Kodak Kills Kodachrome

Remember the mid-1970s song by Paul Simon, with the catch-phrase: "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away?" It's time to have a talk with Mama.

Eastman Koadak has announced the company will no longer sell Kodachrome film, ending its 74-year run. Kodachrome is a complex film to manufacture and requires a complicated process to develop, and today there is only one lab left in the country that processes the film.

The company cited nearly non-existent sales as the reason for ending Kodachrome. In the end, Kodachrome accounted for less than 1 percent of the company's total sales of still-picture films.

Details may be found at http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE55L3CZ20090622?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, Polaroid film was phased out long ago.

I have written several times about the decline of microfilm sales and I expect the few remaining microfilm manufacturers will soon follow the lead of Kodak and Polaroid.

Comments

[Richard Ellington]

I hope that Kodak continues to produce their other traditional film products. Digital imagery is fine for some cases but I still prefer my 35MM black-and-white (I am currently using Kodak T-Max professional quality film) for reproducing my old family photos. The negatives are long-life and I believe the quality of the image is unmatched by anything digital I have seen. If I want to share photos, I can have new prints made or just scan the original prints and send off a digital copy.

[Lorenzo]

I belong to our local Genealogical Society, and at last night's meeting the chairman of the Genealogical Educator's group was near to tears. He was an engineer/chemist for Kodak for 40 plus years, and the big thing he worked on was Kodachrome!

[Vera]

Does that mean we'll still be able to buy b/w film?
Fuji film?
I agree...there seems to be a flat quality to digital.