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Goodbye, Kodachrome

Goodbye, Kodachrome by Roadsidepictures.
Kodak has announced today that it is retiring the Kodachrome line of film. 

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Gwen's River City Images  Pro User  says:

Bye! Bye! to an icon of photography!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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twm1340  Pro User  says:

RIP, Kodachrome. I thought I had used enough by myself to keep it going!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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srk1941  Pro User  says:

R.I.P.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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tastymeat  Pro User  says:

sadness
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Wanda Eash AKA Craftymule  Pro User  says:

:(
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Dave in Tejas  Pro User  says:

Hate to see it go but better for the water table for sure!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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markva2  Pro User  says:

One of the great inventions of the 20th Century.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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jericl cat  Pro User  says:

Dang! Who would have thought this moment would ever come?
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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enso-on  Pro User  says:

:( All my pre-digital work is on Kodachrome.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Nascar Trophy Wife  Pro User  says:

but what about the nice bright colors? and the greens of summer? where will they be now? because i sure as heck know that flickr washes out my digital photos something fierce!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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PhotoDu.de  Pro User  says:

...Makes you think all the world's a sunny day...
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Annene von Durchgerockt  Pro User  says:

Bye bye.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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URY914  Pro User  says:

Paul Simon weeps.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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craig_zander says:

This is not good.
I don't even use the stuff that much, and this is not good.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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samwibatt  Pro User  says:

I got a Nikon camera, love to take a photograph - Mama, don't take my SD card away!

Doesn't have the same ring, does it?
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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χρονολογία says:

:')
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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mojavegirl  Pro User  says:

The world is grey today.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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emmetotter  Pro User  says:

*sigh*
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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teamperks  Pro User  says:

First Polaroid film, and now this???
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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mojavegirl  Pro User  says:

I heard a news commentator say that looking at old Kodachrome pictures make you ache for the era that was pictured. So true.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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john4kc  Pro User  says:

It made incredible photos. It takes really does take you to another time, especially when you look at the photos of the 40s when everything else was black and white. It makes you stop extra long and imagine.

They said there was only one lab in the world that processed it. What's up with that?... turns out the one lab is relatively close to me in Parsons Kansas of all places. dwaynesphoto.com/
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Ken, KB1AWV  Pro User  says:

I heard this on the way home from work today...difficult to believe!
Now I have one more reason to journey to Rochester.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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jason202  Pro User  says:

Very sad news.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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dv over dt  Pro User  says:

I heard the word the first time in the summer of '73 on an avocado green RCA transistor radio tuned to WHB 710 Kansas City.

Time did what mama could not do, I suppose.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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SUPER STILLS says:

More warmness & beauty lost to the monotony of the 1's & 0's.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Frank Synopsis  Pro User  says:

Everything's gone digital...

"Everything's Going Digital"
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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markbajekphoto1  Pro User  says:

very sad, I probably shot 30,000 frames of that stuff over my life another 30K in Ektachrome , thru a myriad of Pentax Me's and up to the Nikon N70...., but now due to the cheepness of 1's,and 0's...I'll pop a shot off and not even think twice,( hense all my from car shots). back in the day's of slide film each shot cost about 75 cents to a buck (if you count processing etc). one had to consider if the shot was worth taking at all..or simply wait for better light, composition etc. how things change. (and yes the product of that series of film is still better than what comes of most 1's and 0"s).
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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ren2688 says:

I can't even find Kodak film anymore. It's all Fugi in the stores that still film and forget about getting different speeds.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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ElectroSpark  Pro User  says:

It stll amazes me how crisp a climate controlled Kodachrome slide can be. Closest thing to time travel... Most ektachrome has gone red or faded over time
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Jasperdo  Pro User  says:

Love the metal canister!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

I am surprised that Kodak waited this long to do away with Kodachrome. The building where film was manufactured in Rochester, NY was imploded in 2007.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Lead Bellows says:

fuck kodak! let them all burn in digital hell! now every hack will buy it up, but where were you all before? the world has lost its only archival film. digital will turn to dust before a kodachrome slide fades! Kodak used to make a quality product like kodachrome, now all they make are shitty digital cameras that are not worth the cheap plastic they are made of. I predict by the end of next year kodak will retire film altogether. you wont find a shiny happy response from me about this, if you are offended by my words too bad. i feel like kodak has cheated us all! BURN BABY BURN!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

Lead, I agree with you.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Lead Bellows says:

thanks, i'm just really pissed off about this! worst part is that Dwanes in Kansas will only develop kodachrome until the end of next year. so that means no stocking up. after 2010 your frozen rolls will be worthless. USE IT OR LOSE IT FOLKS! maybe this will keep the slime balls from buying it up cheap then selling it off at unbelievablely high prices. i guess sometimes i care too much about this stuff but I can't help it. guess i need to shoot those rolls of kodachrome super 8 in my freezer. really have to make them count!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

You´re welcome. I never used Kodachrome before, but a part of me misses 35mm film.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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funkyfoton  Pro User  says:

R.I.P... sniffle
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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wunderskatz  Pro User  says:

I've never used it, but I feel sorry for it... :S
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Theresa Thompson  Pro User  says:

So,so sad... :-(
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Tiler  Pro User  says:

It gave us those nice, bright colors.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Roberto41144  Pro User  says:

I haven't seen Kodachrome film in 5-6 year or more. I thought it had already been discontinued.

Kodak Film Conatiner display.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Roberto41144  Pro User  says:

1951 Kodachrome 828
1951 Kodachrome / 828 film
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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sole searcher  Pro User  says:

Sad times indeed! I can remember when that's all I had in my refrigerator.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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DIGITAL IDIOT  Pro User  says:

World's only Kodachrome lab
john4kc believe it or not Roadsidepictures has a fan who lives in of all places Parsons Kansas and goes by Dwaynes on the way to work. I even worked there many years ago when I was one of only four employees.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Kris Grimes  Pro User  says:

That's probably a few more hundred people out of work in Rochester. Sigh...
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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edleckert  Pro User  says:

Saw that in this morning's WSJ. Thanks for the tribute!

--
Seen in the interestingness archives. (?)
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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john4kc  Pro User  says:

Oh, I believe it! Allen is the flickr King!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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galechicago  Pro User  says:

No more Oldsmobile, no more Polaroid, no more Kodachrome.
Please Kodak, don't kill Tri-X too.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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rjayrafael  Pro User  says:

out with the old in with the new....sometimes it's not the best idea.

RIP Kodachrome
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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hernan.seoane  Pro User  says:

spotted this one in Explore, congrats!!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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autotronic says:

I felt so sad about this that I had one of my contributors write a blog on Kodachrome's passing. Would love you to take a look at it at:

automotivetraveler.com/jump/937

Comments, and more importantly, contributions of your car- and travel-themed Kodachrome images will be appreciated.

Richard Truesdell
Editorial Director, Automotive Traveler
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Roadsidepictures  Pro User  says:

Mr. Truesdell,

Is it normal business practise for your contributers to use any old picture they find on the internet, without giving credit to the photographer or asking permission to use the photo? Four of those "Kodachrome" photographs came from a Flickr friend of mine. You might want to let the author know that it's best to ask permission to use photos that don't belong to you.

Thanks!
Allen

Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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lreed7649  Pro User  says:

Hi Mr. Truesdell,
It was indeed a very touching article. Very well written and certainly evocative of a certain time and place. Unfortunately, you appear to have lifted 4 of my dad's photos without attribution.
All your guy had to do was ask permission and I'd have let him use my dad's photos -- with proper attribution, of course.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

It is scary to know that people like Mr. Tebo are stealing other people´s photos on Flickr and using them as their own. If this happened to me, I would have had Larry coughing up $50,000.00 in a court of law!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

Now that I think about it, I saw something on TV a while back about television stations using other people´s pictures on Flickr as their own. Watch what you upload folks.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Roadsidepictures  Pro User  says:

Actually, it was not Mr. Truesdell who used the photos. The author of the article is Larry Tebo, a contributer to Truesdell's blog.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

I saw that when I clicked on the link. Oops...
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Roadsidepictures  Pro User  says:

;-)
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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greecemallhistory says:

When layaway was coming back last year, a Now Public reporter contacted me and asked if they could use my Kmart photos in one of their articles. Seeing as how they asked, I allowed them to use my pictures.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Katie-Rose  Pro User  says:

Great tribute!
Congratulations on Explore!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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dv over dt  Pro User  says:

If it were not for the specialized processing required this would be a great opportunity for an entrepreneur to reverse engineer this film much the way Polaroid fans are working to bring back instant photography:

www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/technology/26polar oid.html

Of course here in the disposable USA Kodak has literally blown up the factory which made the film, no doubt for a tax write off.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Beto S@nz  Pro User  says:

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the worlds a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama dont take my kodachrome away.........................

Paul Simon
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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autotronic says:

To those of you that were upset about the use of the photos, I apologize. I found them on Viewliner LTD and credited them as such in the lightbox. The Mr. Reed, the owner of the photos contacted me last night and as soon as he confirms how he wants them credited or if he wants them removed, I will do so. I went looking for photos to illustrate Mr. Tebo's article (he submitted it to me sans images) so it is me, not Mr. Tebo that is to blame. I take full responsibility for the error.

Being a photographer myself, I am very sensitive to this issue. As I shoot car prototypes in Death Valley all summer, within minutes of the images being posted on automotivetraveler.com, they are all over the web. There's not a whole lot I can do about it other than watermarking the images and hope that those finding them elsewhere ultimately will go to the source to view them.

To Mr. Reed. I am sorry for the mis-attribution and as I stated in my direct E-mail to you last night, I would LOVE it if you would contribute to Automotive Traveler. Better yet, I would be happy to give you the means to contribute a blog on as regular a basis as you would want. I think that the photos capture a time that many of us baby-boomers cherish, especially when our slides have been lost over the years, as it is in my case. It was never my intent in using the images to suggest that they were of Mr. Tebo's vacation memories but it is not hard to see how you and others could think that to be the case. I hope to make things right as soon as you contact me directly.

Richard Truesdell
Editorial Director, Automotive Traveler
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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lreed7649  Pro User  says:

I have communicated with Mr. Truesdell and have written this up as an honest mistake committed under deadline pressure, apology accepted.

I've also taken the opportunity to page through several issues of his online magazine and it's a nice-looking publication.

I've left my original comment there since the subsequent discussion wouldn't make sense w/o the comment, but I toned it down a little.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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lreed7649  Pro User  says:

My dad started using Kodachrome in 1945, while he was still in the Army, and was still using it for at least some of his shots in the mid-80s, so he used it well over half its lifetime. Great film; I have more than 4000 of his slides (many of them are in my photostream here at Flickr) and it's quite literally true that I'd have virtually no childhood memories if he hadn't used Kodachrome.

He documented everything (our extensive vacation and weekend trips as well as commonplace stuff around the house) and except for one cigar box-ful that was attacked by mold, the slides (even the ones that are 60+ years old) are crystal clear.

I went "all print" more than 20 years ago and digital 5-6 years ago, but it was still nice to know "chrome" was around. I understand why Kodak pulled the plug, but it is still sad -- another sign, like the "Big Boxing" of America, the end of back-road travel, sprawl, etc., that that era has ended.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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lreed7649  Pro User  says:

As far as I know, the only photo of a metal Kodachrome can in my dad's collection. My sister and I seem totally fascinated by the can for some reason.

Hanging stockings, 1950
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Roberto41144  Pro User  says:

You sister is probably thinking that would make a nice Barbie Cookie Jar in her Barbie Dreamhouse
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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*hazydaisy*(computer probs!)  Pro User  says:

great shot,nice tribute to mark the end of an era!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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goodoldroute15  Pro User  says:

Sad. I worked for Kodak for 30 years. The last actual coating was several years ago. They have been selling film from that coating until now. Might be one of the finest films ever made. Dirty to process but so colorful and colorfast that it has to go down as a classic. Sad, sad day for us old retired Kodakers and those who have loved this reversal product.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Silverscape says:

I'm really sad about this because I had just started using Kodachrome. I use almost entirely film for my pictures, because film is just a lot more fun and challenging than digital. But I had just started using Kodachrome. I knew this day would come, and I wanted to try Kodachrome while I still had the chance. But I never thought it would happen so fast.

This was the first slide film I had ever used. I was totally blown away when I got my slides in the mail. I was so excited, seeing the little positive images, and the colors were absolutely incredible. I don't have a projector yet, but I bought a battery-powered slide viewer and just seeing the pictures in that is amazing.

And now Kodachrome is going to be gone :(

It's a very, very sad day indeed.

I'm more committed to film now than ever. Until now, 90 percent of my pictures were taken on film. Well now, it's going to be 99.99 percent. Unless there is some specific reason why I need to take digital snapshots, then I won't bother.

I'm young, and I've been around computers and modern technology my entire life. I grew up with computers and the internet has been around for most of my life. But I also grew up with film (my first camera was an old 126 Kodak Instamatic that my parents got for me to play around with when I was about 8 years old.) I prefer using a REAL, all-metal film camera with manual exposure. I have no interest in crappy plastic digital cameras and "Photoshopping." I'll take the snap of a real mechanical shutter of a film camera over the wimpy beep of a digital camera any day.

F***k digital!

Long live film.

And for all you other film users out there, you really shoot try the new Ektar 100 film. It's super sharp and has beautiful color saturation. Kodak also started making it in 120 rolls.

Of course, nothing can replace Kodachrome. Either it's unique look, or the place it had in history.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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krstl_blu  Pro User  says:

First it's Polaroid now it's film, what the hell is next?
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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bullseyephoto says:

RIP.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes says:

Yet another end to an era before us...time passages...
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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d_v_b  Pro User  says:

Love it.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Creation Photography  Pro User  says:

i blame the digital SLR and camera phones
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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rikkijane  Pro User  says:

curse technology!
Posted 5 months ago. ( permalink )

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dv over dt  Pro User  says:

Can't stop the world....and technology is making all of THIS possible :)

But they'll take my glowing ionized gas ensconced in artful, decorative tubing when they pry it from my cold, dead hands!!!! Replacing neon with LEDs? THAT is personal!
Posted 5 months ago. ( permalink )

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