[Leica] Kodachrome

[Doug Herr <71247.3542@compuserve.com>]

On Sat, 12 Sep 1998, Alastair Firkin wrote:

>Dear Friends,
>
>I just loaded a fresh roll of Kodachrome into the M6 yesterday. There is=

>something about Kodachrome. It is perhaps the most famous of emulsions
>[others?], though maybe made so by the Paul of Simon and Garfunkel fame,=

>and has a colour balance that seems so normal, that most other films are=

>labelled warm or cool to its "normal". I love the red and yellow of the
>box, the pre-paid mailer, the yellow plastic containers it comes home in=
,
>but lament the loss of the individual slide mounts cardboard and even
>plastic with their Kodachrome label :-(

>It is so much a part of my memory of "photography", including the 2 minu=
te
>reels of Standard 8 my father was so fond of. It seems one of the few
rocks
>on which you can build. One of the few things in photography which is no=
t
>changing so fast, that no-one has the time to learn them or to develop
>their craft. Most things now are like computer texts. By the time the bo=
ok
>is released, the programme is updated, or more likely dead. The craving
for
>change is so strong, that the writers of these books have to act as
experts
>and give advice on beta programmes.

Alistair,

My memories of this classic emusion include the truly overnight service
at the Palo Alto Kodak lab, only a few minutes by bicycle from my home.
The newer films have color rendition I've not been able to accept as
"real" colors, at least not since I put Kodachrome behind a Leica lens.
It's as though the garish (to me) colors of Velvia are intended for =

lenses which are not able to render clean, vibrant colors as Leica lenses=

can.  IMHO Leica lenses and Kodachrome were made for each other.

Here in the US the slide mounts and the yellow return box are still =

cardboard.  Even if the color quality, grain, and latitude of Kodachrome
and the Fuji offerings were identical, a comparison of the present
condition of my Kodachromes and Fujichromes from the early 1970's would =

keep me happily committed to the film in the yellow box.

Kodachrome forever!

Doug Herr