Death of Film: Last Roll of Kodachrome Processed

[David Baxter PhD]

Death of Film: Last Roll of Kodachrome Processed
By Charlie Sorrel, Wired
July 23, 2010

What do you know about Dwayne?s Photo Service of Parsons, Kansas? It is the place where the very last roll of the Kodachrome was processed.

Kodachrome, the slide-film that inspired songs, was discontinued by Kodak last year at 74 years of age. The color emulsion was a victim of its own weird processing requirements, which didn?t use the usual E6 chemistry designed for transparency film, and therefore wasn?t worth supporting in the age of digital.

The last roll was shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry, who shot the 36 exposures in New York (actually, the last three shots were exposed in Parsons before dropping off the film at Dwayne?s). The pictures will be part of a National Geographic piece in the near future.

McCurry?s film may have been the official last roll off the production line, but Dwayne?s will still process any Kodachrome that you might have until December 10th this year. And then it will shut down, forever. People may still shoot analog, but with the death of Kodachrome comes the spiritual death of film.

Last Kodachrome roll processed in Parsons [Wichita Eagle via Retro Thing]


See Also:

• Mama, They Took My Kodachrome Away
• Film
• Five Ways Digital Cameras Beat Film

 

[Retired]

I cannot count the number of rolls of Kodachrome I shot during my hey day using my Nikon F-3 in the eighties and nineties. Most have been laboreously transferred to digital using my scanner, then editing each photo for optimum exposure, cropping and content.

When I think of Kodachrome, I think of the sharp saturated reds and crips whites! It was a good film, that took some getting used to, but produced spectacular results.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Ditto. I have a digital Nikon now but in the old days I loved my Nikon FM-2 (totally manual and very rugged) and Kodachrome and Fujichrome film depending on what I was shooting. I have to say that having the kind of control one could have back in thosxe days via the judicious choice of film and filters was highly rewarding.

While I miss the days of film photography and in some ways mourn its passing, I must say that as I get more accustomed top digital photography I'm also discovering some significant benefits over film.

 

[Retired]

Kodachrome....... was discontinued by Kodak last year at 74 years of age.

The world can take solace in the fact we now have Google Chrome instead.

:clap:

 

[David Baxter PhD]

:lol: