JISHOU, HUNAN — Kodak has decided to cease production after 74 years of its famous slide film, Kodachrome 64.
Basically, it’s time to move on, the company says. Photogs are abandoning film for digital cameras, and anyway Kodak makes other films that are easier to process, like Ektachrome. (Only one lab in the USA still processes Kodachrome 64, but it will stop that service next year. Diehard fans can still buy Kodachrome 64 from the lab’s remaining stock.)
Paul Simon immortalized Kodachrome in his song of the same name, but it was a favorite of photographers for decades before for its fine grain and excellent color reproduction. Steve McCurry, for example, used Kodachrome 64 to capture this famous portrait of a young Afghan woman for National Geographic in 1985. (Click on the image to see it fullsize.)
Newer films, like Ektachrome, are faster (more sensitive to light) and are easier to process than Kodachrome 64 (the 64 refers to the film speed or light sensitivity, ASA 64). As popular as it once was among users, lately it has accounted for less than 1% of Kodak’s film sales. So it makes sense to retire it.
Kodachrome’s demise, though, is another example of the paradigm shift in still photography. Digital cameras are so convenient and affordable now that most everyday users have abandoned film cameras entirely. The quality of digital photos has also encouraged most professionals, save for a few diehards, to retire their film-camera bodies, perhaps forever.
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