Tuesday, June 23, 2009

R.I.P. KODACHROME


A sad day for film geeks and nostalgic Paul Simon fans alike...

The digital world has once again killed one of the iconic objects of the 20th Century as Kodak film announced its discontinuation of its fabled Kodachrome film after 74 years due to poor sales and expensive production.

Here is the notice from Kodak themselves:

KODACHROME Discontinuation Notice

KODACHROME 64 Film / KR

KODACHROME Discontinuation:

Eastman Kodak Company announced on June 22, 2009 that it will discontinue sales of KODACHROME Color Film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon. Sales of KODACHROME, which became the world's first commercially successful color film in 1935, have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to other films or digital capture. Today, KODACHROME represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak's total sales of still-picture films.

Despite all its outstanding features, KODACHROME involves a highly complex development process that led photographers to experiment with and adopt newer KODAK films that deliver outstanding color images through a simpler workflow.

Although KODACHROME has very distinct characteristics and no film will give the exact same results, current users are encouraged to try other Kodak films. Kodak continues to bring innovative new film products to market, having released seven new professional films -- over the last three years alone.


Digital film might have taken you away from us, Kodachrome, but they will never give us the nice bright colors you offered to us for so many generations.

Fan-made video of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" on YouTube:


Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band covering "Kodachrome":

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