enboe Posted August 22, 2012 Share #1 Posted August 22, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Please share your stories too. How are you parting with the end of Kodak's slide film era. I apologize for being a little out of touch, but I recently learned of the discontinuance of all slide films by Kodak. Previously, I have dedicated a week-long vacation shoot to the last of Kodachrome, and now I am repeating the process with 20 rolls of fresh Elite Chrome. I am aware that Fuji also makes a couple of emulsions, and I will shoot them in the future, but it seems appropriate to give Kodak slide films a good send-off. It is ironic that it will soon be a special treat when you can invite family and friends over to see a slide show of your vacation. Wish me good luck in capturing good subjects and perfect exposures. Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 22, 2012 Posted August 22, 2012 Hi enboe, Take a look here My sendoff for Kodak slide film. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
TomB_tx Posted August 22, 2012 Share #2 Posted August 22, 2012 Indeed - sad to see slides go. Besides the "family vacation slide show" we used to use short rolls of Kodachrome in photography classes to emphasize shooting technique. Nothing like having to show all 20 slides to the full class to make you concentrate on technique for each shot. The idea was to get better taking each shot to minimize later darkroom work. Some forms of photography also required slides, like "Stereo" 3-D cameras that required a binocular slide viewer. My dad used a Stereo Realist from 1950 into the 1990s. I recently found his camera, which still had a half-used roll of Kodachrome. Kodachrome was the only film that held up to the high-magnification of the half-sized stereo format. I might try Velvia for one last go at stereo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiMPLiFY Posted August 22, 2012 Share #3 Posted August 22, 2012 Listening to Kodachrome by Paul Simon I recently sleeved and archived thousands of my Dad's Kodachromes to try and keep them organized and clean. He was career Army so these were taken from all over the world including a couple of wars. (Korea, Vietnam) Some of them grew mold due to moving a lot and damp storage I suppose. A lot of our moves were on big ships. I had never seen these slides before and was fascinated by looking at what he actually witnessed. I'd love to restore and digitize them for future generations. Maybe when I'm too old to shoot. It's the end of an era. His slide projector is in our basement. hmmm ... Perhaps a nice send off would be to have friends around for food, wine and a real slide show. Time to load some in the carousels. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradley Keith Posted October 3, 2012 Share #4 Posted October 3, 2012 As a long-time user of (exclusively) Kodak's transparency films (initially PKM/KM/PKR/KR, subsequently E100G and E100VS), I decided to go for broke and am in the process of undertaking a two year project documenting Vancouver Island. Basically, if what I see in front of me looks interesting or photogenic, I will most likely trip the shutter (landscapes, nature, seascapes, festivals, wildlife, architecture, portraiture, sports...the effort will run the gamut). To that end, I have around 700 rolls of E100G and E100VS in both 35mm and 120 formats (the count is approximate, because the purchasing was done over a three month period). This undertaking will commence on 1 January, 2013 with the Polar Bear Dip at Hamsterly Beach on Elk Lake, near Victoria; it will conclude at midnight 31 December, 2014 in downtown Victoria where, at the stroke of midnight, the last rolls of E100G and E100VS will be run through my M6s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted October 4, 2012 Share #5 Posted October 4, 2012 As a long-time user of (exclusively) Kodak's transparency films (initially PKM/KM/PKR/KR, subsequently E100G and E100VS), I decided to go for broke and am in the process of undertaking a two year project documenting Vancouver Island. Basically, if what I see in front of me looks interesting or photogenic, I will most likely trip the shutter (landscapes, nature, seascapes, festivals, wildlife, architecture, portraiture, sports...the effort will run the gamut). To that end, I have around 700 rolls of E100G and E100VS in both 35mm and 120 formats (the count is approximate, because the purchasing was done over a three month period). This undertaking will commence on 1 January, 2013 with the Polar Bear Dip at Hamsterly Beach on Elk Lake, near Victoria; it will conclude at midnight 31 December, 2014 in downtown Victoria where, at the stroke of midnight, the last rolls of E100G and E100VS will be run through my M6s. And how does the use of film relate to this? Another 'last kodachrome' exploit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted October 4, 2012 Share #6 Posted October 4, 2012 I had never seen these slides before and was fascinated by looking at what he actually witnessed. I'd love to restore and digitize them for future generations. Maybe when I'm too old to shoot. It's the end of an era. You'd be wise to not put this off as the images may degrade further. Using a scanner could be pretty slow if there are a lot of images. A fast simple system would be to use a high quality DSLR and a slide duplicator attachment. You can quickly shoot all of the images as raw files. Then you can adjust them and clean them up at your convenience when time allows. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted October 4, 2012 Share #7 Posted October 4, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Quality would be rubbish, if you have a lot to do there are automated scanners. No danger of slides deteriorating significantly, if stored properly especially if Kodachrome, they are as stable as its possible and are well known to last very well. And let's not forget that Fuji continues to offer a good range of slide films, in a choice of ISO ratings, something Kodak hadn't done for years. Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveYork Posted October 4, 2012 Share #8 Posted October 4, 2012 I'm been thinking about this; I still have a brick of Ektachrome in the freezer (and 4 bricks of plus-x). My inclination is to save them for my next "exciting" trip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted October 4, 2012 Share #9 Posted October 4, 2012 Quality would be rubbish, if you have a lot to do there are automated scanners. That is not so at all. Have you actually tried it? The quality from a 5DII and a good macro lens is about the same as I get from a 4,000dpi dedicated film scanner. (Polaroid Sprintscan 120) But it is much much faster. The raw converters have better adjustment tools than the scanning software I have. And it is convenient to batch process them after making adjustments. I figure he does not have an automatic scanning machine and may not want to pay to have this done. (Plus to get good results each image needs to be adjusted.) But it is not out of the question that he has a DSLR and a macro lens and can simply get a slide holder or rig something up. It is becoming a recommended way for archiving. Read this for more. Camera Scanning | dpBestflow As for no danger of his slides deteriorating... he said they already have mold growing on them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted October 4, 2012 Share #10 Posted October 4, 2012 I should think a good macro lens would cost at least as much as a good slide scanner. It takes 35secs to scan a slide at 4000dpi on my Nikon, if including loading it and removing say 1 minute altogether. I doubt you can load a slide into a slide copier, check framing and focus, and expose in less than that, and there are many more chances for error. You can get 24 bit scans etc and save as uncompressed data tifs or photoshop files. No I haven't tried it, but I have used such copiers on film briefly, and I have made thousands of scans with the Coolscans over about 15 years or more and its a simpler system rather than one with plenty of opportunities for mis-alignment and errors. Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted October 4, 2012 Share #11 Posted October 4, 2012 I should think a good macro lens would cost at least as much as a good slide scanner. It takes 35secs to scan a slide at 4000dpi on my Nikon, if including loading it and removing say 1 minute altogether. I doubt you can load a slide into a slide copier, check framing and focus, and expose in less than that, and there are many more chances for error. You can get 24 bit scans etc and save as uncompressed data tifs or photoshop files.No I haven't tried it, but I have used such copiers on film briefly, and I have made thousands of scans with the Coolscans over about 15 years or more and its a simpler system rather than one with plenty of opportunities for mis-alignment and errors. Gerry Sorry, but it was just a suggestion and I am offering options. I have no idea if he has a suitable digital camera, macro lens or a scanner. Simple and sophisticated slide duplicating attachments have existed for decades and some would make a very inexpensive option. Some are little more than a magnifying lens and slide holder that fits over a regular camera lens. Some are attachments that go over a macro lens or the end of a bellows. I have a Bowens Illumitron slide duplicator and it is much faster for me to "shoot" my slides on it than using any of my film scanners. The quality is fine for my needs but that is my situation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted October 4, 2012 Share #12 Posted October 4, 2012 I think we might be at cross purposes here, I know the Illumitran well and used it for a while, but that was a long time ago, as far as I know its not been available for a while (probably since superseded by slide scanners) It also cost a lot of money. I have used attachments to bellows units (including the one made by BPM who made the bellows unit used on the Illumitran), which stand more chance of keeping parrallel to the film/sensor than the crude attachments which go on the front of the lens, which I assumed you meant. A DSLR would need 24 megapixels to match the Coolscan, that isn't cheap, and neither is a good macro lens, and to use that lot needs a deal of knowledge not required simply to poke a slide into a scanner. I suggest its far from a simple option. Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted October 21, 2012 Share #13 Posted October 21, 2012 Kodachrome has fantastic dark storage qualities. Chicago Historical Society would only accept that film, prints have to be FB, no RC. I have K 11 from 1960 that looks fresh and original Kodachrome from 1940 that is still beautiful. E3 from 1960`s is horrid, E6 is better. If I only knew then what I know now. And the family movies, still nice from 1940`s like my dad driving his 1939 Oldsmobile and in his navy uniform from WW2. Priceless stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colonel Posted October 25, 2012 Share #14 Posted October 25, 2012 Listening to Kodachrome by Paul Simon I recently sleeved and archived thousands of my Dad's Kodachromes to try and keep them organized and clean. He was career Army so these were taken from all over the world including a couple of wars. (Korea, Vietnam) Some of them grew mold due to moving a lot and damp storage I suppose. A lot of our moves were on big ships. I had never seen these slides before and was fascinated by looking at what he actually witnessed. I'd love to restore and digitize them for future generations. Maybe when I'm too old to shoot. It's the end of an era. His slide projector is in our basement. hmmm ... Perhaps a nice send off would be to have friends around for food, wine and a real slide show. Time to load some in the carousels. great story I'd probably get them digitized before putting them in an old projector Fire is unrecoverable Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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