RE: [Leica] Kodachrome

[Peterson Arthur G NSSC <PetersonAG@NAVSEA.NAVY.MIL>]

Hi, Ted,

Thanks for responding.

Sure, I completely agree.  I would never argue that Kodachrome is "the be
all and end all of shooting colour slides."  (Don't you Canadians know how
to spell "color?" :-) :-) :-))   I'm not a professional (nor a good enough
photographer to be a professional), and it's interesting to learn about the
different concerns regarding film choice of someone who is.  I've just
continued to use Kodachrome out of habit and a general satisfaction with the
stuff.  And far from "addressing the value of...KR," either positive or
negative (no pun intended), I just thought I'd offer some information about
Kodachrome processing in Northern Virginia to complement the complaints I've
often read from many other locations.  :-)

Art


		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Ted Grant [mailto:tedgrant@home.com]
		Sent:	Thursday, June 01, 2000 11:15 AM
		To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
		Subject:	Re: [Leica] Kodachrome

		Peterson Arthur G NSSC wrote:
		> 
		>I can say that Kodachrome processing is not always (or
everywhere) so
		slow.  I've been shooting Kodachrome occasionally for years
in Northern
		Virginia, and I always get my slides back
		> the very next day after I bring them in for processing.
:-)<<<<<<<<

		Hi Art,
		Yes and that did happen in Vancouver and Toronto at one time
when KODAK
		operated their labs in those cities.  Actually you could
take your KR to
		the lab in the morning and have it back later in the day,
that was
		before KODAK closed the plants due to environmental
concerns,,,, and
		lack of demand for  KR films and processing!

		So KR in and out within 24 hours or shorter isn't unheard of
in cities
		where there are labs. And if we could've maintained this
simplicity many
		KR users would probably still be using it.  In reality,
KODAK actually
		started the demise of KR simply by improving the E6 films to
such an
		extent it began slowing the sales of kodachrome.

		For me and many others it's never been a quality thing,
today it's an
		"Out of hand time concern!" And the extra potential of
disaster the
		farther afield the film travels before it's returned. 

		If you bank roll a shoot where many thousands of dollars
hang on the
		survival and sale of those images or a client pays you to go
to another
		country, hire models, rent whatever from limo's, boats  to
helicopters. 
		And then you have to "ship the film" by who knows what
service on the
		hope that neither the courier truck nor plane crashes and
burns.  The
		lab techs who have no idea of the value of your film any
more than Aunt
		Maud's flower slides, "both valuable mind you to the
respective
		photographer." 

		But one of considerable economic value compared to a simple
re-shoot of flowers.

		I don't think anyone in their right mind is going to think
more than a
		few seconds as to which film they're going to use.  Unless
there is a
		KODAK lab in your home town where you walk in, hand them
film, pick up
		later! 

		KR films are beautiful, no question. But as I've said, they
are not the
		be all to end all of shooting colour slides!  Not any more,
as the E6
		types out there are quite phenomenal and improving all the
time.  I
		think one should keep that in mind when addressing the value
of them or
		KR. 

		ted