Kodachrome...

[andybarton]

Well, since coming back from Venice a month ago, I have sent two K64s off to Kansas.

One came back after about 2 1/2 weeks.

The other is still MIA, and I can only presume lost.

Frankly, I don't know why I bothered.

[roguewave]

Andy, this isn't Kansas anymore.

[andybarton]

"Click!"

I want to go home.

[stunsworth]

Bugger, guess you won't be shooting any more in a hurry.

[xjr]

I thought they are sent to Switzerland,then they sent them to the states,then back to Switzerland and then here ! I sent 5 sometime ago.
Four arrived within 3 weeks and when I gave up hope on the fifth it arrived on the 6th week !
Don't give up hope.

[suilvenman]

Originally Posted by andybarton

Well, since coming back from Venice a month ago, I have sent two K64s off to Kansas.

One came back after about 2 1/2 weeks.

The other is still MIA, and I can only presume lost.

Maybe because of the one that did come through, Andy?

[andybarton]

Originally Posted by stunsworth

Bugger, guess you won't be shooting any more in a hurry.

I have a couple of rolls left, but it's just ridiculous that this is what has to happen to it these days. They should just put it out of its misery and have done with it.

Originally Posted by xjr

I thought they are sent to Switzerland,then they sent them to the states,then back to Switzerland and then here ! I sent 5 sometime ago.
Four arrived within 3 weeks and when I gave up hope on the fifth it arrived on the 6th week !
Don't give up hope.

It does go to Switzerland, then the US, then Switzerland then home.

[Joe 90]

Did you buy your films from the US? All those sold round me come with mailers for inclusive developing. It could be that the second one is held up in customs.

I sent my first ever couple of rolls off in separate Kodak mailers, and they took 10 days to get back. I live in Switzerland, so I only had to pay local post to Lausanne. Given that they have to get to Kodak in Switzerland first, it was a cheap, extremely fast and pleasant exercise.

I liked the results a lot, and now intend to shoot as much of the stuff as I can, while I can. I have another 2 rolls almost used up, and have bought a load off ebay! My first two rolls were sterio pics of the snowy townscapes, plus some cars at the Geneva show. I was trying to rig up a couple of R4's using an electronic switch to the motor drives, but not having the pinouts for the R4 connections I used 2xOlympus Mju IIs with an infra red remote trigger, and latterly 2 fingers. Given that I was using 64 speed film indoors, hand held, metered at the wrong speed (64asa is not supported by the Mju), the results were a pleasant suprise. Like a Viewmaster on steroids!

Hopefully your second roll will turn up soon.

[stunsworth]

Joe, the Swiss facility closed down a few years ago.

If you buy Kodachrome in say the UK with a mailer, the film is sent to Switzerland. The Swiss then send it to the States for processing. When the film is processed the US lab send it back to Switzerland, the Swiss then send the developed film back to the UK.

I can envisage bottlenecks all along the way if the various people handling the film in Switzerland and the States wait for a certain number of films to arrive before sending them on in a bulk package.

[suilvenman]

That's what appeals to me so much: that in this age of digital instant gratification, against all logic, Kodachrome refuses to do the decent thing and disappear.

As long as it keeps going , I'll keep using it.

Cheers, Ken.

[Joe 90]

My 10 day turnaround could have been beginners luck. This was recently too, in the last month!

[Michael Hiles]

Originally Posted by suilvenman

As long as it keeps going , I'll keep using it.

Cheers, Ken.

Me too.

Very sadly, it seems that anywhere other than the U.S. is problematic. In Canada, it takes 10-20 days, depending on (it appears) the vagaries of the U.S. postal system, which has its serious challenges. Or an opaque system through photo dealers.

I wonder why Kodak cannot make a deal with Dwayne's to have them accept the pre-paid film directly from the UK etc., and Kodak pay Dwayne's. The Switzerland shuffle looks like nonsense. And the whole thing angers customers like Andy, who should be supporting Kodachrome.

And Dwayne's could do better. They have a FedEx service - but only within the U.S. For my Canadian address, I have to wait for the U.S. mail, and they they don't much care about Kodachrome, or me for that matter.

Grrrr and harumpf.

[thomasw_]

I love to shoot Kodachrome 64; but it takes 3 weeks to send/receive it through Save-On-Foods in Fort Langley, BC. I am glad that Save-On does offer the service, but it is slooooow. Yet there is no colour film I prefer to K-64, so I will use it until it is unavailable.

[eekimel]

Three weeks isn''t all that bad. I shot my first two roles in ages during the last weekend of March, sent them to Kansas via FedEx saver that Monday and only got a note Thursday that the film (I also got a CD) is in the return post. So, if I get it this Monday, that'll be two weeks but that's with extra expense of my outbound postage.

[Joe 90]

I can see the advantages of Kodak forwarding the stuff. Customs, manual inspections, one large consignment, cheaper for the customer. Given that Stuttgart do the same forwarding, at least Germany and Switzerland are getting a decent service at a very good price.

I wouldn't be that suprised to see at least some level of Kodachrome service still around in 10 years. Personally I would still shoot it if I had to wait 3 or 4 months between developing runs.

[Peter D Lux 2]

After getting interested in Kodachrome reading posts about it here on this forum a friend gave me a few rolls that should have been developed in 2000. Do you guys think it's worth the effort taking pictures? I guess I can expect a pink colour-cast?

BTW there are envelopes included. How would you send the rolls to Lausanne? Separate each in one envelope, or all together in one big package?

Thanks.

[matiasgd]

I usually send 5 or 6 times a year , 10 to 20 rolls of kodachrome to Dwayne´s, the average turnaround time is 15 days with excellent results.
Also If you request FedEx service, - I used once - the slides could arrive earlier.

...

[andybarton]

The envelopes just need to be addressed to Switzerland if you are in the UK (and everywhere in the EU bar Germany). One roll per envelope, no batching seems to be allowed.

Fed-Ex is not an option.

[masjah]

Andy

Don't give up hope yet. Same thing happened to a friend of mine - the missing one eventually turned up. Similar thing happened to a friend of this very friend. His didn't turn up - but he emailed Kodak (I think there might be a facility on their website or at least an email address.) Anyway, after he contacted them, his then mysteriously turned up very shortly afterwards.

[Joe 90]

Originally Posted by andybarton

The envelopes just need to be addressed to Switzerland if you are in the UK (and everywhere in the EU bar Germany). One roll per envelope, no batching seems to be allowed.
Fed-Ex is not an option.

A German ebay listing suggested that you could batch, provided you kept to the one roll per envelope rule, putting all the completed, fully addressed envelopes in a larger one... Has anyone tried this approach with Switzerland?