around Ifor those low light, grainy, moody shots, especially when pushed to ISO 800. I like all these films but not enough to invest in a new 35mm camera body.
I'm not upset with Kodak for making a very practical and inevitable decision to end production of this legacy film. Someone (if it isn't already available) will come up with an accurate Kodachrome like plugin for Photoshop. It just won't be the same...sitting with my loupe and lightbox and seeing the layered emulsions rising from the cellophane when you look at the slides close up. I guess I'll just have be content looking over my old slides while listening to my Paul Simon albums...on LP, of course!
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