From: Scott Loveless
On 6/23/09, Adam Maas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> The problem with Kodachrome is that it is far more difficult to
> process than E-6 slide films. So processing is expensive and takes a
> long time (the last roll I had done cost me $20 and took 4 weeks, that
> was last fall). E-6 is as cheap to buy, costs way less to process and
> the turnaround is far shorter (I get my E-6 on a 3 our turnaround).
The real problem with Kodachrome was that Kodak raised the price by
about 35% last year. It's not exactly a big secret that they've
wanted to ditch the film business for a while now, but raising the
price (justified or not) and then blaming it's demise on their
ex-customers is a bit slimy, IMHO.
For those of us in the US, getting Kodachrome processed wasn't any
more hassle than any other film. Either send it directly to Dwayne's
or drop it off pretty much anywhere that sends film to Fuji or Kodak.
Wal-Mart usually took about a week and a half and ran about $5. I
don't think I'd even consider shooting the stuff if I lived outside
the US, though.
The *REAL* problem with Kodachrome is:
Demand is falling while manufacturing costs are increasing. It's a more
expensive film to make than E-6 films. The quality of E-6 films
increased to rival Kodachrome, but are less expensive to make. And the
farther demand falls, the more expensive PER UNIT it becomes to
manufacture Kodachrome.
Finding any place to drop off film is getting harder and harder. Most
places that used to offer film drop off won't even take E-6 for drop
off. If you ain't shootin' C-41, you better know where to send it
yourself, 'cause Wal-Mart don't take film to send out anymore.
Nor does Costco, CVS, Rite-Aid, Wallgreens ... Wolf/Ritz.
Processing Kodachrome is more difficult than processing E-6. It's not
environmentally friendly - that is to say, it's a lot more
environmentally UNfriendly than C-41 and E-6.
Maybe, we'll see the Kodachrome process picked up by some Chinese
entrepreneur like has happened with some of Kodak's B&W paper processes
and it will be offered as a boutique film.
Kodak is just too big to be able to manufacture and market it as such. A
small company might have a chance.
It's kind of sad to be there at the end of an era, but I've got too much
E-6 film in the fridge that I'm not making any headway at all at
shooting up.
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