[deadwolfbones]

Final roll of Kodachrome processed in Kansas; angel sheds a rainbow-colored tear -- Engadget

Kodak stopped manufacturing the oldest film in its catalog last year, but Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas kept its Kodachrome processing rig around just in case. Last week photographer Steve McCurry processed the final manufactured roll of Kodachrome there - 33 frames taken around New York City, and three taken in Parsons. A crew from National Geographic (where McCurry made his name, specifically with the iconic "Afghan Girl" cover photo) documented the final roll's journey from the factory to processing, so you'll probably be able to find out more on it soon. Oh, and if grandma's a real shutterbug, you might want to tell her to check the attic for any spare Kodachrome rolls she has lying around -- Dwayne's is the last remaining Kodachrome processing facility in the world, and that service will stop on December 10th. Now, if it's quite alright -- pardon us while we attempt to capture a meaningful moment on our soulless Easyshare ecosystem of products.

[icywarm]

talk about a change... on the engadget page... there are 5 reviews at the top all have cameras built in... but are not cameras... ie DS's, cell phones... etc...

[drewdlephone]

I've always regretted not getting into film earlier so that I could have tried shooting Kodachrome. Everyone says the stuff borders on magic, and the slides that I have scanned and worked on for people seem to bear this out. Absolutely beautiful colors. And a shelf life! I had the privilege of scanning a wedding from the early 1950's on Kodachrome, and they looked like they were taken last week. Incredible stuff.

[gofour3]

I've always regretted not getting into film earlier so that I could have tried shooting Kodachrome. Everyone says the stuff borders on magic, and the slides that I have scanned and worked on for people seem to bear this out. Absolutely beautiful colors. And a shelf life! I had the privilege of scanning a wedding from the early 1950's on Kodachrome, and they looked like they were taken last week. Incredible stuff.

Yep the best film I have ever used and hard to describe to people who have never seen a Kodachrome slide in person.

Phil.

[Ratmagiclady]

*pausing for a salute.*

[GeneV]

Yep the best film I have ever used and hard to describe to people who have never seen a Kodachrome slide in person.

Phil.

True. Scans do not do it justice. Nevertheless, I keep scanning those stacks of yellow boxes in my closet.

[PollitowuzHere]

I just shot my penultimate roll of Kodachrome today in Muir Woods, still undecided how to shoot the last one.

[GeneV]

I just shot my penultimate roll of Kodachrome today in Muir Woods, still undecided how to shoot the last one.

You have about four months to decide.

[ChrisPlatt]

I've got a few rolls left. I plan to use at least one to record fall colors Upstate.
Oh, those Kodachrome reds and yellows...

Chris

[tibbitts]

Although Kodachrome was an outstanding product for many years, I had a lot of consistency problems with K64 particularly (which is what I used most.) Velvia and Ektachrome 100 were much more consistent and replaced Kodachrome for me. I used Kodak processing for Kodachrome at first, and then Kodalux after it was outsourced. I didn't use any of the pricier Kodachome processors, so that might have been my problem.

I didn't seen any such problems in the Kodachrome and Kodachrome II eras. It was a K25/64/200-era problem. Using the pro varieties didn't help, even with controlled storage.

Paul

[Blue]

I have 3.5 rolls to use up. I need to get on the stick!

Yep the best film I have ever used and hard to describe to people who have never seen a Kodachrome slide in person.

Phil.

People need to see them projected on a good screen to appreciate them.

[Votesh]

I've got 10 rolls of 64, 10 rolls of 25, and 19 rolls of 200 . After getting my first processed roll back from Dwayne's earlier this year I went on a buying spree. I plan on going through most of it on a road trip out to California. I'm not looking forward to the bill when I ship them off to Dwayne's, but I figured I ought to go through as much of it as possible while I have the chance.

[GeneV]

On a related note, last night I scanned a few rolls of Agfachrome from a 1981 trip to Switzerland. One of the rolls was Agfachrome 200. Some of the shots were quite interesting, and I so wished my old MX had been charged with Kodachrome. The Agfa 200 just didn't make the 30 year trip nearly as well.

[gofour3]

My last Kodachrome!!

I just scored nine rolls from Craigslist in Vancouver at $15.00 each.

Seven rolls are dated 12/2009
Two roll are dated 08/2010

Will use them on a trip to Argentina in the fall, then send them off to Dwayne’s before the cutoff.

Phil

[stan8331]

I still have several rolls of K64 in my fridge. Shooting them in the next couple of months is going to be a bittersweet sensation.

Maybe there are issues relating to scanning Kodachrome - I haven't gotten around to attempting to scan any of my old slides yet. But in terms of the raw image quality you get from viewing and printing the actual slides, no other color film I've seen comes anywhere close.

Kodak is being run into the ground by a bunch of imbeciles - "Let's take the one thing we make that's the very best in the world, and rather than trying to find new and inventive ways to use it to enhance our corporate brand, we'll just kill it since it's not currently making us much money."

Digital music was expected to kill vinyl records, but vinyl still readily available from many, many bands (a new LP from The Bouncing Souls arrived in my mailbox just yesterday). The same will be true for film - it will likely never again enjoy the predominant position it once held, but neither will it die. It's overly simplistic to make it an either/or proposition - I have CD's and vinyl records in my collection and likewise have both a digital and a film SLR. There are intangible but real benefits derived from using physical analog media that digital will never be able to fully match.