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Last Roll of Kodachrome Processed

Posted by kdawson on from the gimme-the-greens-of-summer dept.

Wired's Gadget Lab picked up a wistful story from the Wichita (Kansas) Eagle on the processing of the last roll of Kodachrome film that Kodak produced. "Freelance photojournalist Steve McCurry, whose work has graced the pages of National Geographic, laid 36 slides representing the last frames of Kodachrome film on the light board sitting on a counter in Dwayne's Photo Service in Parsons [Kansas]. ... National Geographic has closely documented the journey of the final roll of Kodachrome manufactured, down to its being processed. Dwayne's is the only photo lab left in the world to handle Kodachrome processing..." If you have any rolls of Kodachrome sitting around not yet exposed, better get them to Dwayne's before December 10, 2010.

5 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Still labs around for color (and even real b/w) by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm guessing there will be for a little while to come

    E-6 "Ektachrome" processing? Sure. K-14 "Kodachrome" processing? Very unlikely.

  2. Re:So, *will* it be missed? by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Interesting

    RTFA -- Paul Simon was right. Colors especially come alive when you shoot on a rainy day, but are vivid and vibrant any time. Personally, I miss Kodachrome; digital photos don't have the spectrum (ar at least seem not to have the spectrum) of colors Kodachrome gave.

    Unfortunately, you'll never get the chance to shoot with Kodachrome. Sometimes it's nice being a geezer; I wonder what my grandfather was able to experience that I'll never get the chance to?

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  3. Re:Momma don't take my Kodachrome Away!! by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Until medium format Digital becomes more sane and really up's the resolution... film ain't going nowhere.

    Even low end DSLR's like the T2i now have better resolution than 35mm film. (yes they do, I shoot both and that camera even kicks the hell out of 50ISO slide film for resolution.) As I have seen myself by scanning negatives and slides taken by really expensive cameras and glass.. Current cheap digitals exceed 35mm film.

    but medium format is another matter.. 70mm is astounding still and I have yet to see any medium format digital get anywhere near what a cheap 1960's used camera can deliver. I have an old 220 that is 10 years older than I am and it produces insane photographs.

    I look forward to the day when I can get a decent medium format digital...

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. Dwayne's must be getting a lot of strange calls by JavaRob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in a small rural village in central France. Two weeks ago the owner of a small photo shop in a nearby town asked me for help -- he had a customer who had dropped off film to be developed, and no place in France developed Kodachrome anymore... so he needed me to help him call Dwayne's Photo in KS, and give them his credit card details in English (thanks for your help, Krystal). It definitely struck me as odd at the time that the one place in the world he'd found to develop this film sounded like a tiny operation, but obviously his research was good....

    There's a whole world out there, with Kodachrome film scattered throughout -- not everyone has an American living nearby who can help them make the call. I wonder what kinds of other calls they're fielding now.

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion