8mm Forum: can kodachrome still be processed?

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Posted by John Davis (Member # 1184) on February 23, 2011, 12:44 PM:

Apologies if this is a daft question but can kodachrome still be processed in any form. Someone I know came across an unprocessed film and asked.
I know some other old emulsions can be processed all be it the colours can suffer but is Kodachrome too complicated for this sort of treatment?
or, long shot, does any lab still have kodachrome chemicals?

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on February 23, 2011, 01:06 PM:

Kodachrome can ONLY be processed in BLACK AND WHITE...... FULL STOP.
There are NO facilities ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD for Colour processing of this material.
NO....NO....NO....NO!!!!

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on February 23, 2011, 01:46 PM:

Are you sure? [Big Grin]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on February 23, 2011, 01:58 PM:

What about other planets or the possibility of time travel?

Posted by John Davis (Member # 1184) on February 23, 2011, 04:26 PM:

Thanks Martin. I'm glad it can be processed at all. Is there a UK based lab who can do this?
John

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on February 24, 2011, 11:40 PM:

If anyone is still offering processing for the Ektachrome stock, Kodachrome can be processed through those chemicals. The colors won't be quite right, but it's better than leaving it unprocessed.

Posted by John Davis (Member # 1184) on February 25, 2011, 02:59 AM:

Thanks for that Brad, I'll pass this information on,
John

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on February 25, 2011, 03:14 AM:

Brad,
By "the colors won't be quite right" I HOPE you meant to say that the BACK AND WHITE result will have an orange tint.
Or do you know something we don't know?
Martin

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on February 25, 2011, 07:33 AM:

quote:
If anyone is still offering processing for the Ektachrome stock,

and also Brad,

Which Ektachrome chemical you meant? because today's Ektachrome is done with E-6, but old Ektachrome is different.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on February 26, 2011, 12:57 PM:

I was referring to the E160 Super 8mm stock that was so popular 20 years ago. For example, if you dropped off your K40 cartridge at a K-mart, they didn't send it to Kodak for true Kodachrome processing. They sent it out to a place that ran it all through the E160 chemicals (I don't recall the name of the chemicals, sorry). It worked and for most people it was fine, but it wasn't quite right.

I just realized upon your reply that the chemicals for processing E160 stock may not be made anymore though.

Posted by Nathan DeHahn (Member # 2192) on February 28, 2011, 03:08 PM:

I believe that kodak kept the file of chemical formula for processing kodachrome film somewhere in their archives.

P.S. E160 process is actually named EM-26 but earlier version is EM-25. Just in case if you want to know. [Smile]

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on February 28, 2011, 05:22 PM:

Gentlemen,
there's no way Kodachrome processed in EM-26 or E-6 can yeld any colors: that's because there is no color at all in the emulsion of the Kodachrome: colors were added during processing (hence its extreme difficulty) whereas Ektachrome based film stocks do have color dyes in the emulsion. This also explains why K4o used to have a much longer shlef life than any other film stock.

Posted by Nathan DeHahn (Member # 2192) on February 28, 2011, 07:09 PM:

Yes, how and why when kodachrome film is expired it turns to pink because the red layer of the film is very low contrast by age. Green and blue might be stay the same depends on what conditions of storage of the roll.

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on March 01, 2011, 12:35 AM:

Nathan, if what you are saying is evidence that Kodachrome contains color since manufacture, I am sorry to disagree with you. True it is very old K40 tended to yeld a pinkish cast when developed but that was just because the film is a 3-layer B/W emulsion (with filters inbetween each layer) so that each of them records a certain amount of light relative to red, or to blue or to green. During processing, each layer worked as a sponge, if I may say so, capturing a certain amount of color of that specific type. If one or more of the layers were not properly exposed (i.e. didn't receive the necessary amount of light to eventually trigger a balanced additive sinthesys), this resulted in a pinkish hue, because not enough dyes had been added to the film during processing.

Hope this helps.

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