Kodak retires Kodachrome film

jpfahy

Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it will retire Kodachrome Color Film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.

Sales of Kodachrome Film, which became the world’s first commercially successful color film in 1935, have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to newer Kodak Films or to the digital imaging technologies that Kodak pioneered. Today, Kodachrome Film represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films.

“KodachromeE Film is an iconic product and a testament to Kodak’s long and continuing leadership in imaging technology,” said Mary Jane Hellyar, President of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group, in the press release. "It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its rich history. However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology – both film and digital. Kodak remains committed to providing the highest-performing products – both film and digital – to meet those needs."

While Kodak now derives about 70% of its revenues from commercial and consumer digital businesses, it is the global leader in the film business. Kodak has continued to bring innovative new film products to market, including seven new professional still films and several new VISION2 and VISION3 motion picture films in the past three years.These new still film products are among those that have become the dominant choice for those professional and advanced amateur photographers who use KODAK Films.

Among the well-known professional photographers who used Kodachrome Film is Steve McCurry, whose picture of a young Afghan girl captured the hearts of millions of people around the world as she peered hauntingly from the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985.

As part of a tribute to Kodachrome Film, Kodak will donate the last rolls of the film to George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, which houses the world’s largest collection of cameras and related artifacts. McCurry will shoot one of those last rolls and the images will be donated to Eastman House.

“The early part of my career was dominated by Kodachrome Film, and I reached for that film to shoot some of my most memorable images,” said McCurry in the press release. “While Kodachrome Film was very good to me, I have since moved on to other films and digital to create my images. In fact, when I returned to shoot the ‘Afghan Girl’ 17 years later, I used Kodak Professional Ektachrome Film E100VS to create that image, rather than Kodachrome Film as with the original.”

For all of its magic, Kodachrome is a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process. There is only one remaining photofinishing lab in the world – Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas – that processes Kodachrome Film, precisely because of the difficulty of processing. This lack of widespread processing availability, as well as the features of newer films introduced by Kodak over the years, has accelerated the decline of demand for Kodachrome Film.

During its run, Kodachrome Film filled a special niche in the annals of the imaging world. It was used to capture some of the best-known photographs in history, while also being the film of choice for family slide shows of the Baby Boom generation.

To celebrate the film’s storied history, Kodak has created a gallery of iconic images on its website: www.kodak.com/go/kodachrometribute. Special podcasts featuring McCurry and Guttman will also be featured on the website.

Kodak estimates that current supplies of Kodachrome Film will last until early this fall at the current sales pace. Dwayne’s Photo has indicated it will continue to offer processing for the film through 2010. Current Kodachrome Film users are encouraged to try other Kodak Films, such as Kodak Professional Ektachrome E100G and EKTAR 100 Film. These films both feature extremely fine grain. For more information, please visit www.kodak.com/go/professional.

Fajitas!

Saw this earlier on, it's a shame alright, but at least Kodak are still going

Thirdfox

For how much longer though? Haven't heard anything exciting from them in years... Konica Minolta were much more progressive and even they had to bow out (at least Sony has taken up their mantle - I love my KM G530).

Fajitas!

There's plenty of time left tbh. Film makers/producers are still buying in plenty of film in bulk, even if digital systems like RED are coming in quite strong.

Film is (surprise surprise) making a comeback, especially in niche markets.

And nothing exciting - They released a new film, that's been a pretty great success!!!

humberklog

Ooh that is sad. Mind you it's been a while since I've used it.
I'm gonna go and dig out my old snaps on Kodachrome and have a look see...got the soundtrack right here...

'Momma don't take my Kodachome awaaayyy'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOQWSMT47VA

Thirdfox

Fajitas! wrote: »

There's plenty of time left tbh. Film makers/producers are still buying in plenty of film in bulk, even if digital systems like RED are coming in quite strong.

Film is (surprise surprise) making a comeback, especially in niche markets.

And nothing exciting - They released a new film, that's been a pretty great success!!!

I've been talking to some of the film producers/camera operators (shooting big commercials in the US) and they are all talking (wistfully I might add) about the move to digital.

And as for film itself - I recently bought a *new* film Nikon from the 60-70s. But shooting that is just for nostalgia's sake.

As for their new film - didn't hear much about it (not unusual I suppose, as I hang around the digital sites moreso than the film ones). I meant that nothing exciting in the digital camera arena (where I would suspect more and more of their future revenue is going to be based in) or their printers...

DaireQuinlan

Thirdfox wrote: »

As for their new film - didn't hear much about it (not unusual I suppose, as I hang around the digital sites moreso than the film ones).

Ektar ? It got a boat load of attention when they released it. So much so that they back-pedalled on their original refusal to release it aswell on 120 and started doing it. I love it. I've shot a bunch of rolls (usual thing if you want to check it out, flickr stream below and do a tag search for 'ektar').

Kodachrome has been slowly on the way out for years. Its 'iconic' status obviously never really translated to sales for the last while, although of course having to send every single roll to kansas probably contributed to this ...

Fajitas!

Thirdfox wrote: »

I've been talking to some of the film producers/camera operators (shooting big commercials in the US) and they are all talking (wistfully I might add) about the move to digital.

Commercials are a different ball game to film production